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Thesis (Ph. D. in Religion)--Vanderbilt University, May 2007. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the various definitional strategies involved in and underlying the use of the term ‘masculinity’ in social science literature, with a particular emphasis on psychodynamic literature, and to propose an additional approach (via the metaphor of the ‘lens’ (borrowed from Bem, 1993)) to understanding masculinity as ideology in Althusser’s (1971; 1984) sense of a discourse or narrative which establishes subjectivity and identity. It suggests that masculinity could be usefully viewed as a certain type of discourse which attempts to exercise a hegemony over a more variegated and nuanced personality for the purpose of the attachment of the individual (usually male) to larger social structures and relations, in this case, to the gendered social relations of patriarchy. The idea for the thesis arose out of the writer’s dissatisfaction with current definitional strategies of masculinity employed in social science research and his perceived need to provide a more complex definition of the term ‘masculinity’, which would highlight its meaning for individual men whilst simultaneously placing that meaning in the wider meaning-generating structures of Western culture. It also arose from a growing frustration with all sections of the so-called men’s movement’s attempts to delineate a type of ‘masculinity’ which is respectful of the rights and needs of women and children. Finally, it particularly arose out of the researcher’s own interest to explore the nature of identity narratives within contemporary Western culture. Chapter One explores these problems and provides key definitions of the important terms of the thesis, including the neological verb, ‘to hegemise,’ by which I refer to the process of attempting, but never entirely successfully, to establish hegemony. It also deals with other definitional questions such as the definition of patriarchy against the suggestion of the existence of multiple patriarchies (Petersen, 1998). The thesis is organised broadly into two sections. The first section, contained in Chapters One through Four, deals with what I have labelled (following suggestions by de Certeau, 1984) current “definitional strategies” employed in discussions of masculinity in the social sciences, with Chapters One and Two providing an overview of these strategies, whilst Chapters Three and Four take three of the six strategies identified and examines them in depth through their exemplary use in key literature from three psychodynamic schools of thought. These definitional strategies are, firstly, the three which are not explored in depth: 1) the simple reduction of masculinity to any male behaviour (which I believe is very rarely employed), 2) the argument from statistics (so that whatever men can be demonstrated to do, have, think, and so on, more often than women becomes an example of masculinity), and 3) the argument from key exemplars, (such as John Wayne), real or imaginary (again, such as John Wayne). Secondly, the three definitional strategies which are chosen for more extended treatment, 1) the strategy of definition by deferral to other, equally problematic terms (as in the works of Freud, discussed in Chapter Two), 2) the use of the process or results of presumed male child development (the views of the object relations psychodynamic theory as delineated by Nancy Chodorow, and to a lesser extent, Dorothy Dinnerstein, discussed in Chapter Three), and 3) reliance on common understandings (Jung, also discussed in Chapter Three). This last strategy is a kind of definition by default, in that the writer fails to provide a definition, assuming a common cultural background with the reader (and seems to be a very common strategy). It is my argument, reinforced by a detailed examination of certain key relevant texts, selected for both their influence and timeliness in the social sciences, that the use of any of these strategies inevitably involves the writer or researcher in contradiction and confusion. As this entire thesis is about the definitional strategies employed when using the term, ‘masculinity,’ no specific definition is provided of masculinity in the opening chapters of the thesis. However, due attention is paid in Chapter Two to Connell’s (1987; 1995) notion that there are actually ‘multiple masculinities,’ a definitional strategy, I argue, not without its own confusions. Within Connell’s understanding of masculinity, this thesis focuses only on notions of ‘hegemonic masculinity’. The final five chapters of the thesis sketch a further approach to masculinity on the basis of considering masculinity as a specific type of identity narrative. Chapters Five, Six and Seven provide the grounding for such a consideration through an examination of the nature of identity narratives generally, and Chapters Eight and Nine apply this grounding specifically to masculinity, and, in the case of Chapter Nine, to research about men. Chapter Five delineates the key term ‘identity’, and separates it from the concept of the ‘self’, a term with which it is often, but