Pro-space activism and narcissistic phantasy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract

This paper uses psychoanalytic theory to understand the motivation of pro-space activists – people campaigning to increase human activity in outer space. It suggests that activists are motivated by fantasies of a spacefaring civilization, which manifest unconscious phantasies of omnipotence and fusion related to the experience of self in primary narcissism. The argument of the paper is that in order to understand this pursuit of a phantasized self, we must locate activists within the cultural conditions that encourage secondary narcissism. This is one example of how psychoanalytically informed social theory can account for the relationship between social structure and the motivation of political activists.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)260-278
Number of pages19
JournalPsychoanalysis, Culture and Society
Volume12
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2007

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