Psychoanalytic Mythologies

Ian Parker is Professor of Psychology in the Discourse Unit at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

• Preface; Acknowledgements; Points of view; Making love to my ego; The pinball project; Psychopolitical cults; The wet group; Interpersonal skills; Learn and enjoy; Another language; English identity, Ireland and violence; Racing Diana’s subjects; Personal response under attack; In Disney’s world; Looking to the future, and back;   Windows on the mind; Soap trek; Clubbing; E and me; Garage nightmares; Helpless in Japan; Greek chairs; Open secrets; Passé; Psychoanalytic Myth Today

‘In this innovative work, Parker attempts to replicate the structure of Roland Barthes’ seminal ‘Mythologies’. His strategy in doing this is to demonstrate how psychoanalytic discourse is all around us, in society and in culture, influencing our lives, and discoverable in the most unexpected places. He presents a series of short, anecdotal and observational chapters (much in the style of Barthes) in which these processes are revealed. This works very well as both an engaging reading experience and a persuasive mode of argument.’ —Graeme Pedlingham, ‘The Year’s Work in Critical and Cultural Theory’ 2011