not always, conflated, whilst comparing both terms, ‘self’ and ‘identity’, on the one hand to the Foucauldian idea of subjectivity and on the other hand, to the Freudian and Lacanian notion of the ego. Chapter Five argues that identity can be meaningfully separated from the self by two markers, 1) its basically moral nature, which in turn 2) arises out of its association with social structures and social discourses. Although no argument is made either for a singular self or a “true” self, it is argued that the human experience of the self and the identity is that they are often in conflict, and the ‘self’ is often experienced as being an unsuccessful copy or diminished form of the identity (or identities). This experience signals what I have called ‘the Ambassadorial function’ of the identity; that is, its ability to represent and commend, as well as prescribe and command, cultural norms and expectations for an individual’s personality to the self. Chapter Five suggests that whilst the number of selves in a particular culture may be close to infinite (in that one body may contain many selves), the number of identities prescribed by a given culture which uses identity narratives may be multiple, but quite finite. Chapters Six and Seven explore the human attraction, at least in modernist Western cultures, to identity narratives, and suggests that their current cultural importance arises out of both personal need and social compulsion. In order to establish personal motivations for the adoption of the identity, Chapter Six takes a necessary detour through conceptions of agency as they appear in the work of Anthony Giddens (1979; 1984), Rom Harre and his associates (particularly in Harre’s discussion of ‘positioning theory’, Harre and van Langenhove, 1999a) and in the recent work of Judith Butler (1997). Each of these asserts the possibility of human agency against some post-modernist interpretations of Foucault, Althusser, and others which suggest agency is entirely an artefact of discourse (an interpretation denied by Foucault himself (Foucault, 1994/2000, p. 399)). Although I do not believe any of these accounts provide a particularly satisfying notion of agency, they do make it plausible to consider the possibility that identities take on their compelling nature because they provide an answer to individual concerns, as well as the role they play in the construction of human subjectivity, and of course, it can also be argued that some of these individual concerns are themselves created by social subjectivities. Chapter Seven examines this collusion of interest which occurs in modernist Western cultures which promote the adoption of identity narratives. Based on theoretical work by Otto Rank (1936a; 1936b), Ernst Becker (1962/1977), Theresa Brennan (1993; 2000), as well as on research by Theweleit (1977/1987; 1978/1989) and Foxhall (1994; 1995), it suggests that identities serve to protect a person from overwhelming fears of mortality, change and the flow of life (see also Goodchild, 1996). As a result of these fears, an individual is primed to adopt narratives which attach them to larger, less changeable social wholes, whether these narratives are of a collective religious nature, or whether, as in the case of modernist culture, they are identities. These fears can then be exploited to instil identities which serve wider, and not necessarily equitous, social purposes. Chapter Seven concludes, however, that such a project is always unsuccessful, for as Butler (1993, p. 2) states, ‘Bodies never quite comply with the norms by which their materialization is impelled.’ No strategy, however clever, can solidify the processes of flow. Chapter Eight presents the case for considering masculinity as a type of identity narrative, which, because of its relationship to biological sex and gender, reflects the social relationships between the genders in modernist cultures (the assumption that there are only two genders acknowledges a cultural belief, and not the writer’s own assumptions about gender). It suggests that it makes sense to think of masculinity as an identity discourse to which both men and women are initiated as they come to understand the specific speaking conditions under which this discourse must be appropriated (these occur more often for men than for women). It further proposes limiting the use of the term masculinity to those societies which have two necessary pre-conditions; 1) they rely on identity narratives generally, and 2) they are patriarchal. It argues that many societies which are/have been patriarchal do not/did not have a concept of masculinity, and men exercised their privilege over women and children through other forms, such as in the social roles they played. (For example, Connell, 1993, p. 604, cites classical China as having a patriarchal, yet non-identity based culture.) Chapter Eight argues that to refer to men’s conceptions of masculinity in these societies is to import an anachronistic term into discussions of those societies’ conceptions of manhood. Chapter Eight further suggests that the “speaking conditions” for the employment of masculinity must be learned by the members of a culture, and