The lacanian school as an organizational structure

pp. 227-257

in: Raul Moncayo, Knowing, not-knowing, and jouissance, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Abstract

This chapter looks at the history of psychoanalytic organizations and the Lacanian school as an organization, beginning with a review of Lacan's trajectory in attempting to develop a new psychoanalytic organization consistent with the discourse of the analyst. Lacan was interested in alternative organizations in which hierarchical authority is balanced against a circular structure composed of communal, libertarian, and solidaristic forms of symbolic exchange. Along the way we show how Lacan's work on the psychoanalytic organization is indebted to Bion's work groups. The chapter concludes with a critical appraisal of what worked and what didn't work in Lacan's school that resulted in Lacan's dissolution of his school. Finally, we consider the conditions under which after Lacan, a Lacanian school has been established in the US within the context of the current state of the larger international Lacanian movement.