A virtual seminar on the social superego in late capitalism, with Daniel Tutt
Is there a predominant form of the superego under late capitalism? Lacan theorized the superego as a “demand to enjoy” and other thinkers from Étienne Balibar to Kojin Karatani read the superego as undergoing mutations of strengthening and weakening as an effect of political instability and crisis. If the concept is indeed political, how do we historically periodize the superego? This talk will look at the political basis of Freud’s discovery of the superego and how many of Freud’s concepts, from Oedipus, death drive to the superego, must be read with an explicitly political context in mind. If capitalism is characterized by a weakening of superego, what are the implications for liberation from oppressive institutional structures, and what do these insights mean for movements that seek to alter the status quo?
The seminar will take place on Zoom at 8pm-9:30pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) Thursday 24 February 2022 and will be followed by a virtual pub gathering on the platform ‘Wonder’. Please be aware that Eventbrite (and Facebook) usually automatically converts the event time for the time zone from which you view the page.
The event is open to everyone and free with Eventbrite registration. The Zoom link to join the seminar will be available for registrants on the ‘Online Event Page’ (found when accessing your ticket on Eventbrite) on the day of the seminar, which is where you can also find information about the virtual pub taking place afterwards.
Daniel Tutt is the author of the forthcoming book “Psychoanalysis and the Politics of the Family” with the Palgrave Lacan Series. His research is concerned with the intersection of contemporary politics, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis. He is a member of the Lacanian Forum of Washington, DC and host of the podcast Jouissance Vampires.