Desire Lecture

Studying two Psychologists:

• Sigmund Freud
• Jacques Lacan

Freud 

Treated "hysteria" patients (post-traumatic stress disorder)and developed theories about the psyche.

The psyche is 'what it is like to be me'. He also studied the conscious and unconscious self.

Example patient

Little Hans: Suffered from Generalised Anxiety Disorder; he had a fear of horses because he was bitten by one as a child.

Theory: The Oedipus Complex 

The Oedipus Complex consists of sexual feelings towards one's mother as that is the first women present in an infant male's life. The father is seen as the enemy rival. 

In Little Hans' case, the fear of castration overcame his anxiety and his father was pictured as interchangeable with a horse.

The end of his phobia came with Hans' fantasy:

1. Imaginary children
2. Plumber giving him larger genitals

Conclusion: Desire is a conscious vehicle for unconscious drive.

Lacan

The unconsciousness is structured like a language.

"Desire is neither the appetite for satisfaction, nor the demand for love but the difference that results from the subtraction of the first from the second" (2001 p2871)

• Desire is used to differentiate between biological/emotional needs
• The while represents part and the part represents the whole
• Object Big A= desirable
• Small A= object cause of desire- makes desire possible in the beginning
• Desire as the Other: big Other- symbolic mechanisms that tie people together
• Desire does from the outside
• We need to exist as Others to be desirable
• IDENTIFICATION MAKES DESIRE POSSIBLE
• "the mirror stage" narcissistic love towards the self

My thoughts on Desire 

I thought that this lecture was really interesting, and could possibly relate to my topic of obesity in terms of desiring addictive ingredients such as sugar. I would study more of Lacan's theories as opposed to Freud, as they are more focused on relationships with other humans rather than needs towards things in general.

Planning and structuring an essay

Task one: in groups discuss what we need when writing an essay

Today's session helped to refine what I wanted to find out, though I still need to refine my essay title and create a clear structure. I had a go at making a first draft of an essay plan (I know that this will definitely need refining)

I have highlighted key issues that construct a strong introductory paragraph and set out clearly what I want to try and figure out. 
Something I really struggled with last year is having too much of a vague and open ended essay question, so this is something I will need to take on board before I could potentially make the same mistake of setting myself a task too large.

One of the things that I needed to do was gather some more sources, so I spent the evening researching imagery that would relate to my topic.

John Holcroft's work nails my subject matter down to a tee in terms with all of todays corruptions in society. I found some examples of his work about obesity and how society view it.

On the contrary, I also had a look at Rachele Cateyes project on 'Glorifying Obesity' to gain a different perspective.

More research into sources like these will help to refine my essay question, and help me discover what I would like to find out.

Identity Lecture

Essentialism is the traditional approach to identity. It looks at:

• The soul/biological makeup
• Phrenology (parts of the brain)
• Physiognomy (correct proportion; read someone by the way they look

Pre-modern

People were defined by their long-standing roles, institutions determined peoples identity for example marriage, the church, your trade etc. 

Modern

This was the enlightenment period, (the 19th- early 20th century)

Three scholars to look at in this period were:

• Charles Baudelaire (1863)
• Thorstein Veblen (1899)
• Gerog Simmel (1903)

Simmel said that there was a trickle down theory between the classes; the lower classes would try to copy the upper, but in cheaper and more demeaning ways. Simmel's book 'The metropolis of mental life' talked about the separation from subjective to objective life.

Post Modern

This era focused more on the fragmented self and how identity can be  constructed through our social experience. In this era, 'discourses' were seen to define our identities. Discourses are 'a set of recurring statements that define a particular cultural object' for example age, race, gender etc.

Scholars in this period:

• Erving Goffman
• Zygmunt Bauman 
• Tom Hodgkinson
• Micheale Faucault

Drawing Seminar

Today's task was a quick drawing challenge, in which we had to visualise images quickly when given a theme. Luckily for me the theme was the NHS! So I already had a level of knowledge about what I could draw.

Part One: Draw 10 objects that relate to the NHS

 Part two: Draw potential problems relating to society to do with the NHS

So here I tried to illustrate risk-bearing scenarios. For example the ticking time bomb of waiting for an ambulance to reach a sick person, people calling the emergency services for the wring reasons, not enough facilities becoming available etc.

Part Three: Envision what the NHS would be like if there weren't enough resources and we had to rely on technology/other sources to provide patient care.

Here I have imagined what the NHS would be like in the future continuing the way it is going at the minute...
For example I have shown FaceTime being used for appointments, imagining that the digital era will continue to phase people so much, and also a surgeon trying to explain over the phone about how to perform a DIY operation.

Reflection

I am fortunate to have had the example topic being in relation to mine somewhat. I found it interesting to have to think on the spot about what I could illustrate and communicate in the best way to show the problems in the NHS. I think drawing under pressure makes you think in a different way, and come up with more obscure ideas as opposed to having a long time to think and process potential ideas.