On Social Networking and Psychosis

In this article, I explain how psychoanalytic theory helps to make sense of the increasingly psychotic character of public discourse. Following an approach rooted in the theories of Jacques Lacan, psychosis is defined not as a private, individual pathology but rather as a symbolic or social structure that inheres in culture. This structure is characterized by a failure to recognize or internalize a sense of authority and limitation respectively. The primary examples concern social networking technologies and the social media that these enable.