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The Couch as a Laboratory?

The Spaces of Psychoanalytic Knowledge-Production Between Research, Diagnosis and Treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2013

Monika Krause  and
Michael Guggenheim
Monika Krause
Affiliation:
Goldsmiths College, University of London [m.krause@gold.ac.uk].
Michael Guggenheim
Affiliation:
Goldsmiths College, University of London [m.guggenheim@gold.ac.uk].
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Abstract

The debate about knowledge-production in sociology has pitted “internalist” accounts, which pay close attention to the places, practices, and tools of knowledge, against “externalist” accounts of institutions and fields. Using psychoanalysis as a case, this paper develops an approach that integrates these traditions by comparing the differentiation of places, tools and practices of knowledge production. The paper shows that, in a context in which other areas of practice increasingly differentiate research, diagnosis and treatment in spaces, tools, and professional roles, psychoanalysis invokes that differentiation rhetorically but refuses to differentiate its practice. Psychoanalysts insist on a specific setting – the couch and the psychoanalytic relationship – as central to all aspects of their knowledge-production but they do not adapt this space to pursue any of these purposes in their own right. This analysis explains some of the problems psychoanalysis has with its environment and the specific form divisions take within psychoanalysis. As an unusual case of non-differentiation, psychoanalysis highlights the role differentiation plays in other areas of knowledge-production.

Résumé

Le débat sociologique sur la production de savoirs oppose les « internistes » aux « externistes ». Les premiers s’attachent aux lieux, aux pratiques et aux outils. Les seconds auscultent les institutions et les disciplines. Sur le cas de la psychanalyse l’article développe ici une approche qui intègre les deux traditions en regardant ce qu’il en est de la différenciation des lieux, des outils et des pratiques de recherche. On voit que dans un contexte où progressivement recherche, diagnostic, traitements et rôles professionnels sont de plus en plus différenciés, y compris les lieux d’exercice, les psychanalystes ont une rhétorique de la différenciation mais la refusent dans leur pratique. Ils présentent le dispositif spécifique constitué par le divan et la relation psychanalytique, comme central pour tous les aspects de leur production de connaissances mais n’adaptent pas cet espace à la poursuite spécifique de chacun de ces objectifs. Cette analyse explique les problèmes que la psychanalyse rencontre avec son environnement ainsi que des formes de clivage à l’intérieur de la profession. Cas inusuel de non-différenciation, la psychanalyse, éclaire le rôle que la différenciation joue ailleurs.

Zusammenfassung

In der soziologischen Debatte um die Wissensproduktion stehen sich Internisten, interessiert an Orten, Bräuchen und Instrumenten, und Externisten, mit ihrem Augenmerk auf Institutionen und Fachrichtungen, gegenüber. Am Beispiel der Psychoanalyse entwickelt dieser Beitrag einen Ansatz, der beide Traditionen miteinbezieht, in dem er die Unterscheidung von Orten, Instrumenten und Bräuchen der Wissensproduktion vergleicht. Während in anderen Bereichen mehr und mehr zwischen Forschung, Diagnose, Behandlung und beruflichen Aufgaben unterschieden wird, befürwortet die Psychoanalyse die Unterscheidung rein rhetorisch, lehnt sie in der Praxis jedoch ab. Die Psychoanalytiker betonen hier die besondere, ganzheitliche Rolle, die der Couch und der psychoanalytischen Beziehung in ihrem Fach zukommt, lehnen es jedoch ab, diesen Raum ihren Ziele anzupassen. Die Untersuchung geht sowohl auf die Schwierigkeiten, die die Psychoanalyse mit ihrem Umfeld hat, als auch auf die Trennungen, die innerhalb der Profession bestehen, ein. Die Psychoanalyse, als ungewöhnlicher Fall von Nichtunterscheidung, lässt erkennen, welche Rolle die Unterscheidung in anderen Bereichen der Wissensproduktion spielt.

Keywords

Science & Technology StudiesPsychoanalysisResearchDiagnosisTreatmentLaboratorySociology of KnowledgeProfessionsÉtudes des science et techniquesPsychanalyseRechercheDiagnosticTraitementLaboratoireSociologie de la connaissanceProfessionsScience and Technology StudiesPsychoanalyseForschungDiagnoseBehandlungLaborSoziologie des WissensBerufe
Type
Research Articles
Information
European Journal of Sociology / Archives Européennes de Sociologie , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , August 2013 , pp. 187 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2013 

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