that men’s everyday behaviour is often non-masculine; in fact, I suggest it is usually non-masculine unless the male is made aware that the situation requires the production of the masculine identity narrative. Following suggestions from narrative therapy (for example, Jenkins, 1990; 1996; White, 1991; 1992; C. White and Denborough, 1998), I believe greater hope for promoting equity towards women and children and respect for diversity amongst men can be achieved by focusing on those occasions when a male is not “speaking” masculinity than for reform of masculinity, which in my view, remains locked into its relationship to patriarchal social relations. In this sense, I present further arguments which I believe buttress the case already made by MacInnes (1998) that the abolition of the masculine identity narrative totally (and perhaps gender narratives generally) is more desirable than the reform of masculinity. Chapter Nine briefly illustrates the application of this approach to researching masculinity through the understandings of the development of the masculine identity narrative generated by two male focus groups using the ‘memory work’ methodology pioneered by Frigga Haug (1987; 1992a) and extended by June Crawford and others (1992). In all, this thesis contributes to the current debate on the nature of masculinity by seriously considering the implications of the links masculinity provides to patriarchal social relationships as an identity narrative. The specificity of these links, as well as their deeper functioning within human life have, to date, been largely unexplored in the literature on men. The thesis explores these links through the use of some of the literature which first brought the problems identities seek to resolve to academic and therapeutic attention (such as the work of Rank and Becker). Further, in proposing an approach to masculinity limited by cultural constraints (that is, patriarchy and the general presence of identity narratives), the thesis facilitates a potential shift in the literature from approaching masculinity via one of the definitional strategies to a more focused definition, which allows one to delineate when a man is being masculine and when a man is not being masculine. As such, this allows for a re-emergence and perhaps a re-appreciation of the diversity and multiplicity that lies not only between individuals, but also within each individual’s life and experiences.

Inledning: I föreliggande litteraturstudie analyseras tre kvantitativa studier somundersökt sambanden mellan objektrelationer och antisocial personlighetsstörningoch psykopati hos kriminella män. Målgruppen överensstämmer väl med personermed kriminell livsstil. Föreliggande uppsats syftar till att utifrån den samladekunskapen öka förståelsen för de omedvetna emotionella processerna hospersoner med kriminell livsstil. En ökad förståelse antas kunna bidra till bättreanpassad behandling för målgruppen. Frågeställningar: Vilka objektrelationer finns hos livsstilskriminella män? Hurkan en större förståelse inom området bidra till bättre anpassade interventionerför målgruppen? Metod: Studierna har inkluderats genom databassökning och analyserats genomtematisering där generella och specifika aspekter av objektrelationer hosmålgruppen identifierats. Resultat: Resultatet visar att målgruppen generellt har enpersonlighetsorganisation på borderlinenivå. Specifikt är egocentrism denintrapsykiska aspekt som är mest karaktäristisk. Interventioner som visat sigframgångsrika med andra former av personlighetsstörningar inom kluster B antasvara användbara för målgruppen. Diskussion: Vidare forskning behövs om hur målgruppens egocentrism skahanteras i den terapeutiska situationen. Psykoedukativa inslag om egocentrismantas kunna bidra till att klienten idealiserar denna kunskap, vilket kan vändas tillett intresse för det egna inre. / Introduction: In this literature study, the relationships between objectrelationships and antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy among criminalswas analysed. The aim is to increase the understanding of the unconsciousemotional processes of people with a criminal lifestyle. An increasedunderstanding is believed to contribute to better tailored interventions for thetarget group. Issues: What object relations are found in men with a criminal lifestyle? How cana greater understanding in the area contribute to better tailored interventions forthe target group? Methods: The studies have been included through database search and examinedthrough thematization. General and specific aspects of object relations wereidentified. Results: The result shows that the target group generally has a personalityorganization at borderline level. Specifically, egocentrism is the characteristicaspect. Interventions that have proved to be successful with other personalitydisorders within cluster B are believed to be useful to the target group. Discussion: Further research is needed to examine how egocentrism should behandled in the therapeutic situation. Psycho-educative elements aboutegocentrism are believed to help the client idealize this knowledge and turn it intoan interest in his own mental states.

