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Lacan on the Power of Words

 

Words Have PowerLacan emphasized the power of words and the impact of language on the mind. Western societies have long cultivated words to conform to ideological and political demands. What might Lacan have to say about the current focus on changing the meanings of terms or mandating the use of new terms?

Word usage is not trivial. It affects the way we think. Changing our word usage may broaden and/or restrict our thought processes. Mandating a change in word choice could be helpful in promoting desirable social reform; it could also precipitate a dangerous path toward the suppression of thought. These are issues that deserve considerable thought, especially in today’s climate of rapid social change.

There are many words that can be offensive, provocative, obscene, or painful to the mind of the listener. Implicit in words are meanings that have cultural histories and preconscious associations. Language scholars have long debated whether words constrain a native speaker’s thoughts or merely influence the patterns of conventional speech. Much of common language usage includes catchphrases, cliches, or slogans. While these forms of speech are handy shorthand, they are often used reflexively without much thought to their implicit bias, presuppositions, or prejudice.

While we may initially learn our language through mimicry and modeling, over time we take the language as our own. As we internalize and appropriate the language of our culture, our words also become a constraint as to what can be expressed or even consciously thought. We also learn that some words are less acceptable than others and thus must be suppressed in favor of social propriety. Censuring expletives and racial or ethnic slurs are typical examples of the admonitions parents impose on their children to teach them how to be better citizens.

Lacan emphasized the power of words–let’s consider what he might have to say about the power of words and their source. Lacan wrote about four discourses and identified four contexts within which the discourses play out, each nuancing a different form of control and conformity imposed upon the Subject. In each discursive context the Subject’s engagement with the Other influences the mind of the Subject in accordance with the Other’s authority. This influence centers around the social construction of words, their meaning, and their history. Whereas the shared usage of words is essential for interpersonal communication, words also impose a limiting structure on the mind of the Subject; hence the subjugation of thought through the control and conformity derived from a shared language.

The University discourse metaphorically describes a fundamental relationship that all persons in a society experience as part of being educated about truths, values, and facts. The authority of the University is beyond that of any individual and serves as the prototype for all bureaucracy, education, and government.

The Master discourse represents a relationship based on the governing rules imposed by persons of authority such as parents and teachers, who position themselves to command social conformity.

The Hysteric discourse refers to the inevitable neurotic position that individuals are subjected to regarding their attempt to express individuality and subjective experience. The private reality of the Subject can be subordinated to the Other’s authority, leading to neurotic compromises for the Subject’s subjective truth, i.e., the Hysteric position. One’s idiosyncratic use of words in the form of symptoms signifies a disguised expression of the subjective truth.

Finally, the Analyst discourse refers to the relationship that strives to give credence and support to the subordinated self of the Subject so as to provide awareness, acceptance, and dignity regarding one’s uniqueness. The task of the Analyst is to allow for the subjective truth to be spoken, along with the guilt and shame arising from its potential conflict with social dictates.

In each of these discourses, the emphasis is on how the influence of language serves as a critical factor for the shaping of the mind. When discourse occurs in the context of some authoritative Other, language use is controlled by the Other by virtue of that authority.

Lewis Carroll satirically anticipated the current linguistic controversy in Alice in Wonderland’s Through the Looking Glass, through the philosophy of Humpty Dumpty. Lacan, like Humpty Dumpty, recognized the power of words and of their source:

‘“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.”

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

 “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master—that’s all.”’ (Carroll, 2000, p. 213)

Who is the master? Who is the master that gets to decide what words shall mean and how is it that this master has attained the authority to dictate meaning? These are not trivial questions.

Aligned with Lacan’s view on the power of words, in George Orwell’s cautionary novel, Nineteen Eighty-Four (written in 1948), Newspeak was introduced as a prescient language that was imposed upon the populace to strategically erase undesirable social issues. Old words were banned as if they were heretical to the prevailing ruling class, while new words were invented to reshape how reality was supposed to be known. As Orwell described it:

“Newspeak was the official language of Oceania and had to be devised to meet the ideological needs of Ingsoc, or English Socialism… It was expected that Newspeak would have finally superseded Oldspeak … by about the year 2050…

The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought—that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc—should be literally unthinkable, at least as far as thought is dependent on words. … The word free still existed in Newspeak, but it could only be used in such statements as This dog is free from lice’ or ‘This field is free from weeds’. It could not be used in its old sense of ‘politically free’ or ‘intellectually free’ since political and intellectual freedom no longer existed even as concepts, and were therefore of necessity nameless. … Newspeak was designed not to extend, but to diminish the range of thought, and this purpose was indirectly assisted by cutting the choice of words down to a minimum.” (Orwell, 1990, Appendix)

A United States Supreme Court justice claimed, during her confirmation hearing, that she could not define what a woman is, and instead referred the question to the authority of biologists. Should science, then, be the master? Modern societies have long revered science as the harbinger of truth, as demonstrated through rigorous experimentation and hypothesis testing. The products of this methodology are “facts” that can be reliably accepted, that is, until they are questioned by still more investigation and testing. Science certainly has the license to coin new words to identify new phenomena (e.g., quarks, black holes, dark matter, etc.) or to redefine a planet (e.g., Pluto).

Psychology as an institution, likewise, creates and defines words that objectify human experience via the authority of the current DSM. Psychologists catalog an ever-expanding compendium of terms for mental disorders that redefines a patient’s private idiosyncratic experience into an objectified set of labels that one then seeks to mitigate. A person’s suffering, longings, fears, and misery are reorganized in terms such as psychoses, depressions, or personality disorders, where they are explored as though they could be homogenized as entities separate from the person. Addictions, for instance, can be defined neurologically as a dopamine rush rather than the subjective belief that one can control external outcomes. Depression can be similarly defined as a serotonin deficiency.  By objectifying the patient, their subjective mind is described with a preset list of authorized objective conditions. Whereas some may find it comforting to abdicate their misery and suffering to circumstances beyond their control, such resignation erases one’s personal history, autonomy, agency, and, perhaps, dignity.

While the influence and control from various social authorities may be inevitable, an individual can claim their own authority to dispute, challenge, and reject that which conflicts with who they know themselves to be. Adaptation, growth, and maturity are not passive processes, but rather require the embracing of and respect for differences and the courage to speak for oneself.

Lacan emphasized the power of words and the impact of language on the mind. He would argue that words matter, as does the source of their evolution. Who will claim the power to determine the words and retain the power by having determined the words? Something to think about…

Interested in learning more about Lacan? The following blog posts and courses may be helpful: How Lacan’s Theory Can Be Helpful in Psychotherapy (blog), Jacques Lacan: A Real, Imaginary, and Symbolic Psychoanalyst (blog), Jacques Lacan: Introductory Overview (4 CE Credits), and Lacan-Inspired Psychotherapy (4 CE Credits)

Citations

Carroll, L. (2000). The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition (The Annotated Books). W.W. Norton & Company.

Orwell, G. (1990). Nineteen Eighty-Four. Penguin UK.

APA Approved SponsorInstitute of Advanced Psychological Studies is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies maintains responsibility for the program and its content.

Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies also offers a Certificate of Advanced Study in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. All online and completed at your convenience. Learn more at: www.psychstudies.net/specialization-certificates

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