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The preface of Lacan, Discourse, and Social Change outlines the author's purpose in writing this book. He wants to promote beneficial social change by raising our awareness of the unconscious effects and influence of political discourse. And in so doing, he
wants to avoid what he sees as the “inconsequentiality” of most “cultural criticism” by raising it to the level of a transformative social practice. This goal may be viewed as psychoanalytic in the broad sense, in so far as the author aims to do for society something of what a psychoanalysis may do for an individual. The three subjects mentioned in the book's title reflect the diverse interests of the author, Mark Bracher, who is Associate Professor of English and Associate Director of the Center for Literature and Psychoanalysis at Kent State University.
Because it relies on Lacanian theory for its conceptual framework, the book is not completely accessible to the general reader or clinician. Lacanian theory has become an accepted Lingua Franca for academicians from many disciplines. The general reader would be well advised to consult one of the good introductions to Lacan (Grosz, 1990; Lee, 1990) in order to follow many of the author's analyses. As a point of orientation, it is helpful to keep in mind that all of Lacan's concepts, even the most obscure, began as “spins” on basic Freudian notions. Readers already familiar with Lacan, including psychoanalysts, will find that certain of Lacan's lesser known ideas are discussed with a great deal of insight in this book.
One such Lacanian concept—and one which moreover serves as an organizing metaphor for the book as a whole—is the “master signifier.” According to Bracher's reading, the term “master signifier” refers to certain key words which bear on a subject's identity, such as “man,” “woman,” “American,” “peace maker,” and so forth. These words define who we are and what we stand for. My own name, for example, establishes an identity in which I can recognize mys