Este trabalho consistiu na investigação das possíveis implicações entre a dinâmica do casal e a relação com o filho autista e as dificuldades que os pais apresentam para estabelecer parceria com o terapeuta, colaborando assim com o processo terapêutico e com o desenvolvimento do filho. Realizamos Diagnósticos Compreensivos (Trinca, 1983), visando a um conhecimento dos aspectos psicodinâmicos dos casais e da relação destes com o filho autista. A base teórica que fundamenta o estudo é a psicanálise e as teorias psicodinâmicas juntamente com nossa experiência clínica. Utilizamos dois instrumentos: entrevista semidirigida e o procedimento de Desenhos de Família com Estórias (Trinca, 1978). A pesquisa foi realizada nas dependências de uma Instituição Pública, especializada no atendimento de crianças autistas, situada na grande São Paulo. Contamos ainda para a realização deste, com a participação voluntária, de cinco casais de pais de filhos autistas, os quais prestaram enorme contribuição ao nosso estudo. Os resultados obtidos após levantamentos dos dados foram: - os pais vivenciaram conflitos emocionais, instabilidades ambientais, humilhações afetivas em suas famílias de origem. - os conflitos emocionais originaram relações de objetos deficitárias, frágeis e conturbadas. - as dificuldades emocionais vivenciadas serviram como percalços ao desenvolvimento emocional destes pais e impediram qualquer possibilidade de interação com o filho autista. - algumas reações das crianças autistas, utilizadas como forma de contato com os pais estão relacionadas ao foco do conflito da dinâmica dos pais. - as dificuldades emocionais dos pais influenciam o desenvolvimento do filho autista, uma vez que aqueles encontram-se impossibilitados para um contato ‘vivo’ e ‘humano’. Concluímos que os pais por nós estudados apresentam intenso sofrimento por manifestarem importantes dificuldades emocionais, necessitando serem cuidados, tanto quanto seus filhos autistas. / This work was the investigation of possible implications between a couple dynamics and the relationship with their autistic child and the difficulties the parents have to establish a partnership with the therapist, thus helping the therapeutic process and the development of their child. Comprehensive Diagnosis were done (Trinca, 1983), with the aim of getting to know the psycodynamic aspects of the couples and their relationship with their autistic child. The theoretical base of the study is the psychoanalysis and the psycodynamic theories together with the clinical experience. Two methods were used: semi-directed interview and the procedure of Family Drawing with Stories (Trinca, 1978). The research was done in a Public Institution, specialized in treating autistic children, located in the city of São Paulo. There was also the voluntary participation of five couples, parents of autistic children, which meant na enormous contribution to the study. The results obtained after the data gathering were: - the parents lived emotional conflicts, environmental instabilities, and affective humiliation in their families of origin. - the emotional conflicts originated handicapped object relations, they were fragile and disturbed. - the emocional difficulties lived were obstacles to the emotional development of these parents and made impossible any kind of interaction with the autistic child. - some reactions of the autistic children, used as a way of trying to establish contact with their parents are related to the focus of the conflict of the parents dynamics. - the parents’emotional difficulties reflect in the development of the autistic child, due to the fact that the parents do not provide a ‘live’ and ‘human’ contact. We concluded that the parents we have studies present intense suffering demonstrating important emotional difficulties, needing to be treated as their autistic children do.

Tennessee Williams is a playwright of great psychological depth. This thesis probes some of the complexities of his work through the use of Object Relational Psychoanalysis, specifically employing the theories of Melanie Klein, W.R.D. Fairbairn and Donald Winnicott. The Glass Menagerie, A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and The Night of The Iguana are analysed from this theoretical stance. All of these plays display great perceptiveness into the human condition, accurately portraying many psychological relational themes. Certain Object Relational themes become very apparent in these analyses. These themes include, Dependency (especially in The Glass Menagerie), Reparation (particularly in A Streetcar Named Desire), Falsehood (notably in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Idealisation (evident in The Night of The Iguana), Honest Empathetic Relations (apparent in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and The Night of The Iguana) as well as Guilt, Object Loss, Sexual Guilt, and Obligation (recurring throughout these plays). It is advanced that Williams’ plays posses an honest and insightful understanding of human relations and, as such, are of contemporary value. This Thesis is not only an academic study, but also has practical applications for dramatists. With an increased understanding of the intrinsic tensions and motivations within such plays, offered by such psychoanalytic strategy, performance and staging of such work may be enhanced valuably.

