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A Lacanian perspective on power in planning

In: Handbook on Planning and Power

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  • Chuan Wang

Abstract

Power is a key element in planning practice, as change cannot be achieved without it. Yet, current power analysis in planning research often ignores the intersubjective exchange of power between individuals and/or groups. French psychoanalyst and philosopher Jacques Lacan’s account of power’s ideological and symbolic dimensions provides an explanation to understand how language exercises power in human affairs through an examination of the ultimate impulse of power, namely desire. By elucidating Lacanian concepts of master signifier, (divided) subject and (the surplus of) jouissance, as well as power relations in the four discourses, this chapter provides an understanding of how subjects are attached to power through their alignment with perceived progressive concepts in contemporary planning, as well as how, sometimes, resistance arises to this form of subjectification by power.

Suggested Citation

  • Chuan Wang, 2023. "A Lacanian perspective on power in planning," Chapters, in: Michael Gunder & Kristina Grange & Tanja Winkler (ed.), Handbook on Planning and Power, chapter 6, pages 90-103, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:eechap:19906_6
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