Module Directory

This introductory, two-term module foregrounds the ‘psychosocial’ in the BA in Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies.  Whilst deeply rooted in a range of theoretical ideas, the module will be selective in its treatment of the psychosocial, and illustrative of further areas of study to come at later points in the degree.  This introductory, two-term module foregrounds the ‘psychosocial’ in the BA in Psychosocial and Psychoanalytic Studies.  Whilst deeply rooted in a range of theoretical ideas, the module will be selective in its treatment of the psychosocial, and illustrative of further areas of study to come at later points in the degree.  

The module’s main point of emphasis will be on ‘imagination’, in a dual sense. Both how we might imagine the ‘psychosocial’ as a discipline, with its specific forms of knowledge, theoretical frames and domains of application, but also in the sense that psychosocial studies might give weight to forms of imagination and representation in their capacity to link subjective and embodied existence with social life.  Students are encouraged to develop an appreciation of how their subjects of study will enable them to critically and imaginatively re-appraise the world in which they live. Topics that may be considered include:

• Mental health & madness studies 


• Bodies/embodiment and disabilities 


• The individual and family life


• Identity Politics (incl. race, gender, sexuality)


• Emotional life  (love, hate, envy, rage)


• Social Institutions (schools, prisons, hospitals) 
  
  

The module will inspire the development of the students’ psychosocial imagination, and furnish it with tangible examples from real-world contexts (be they social, cultural, political, or historical contexts). Of particular importance will be the links from theory to lived experience, which continue to be a vital dimension of later modules across the degree.  

The aims of this module are:

• To introduce students to definitions of the ‘psychosocial’ and a critical understanding of the disciplinary claims of psychosocial studies


• To introduce students to definitions of the ‘psychosocial’ and a critical understanding of the disciplinary claims of psychosocial studies


• To introduce students to analytic frameworks from across a range of psychosocial perspectives


• To introduce students to areas of study and application that are proximate to psychoanalytic studies 


• To keep closely in view the links and connections with foundational psychoanalytic ideas and how they change with disciplinary shifts (i.e. the unconscious; resistance; conflict; trauma) 


• To demonstrate breadth of psychoanalytic influence (especially with respect to social and political thought)


• To introduce students to potential and actual lines of critique of psychoanalysis

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the breadth of psychosocial frameworks and applications 


2. Demonstrate an understanding of the breadth of psychosocial frameworks and applications 


3. Achieve a capacity to critically engage with key debates in psychosocial studies, including their intersection with psychoanalysis


4. Identify and analyse connections between social and political configurations and psychic life


5. Show a greater capacity to observe and interpret the social and political world through new perspectives

As a team-taught module, the syllabus will be determined on an annual basis according to availability of PPS staff. In the main, tutors will teach for two consecutive weeks on a common theme or sub-theme to ensure consistency across classes.

This is also an indicative syllabus, in that it is focusing on themes and main topics, texts and authors, without always going into final detail on individual readings and passages

Autumn term

Part one: Our topic and approach

1) The Psychosocial Imagination
Essential Reading:
Chancer, L. (2014) ' C. Wright Mills, Freud, and the Psychosocial Imagination' in the Unhappy Divorce of Sociology and Psychoanalysis (eds. Lynn Chancer and John Andrews). Palgrave Macmillan: pp 190-202.

2) The Psychosocial world: Pierre Bourdieu
Essential Reading:
Bourdieu, P. (2019 [1999]) The Weight of the World: Social Suffering in Contemporary Society. Cambridge, Polity Press [extracts from].

3) The Imaginary
Ffytche, M (2020) Real Fantasies: Reinserting the Imaginary in the Scene of Social Encounter

Part two: Seeing and Being Seen in Social Space

4) The Individual under Surveillance
Essential Reading:
Foucault, M. (1979) 'Panopticism' in Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison (Vintage) pp195-228.
Bentham, J. Extracts from the 'Panopticon Letters' in The Panopticon Writings (Verso).

5) The Consumer Gaze
Essential Reading:
Benjamin, W. (1989) Section II: 'The Flâneur' in Charles Baudelaire: A Lyric Poet in the Era of High Capitalism (London: Verso) pp. 35-66.
Wilson, E. (1992) The Sphinx in the City: Urban Life, the Control of Disorder, and Women (University of California Press) pp 47-64.

6) Reading week

7) Psychosocial Imagination Field Trip

8) Visual cultures

9) Imagining and activism in the streets
Soreanu, R (2018) extract from Working-through Collective Wounds: Trauma, Denial, Recognition in the Brazilian Uprising (Studies in the Psychosocial)

10) Mid-module review

Spring term

Part 3: Embodiment in social space

1) Asylums
Essential Reading:
Goffman, E. (1961) Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates. New York: Anchor Books [extracts from]
Laing, R.D. (1960) The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

2) Stigma and the marking of bodies
Tyler, I. (2020) Stigma: The Machinery of Inequality. Zed Books [extracts from]
Penhall, J. (2000) Blue/Orange. London, Bloomsbury Print.

3) Racial imaginaries
Text by Paul Gilroy or Stuart Hall

4) Discursive regimes
Foucault, M – History of Sexuality, vol 1

5) Reading week (with film showing)

Part 4: Emotions, identity, performance

6) Performing Gender
Butler, J. Gender Trouble

7) Performing the social self
Goffman, E. The Presentation of the Self

8) Emotion and Work
Hoschschild, A. The Managed Heart: Commercialisation of Human Feeling

9) Emotion and Identity
Craib, I. (1994) The Importance of Disappointment

10) Review

This module will be delivered via:

• Weekly, participatory lectures followed by discussion-based seminars
• plus an off-campus field trip