Sexual abuse of children has profound negative effects on psychological development. This study examined the effects of sexual abuse on object relations functioning by using the Mutuality of Autonomy Scale (MAS, Urist, 1977) to score Rorschach protocols of 63 abused children and 60 non-abused clinical controls. The hypothesis that abused children would have less developed object relations than their non-abused counterparts was not supported. Neither was the hypothesis that children who experienced greater severity of sexual abuse would exhibit more malevolent object relations. The hypothesis that mean and modal MAS scores would be highly intercorrelated and interchangeable as research variables was supported. Comparisons of this sample to a normative sample are discussed.

Orientador: Cláudia Thereza Guimarães de Lemos / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-18T14:57:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mazaferro_Renata_D.pdf: 419112 bytes, checksum: 325cd2504648fd3186ffe2cf4731891b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Parte-se, nesta tese, da fantasia conforme apresentada por Freud através do sonho dos lobos, no caso História de uma neurose infantil (1918[1914]). Segundo Freud, o sonho dos lobos é "ativação" da cena de coito do casal parental. Jamais lembrada, "fantasia fundamental", a cena impossível de simbolizar é "construção da análise". Freud não recua diante do não simbolizável, mas Lacan o nomeia: real. A transmissão em psicanálise é efeito do não simbolizável? O segundo capítulo trata da fantasia como narrativa e da frase da fantasia. Herói de todas as histórias, maciçamente presente na fantasia como narrativa, o "eu" está ausente na frase da fantasia de espancamento. A frase intermediária, não simbolizável - uma construção da análise - permite a reconstrução do "eu". Flagrante da cena de constituição do inconsciente, a frase possibilita uma gramática e a depreensão de uma lógica gramatical da fantasia. Por ser articulação significante, tal qual a narrativa, a frase é considerada um deslocamento de Freud na questão da fantasia. O terceiro capítulo apresenta o passo de Lacan. Com a lógica do fantasma, a frase enquanto estrutura gramatical é considerada para ser implodida. Da frase resta o objeto a, na frase da fantasia de espancamento: o olhar. O objeto a apresenta-se como corpo, mas não "corpo total": não especularizável, o objeto a é queda, aquilo que desgarra ou se afasta do corpo de que depende. A castração possibilita definir a função do objeto a em seu estatuto lógico. Na subjetivação, o sujeito ocupa o lugar do objeto a. A lógica do fantasma inclui o objeto a na lógica do significante. Uma narrativa de caso, forma de transmissão em psicanálise, é apresentada no quarto capítulo. O capítulo final, a passagem de "o impossível é o real" a "o real é o impossível", considera: enquanto o complexo de Édipo se funda no interdito - o impossível de simbolizar, nos termos de Lacan: 'o impossível é o real' - a fórmula "não há relação sexual", axioma lacaniano da castração, se funda em "o real é o impossível". Efeito de estrutura, 'o real como o impossível' faz existir a hipótese desta tese: o não simbolizável, o interdito representado pelo complexo de Édipo - 'o impossível é o real' - funda o campo freudiano e produz a transmissão em psicanálise / Abstract: This thesis is based on fantasy as Freud presented this concept in the dream about the wolves in the clinical case entitled The History of an Infantile Neurosis (1918[1914]). According to Freud, this dream was an "activation" of the scene of intercourse between the Wolf Man's parents. This "fundamental fantasy", this scene, that is never remembered and cannot be symbolized, is a "construction of analysis." Freud never backed down on the idea of non-symbolizable, but Lacan called it "real." Is transmission in psychoanalysis the effect of the non-symbolizable? The second chapter of the thesis discusses the fantasy as narrative and the phrase of the fantasy. The hero of all stories, unmistakably present in the fantasy as narrative, the "I" (or the "ego") is absent from the phrase of the fantasy of being beaten. The intermediate phrase, which is non-symbolizable - it is a construction of analysis - enables the "ego" to be reconstructed. The phrase is an instantaneous glance at the scene of the constitution of the unconscious and enables the existence of a grammar and a detachment from a grammatical logic of the fantasy. As it is a signifying articulation, as is the narrative, a phrase is considered a