1)    Why do particular discourses or ideologies become dominant? Why are certain ideas selected out among all the ideas proposed by human beings? Why are certain ideas passed along—becoming elements of culture—and not others? Ideas or ideologies are embraced and perpetuated to the extent that they represent the fulfillment of specific desires, needs or fantasies. Human beings are the source of that which exists.

2)    THE PSYCHIC FUNCTION OF IDEOLOGY: Ideologies may be viewed as societally defined ideational structures that exist in order to permit latent dimensions of the psyche to become manifest in the external world. Ideologies perform psychic functions, allowing fundamental desires, fantasies, anxieties and conflicts to be projected into reality. Once an ideology gains currency, then people act "in the name of" the ideology. Thought and action seem to be generated by a belief system existing outside the self.

3)    Paul Saurette— “What does it mean, exactly, to say that discourse has power? Why, in other words, are some representations maintained while others are dismissed? How does a particular discourse, out of all the possibilities, achieve dominance? Particularly if the discourse in question is hegemonic, how has it managed to successfully reproduce and maintain itself."
 
4)    An ideology exists as an available structure of thought in a society. However, why does it exist and continue to exist? Ideologies constitute vehicles for the projection of phantasy. Ideologies permit shared phantasies to be "harnessed" and expressed as social reality. The fundamental meaning of ideology, therefore, its raison d’être, lies in its capacity to provide the modus operandi for the expression of shared phantasy.

5)    MIND VERSUS DISCOURSE: In order for a discourse to take hold within a culture, in must be connected to a wellspring of psychic energy. Discourse is sustained by the energy of unconscious fantasies. It is unconscious fantasy, the bodily experience and affects bound to it, that sustain a discourse. 

6)    The question of social construction is: constructed for what? For what purpose are various cultural institutions or ideas created? We need to explain the fanatic attachment people have to the discourses they create. The emotional response to a discourse is part of the explanation for its existence. A discourse exists--continues to exist--to the extent that this discourse arouses or gratifies individuals--satisfies them in some way.

7)    To study an ideology is to uncover the specific phantasies that are the source of its meaning. The Nazi ideology existed and the Final Solution came into being in order to express phantasies that were articulated by Hitler and shared by other Nazi leaders. One can perceive the bodily phantasies contained within Hitler’s ideology by observing the metaphors and images that are bound to the language in Hitler’s speeches.

8)    To analyze an ideology is to uncover the specific phantasy that has sustained it, the source of its appeal.  An ideology "contains" a shared phantasy, permits it to be activated on the stage of historical reality.  In Nazism, a particular shared phantasy was embodied or contained within the ideological propositions. Behavior represented the enactment of ideological propositions (enactmen of the phantasy contained within the ideology).  To analyze an ideology is to "make conscious the unconscious:" clarify, articulate, bring into public awareness the specific phantasies that are being projected, embraced, and acted out.

9)    EACH IDEOLOGY REVOLVES AROUND A CORE FANTASY: Ideology is manifest content; phantasy latent content.  Ideology exists in order to permit shared phantasies to be expressed in social reality.  

10)    Ideology is not simply an “external” or cultural form. Even as people connect to cultural structures, they are expressing their deepest, inner psychological needs and desires. It seems as if everything is coming from up above or out there. However, ideological structures take hold only because they express or articulate inner fantasies. 

11)    The two domains—inner and outer—come to be bound together. The outer structures “determine” the nature of thought. However, these structures are only meaningful to the extent that they express or fulfill fundamental desires or fantasies. We have created a world that is consistent with our desires and fantasies.

12)    The reason social forms exist and continue to exist is because they perform psychic functions. If a social form did not serve a psychic function, it would not continue to exist. Psychoanalysis thus has a role to play in culture and history, and that role is to interpret the shared unconscious fantasies; to "make conscious the unconscious upon the stage of history;" show how human beings enact unconscious fantasies. I extending the idea of psychic determinism by showing how human beings unconsciously create culture.  History represents the externalization of unconscious phantasies.

13)    To study a particular ideology is to ascertain interpret an ideology is to uncover its latent meaning; the shared phantasy that is its source.
 

Best regards,

Richard Koenigsberg
rak@libraryofsocialscience.com