1st Edition
The Marx Through Lacan Vocabulary A Compass for Libidinal and Political Economies
This text explores a set of key concepts in Marxist theory as developed and read by Lacan, demonstrating links and connections between Marxist thought and Lacanian practice.
The book examines the complexity of these encounters through the structure of a comprehensive vocabulary which covers diverse areas, from capitalism and communism to history, ideology, politics, work, and family. Offering new perspectives on these concepts in psychoanalysis, as well as in the fields of political and critical theory, the book brings together contributions from a range of international experts to demonstrate the dynamic relationship between Marx and Lacan, as well as illuminating "untranslatable points" which may offer productive tension between the two. The entries trace the trajectory of Lacan’s appropriation of Marx’s concepts and analyses how they were questioned, criticized, and reworked by Lacan, accounting for the wide reach of two thinkers and worlds in constant homology. Each entry also discusses psychoanalytic debates relating to the concept and seeks to refine the clinical scope of Marx’s work, demonstrating its impact on the social and individual dimensions of Lacanian clinical practice.
With a practical and structured approach, The Marx through Lacan Vocabulary will appeal to psychoanalysts and researchers in a range of fields, including political science, cultural studies, and philosophy.
1. Alienation
Ben Gook and Dominiek Hoens
2. Automatism
Elena Bisso
3. Bourgeoisie
Carlos Andrés Umaña González
4. Capitalism
Andreja Zevnik
5. Communism
Ian Parker
6. Consumption
Agustina Saubidet
7. Economy/Oikonomia
Yahya M. Madra and Ceren Özselçuk
8. Freedom/Liberty
Roque Farrán
9. History
Adrian Johnston
10. Ideology
Natalia Romé
11. Imperialism
Livio Boni
12. Labour/Work
Samo Tomšič
13. Market
Christian Ingo Lenz Dunker
14. Master/Tyrant
Fabiana Parra
15. Materialism
David Pavón-Cuéllar
16. Money
Pierre Bruno
17. Politics
Carlos Gómez Camarena and Edgar Miguel Juárez-Salazar
18. Proletarian/Laborer/Worker
Silvia Lippi
19. Revolution
Ricardo Espinoza Lolas
20. Segregation
Jorge Alemán and Carlos Gómez Camarena
21. Slavery
Juan Pablo Lucchelli and Todd McGowan
22. Society
Edgar Miguel Juárez-Salazar
23. Superstructure
Daniela Danelinck and Mariano Nicolás Campos
24. Surplus Jouissance
Nadia Bou-Ali
25. Uneasiness/Discontent/Unhappiness
Nadir Lara Junior
26. Value
Jean-Pierre Cléro
Biography
Christina Soto van der Plas is professor of Latin American Literature at Santa Clara University, USA.
Edgar Miguel Juárez-Salazar is a professor of Social Psychology at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco (UAM-X), Mexico.
Carlos Gómez Camarena is a professor at Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico.
David Pavón-Cuéllar is a professor at Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH), Mexico.
'Is this a dream I had last night? Some crazy dictionary, half Flaubert’s idées reçues…, half Raymond Williams’ Keywords, half Barbara Cassin’s lexicon of untranslatable concepts, with maybe another half of Laplanche and Pontalis’ dictionary of psychoanalysis? So many halves, but yes, it is true, even if a dream as well. The Marx Through Lacan Vocabulary is an amazing compendium, assembled by Latin Americans (where all the true Lacano-Marxists flourish) – Christina Soto van der Plas, Edgar Miguel Juárez-Salazar, Carlos Gómez Camarena, and David Pavón-Cuéllar – and startlingly international, with contributors from a dozen countries in Europe, the Middle East, and the Americas. Whether you need to brush up on the distinction between "alienation" and "separation" or parse the difference between the "owner" in Marx and the "master" in Lacan, if you want to suss out how "surplus-jouissance" differs from "surplus-value", or finally understand those nefarious mathemes and four discourses – this is the book for you. Sure to be on the bedside table for every political psychoanalyst and libidinal Marxist – for what better aphrodisiac is there than a dictionary?'
Clint Burnham, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada
'Aware of how creatively Lacan read Marx, this volume analyzes their reciprocal interaction: Marx critiquing Lacan and Lacan critiquing Marx. The authors send us along an exciting Möebius strip while showing the need for radical critique. This collaborative and plurivocal book is an admirable achievement, an indispensable resource, and a major reference'.
Patricia Gherovici, co-founder and director of the Philadelphia Lacan Group and Associate Faculty, Pscyhoanalytic Studies Minor, University of Pennsylvania, USA
'A direly needed work for both experts and newcomers in the fields of psychoanalysis, Marxism, political and critical theory, and the analysis of ideology and culture. Beyond being a valuable dictionary of terms, this collection offers original theses regarding the pass of Marx through Lacan. The caliber of the contributions is paralleled by the perspicacious selection of concepts'.
A. Kiarina Kordela, Macalester College, Saint Paul, MN, USA
'If invariably a third thing is needed to join the theoretical worlds of Marx and Lacan, a vocabulary is the ultimate via regia: language being the messy field of struggle and of truth. Beyond a mere little repertoire of concepts, this fine international collective realizes a clarifying, multifarious and sometimes unruly intervention paving the ways of how Marxism and psychoanalysis could or should be related in order to confront that other (seemingly more natural and harmonious) couple of capitalism and psychology'.
Jan De Vos, professor at Cardiff University, based in Belgium
'There are many extremely pressing problems and antagonisms today for which we still need a vocabulary – the right words to name and describe them. Not necessarily new words, but words that resonate powerfully in the contemporary context, concepts that make us see and grasp things differently. The Marx through Lacan Vocabulary contributes to this task most admirable'.
Alenka Zupancic, professor at The European Graduate School (EGS) and a research advisor and professor at the Institute of Philosophy at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Slovenia
'An indispensable contribution to thinking how Lacan routinely utilized facets of Marx's thought in expanding the critical horizons of psychoanalysis. This invaluable book shows us that we cannot truly appreciate Lacanian psychoanalysis and Lacanian social theory without registering the foundational influence of Marx (as in notions of alienation, automatism, surplus jouissance, political economy, etc.). What emerges from this set of instructive and rigorous essays is not only a Lacanian Marx, but also a properly Marxian Lacanianism. This text will be the standard reference for psychoanalytic social critique for years to come'.
Derek Hook, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, USA
'The Marx through Lacan Vocabulary is not merely the most comprehensive and ambitious survey of the manifold Lacanian encounters and intersections with Marx, which are both inspiring and convoluted. It is a tool most dearly needed in present times, powerfully reminding us of the task and stakes of radical thought in the times of neoliberal slumber and depression'.
Professor Mladen Dolar, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
'The Marx Through Lacan Vocabulary is a remarkable and precious tool for all those interested in exploring Lacan’s interpretation, appropriation and transformation of some of Marx’s key concepts, as well as an invaluable guide to the many ways in which Lacan’s sustained engagement with Marx’s text shaped his own thought. As such, it argues convincingly for the need to think together political and libidinal economy, social production and the unconscious, labour relations and language. This collection is also a testimony to the vitality of Lacanian, Marxist and post-Marxist studies in the so-called Global South, as well as Europe and North America. Scholars, students and psychoanalysts will use it for years to come'.
Miguel de Beistegui, ICREA Research Professor, University of Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
'A dazzling compendium of the non-relationship between Marx and Lacan! As the subtitle of this book suggests, it is a helpful compass that orients the reader in an otherwise overwhelming terrain of what there is in the between: between Marx and Lacan, between the libidinal and the political, between theory and praxis'.
Amanda Holmes, University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