displacement by Freud in the question of the fantasy. The third chapter presents Lacan's advance. With the logic of the fantasy, the phrase as grammatical structure is considered for implosion. In the phrase of the fantasy of beating only object a remains: the gaze. Object a is seen as body, but not "total body": unspecularizable, object a is fall, something that comes loose from, or moves away from, the body it depends on. Castration makes it possible to define the function of object a in its status in logic. In subjectivation the subject occupies the place of object a. The logic of the fantasy includes object a in the logic of the signifier. The narrative of a case, on a form of transmission in psychoanalysis, is presented in Chapter Four. The last chapter, the passage from "the impossible is the real" to "the real is the impossible," considers that: whereas the Oedipus complex is founded on the interdicted - what cannot be symbolized, in Lacan's terms: 'the impossible is the real' - the formula "there is no sexual relationship," Lacan's axiom for castration - is founded on "the real is the impossible." As the effect of structure, "the real as the impossible" brings the hypothesis of this thesis into existence: the not-symbolizable, the interdicted represented by the Oedipus complex - "the impossible is the real" - founds the Freudian field and produces transmission in psychoanalysis / Doutorado / Linguistica / Doutor em Linguística

L'accompagnement en tant qu'auxiliaire de vie scolaire de Max, adolescent diagnostiqué autiste Asperger, fut le cadre de notre observation et de recherche clinique. Max a l'habitude d'aller toucher les cheveux d'autrui, ce que nous envisageons comme la manipulation d'un objet autistique atypique et une modalité particulière de rencontre de l'autre. À partir des travaux et des références de Francès Tustin, nous proposons une recherche à propos des fondements métapsychologiques de la notion d'objet autistique afin de déterminer quels sont les processus psychiques qui sous-tendent leur apparition. Nous étudions les cheveux en tant qu'éléments corporels symboliques et découvrons leur polysémie. Puis nous comparons la fonction et la manipulation des objets autistiques à celles des objets transitionnels, fétiches et self-objects, ce qui nous permet de penser des modalités spécifiques de relations d'objet. Notre hypothèse de la relation autistique à l'objet envisage l'émergence des objets autistiques en tant que témoins d'une relation à l'autre impossible et évitée, mais néanmoins recherchée et désirée. Cet évitement mènerait à l'intérêt pour un objet matériel. En outre, nous présentons le travail d'élaboration de notre accompagnement et de notre relation. Ainsi, l'élaboration du contre-transfert s'étaye sur une mise en dialogue de la situation d'observation et d'œuvres littéraires. Enfin, nous proposons une extension de la notion d'objet autistique et de la relation autistique à l'objet par une réflexion sur les nouvelles modalités de relation à l'autre que constituent les communications numériques. / The help I provided to Max as a school assistant was our context for the clinical research presented in this thesis. Max is a handicapped teenager diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome. He is used to touch other people's hair, which we consider as an atypical autistic object and a particular mode of meeting others. Based on Francès Tustin's work and research, we offer a study about the metapsychological foundations of the autistic object's concept to define the psychic processes underlying their appearance. We consider hair as a symbolic part of the body and found their polysemy. Then we compare the autistic object's fonction and manipulation with those of transitionnal objects, fetish objects and self-objects, which allows us to think of specific modes of object relations. Our hypothesis about autistic object relations considers the emergence of autistic objects as witnesses of an impossible and avoided relation to another, nevertheless sought and desired. This avoidance would lead to the interest for a material object. Moreover, we present the development of our study, in helping and relationship. Therefore the countertransference elaboration is based on dialogue between our observation situation and literary work. At last, we propose an extension of the autistic object concept and of the autistic object relation by reflecting on the new forms of communication with others, like digital communications.

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