A Rebel Unconscious

“Gustavo Sánchez’s A Rebel Unconscious reveals exactly what an understanding of the unconscious can do for the emancipatory project […]. His book completely rewrites how we must theorize emancipatory desire. It’s an outstanding contribution not to be missed.”
—Todd McGowan, Professor and Director of Film and Television Studies, University of Vermont, USA

“A Rebel Unconscious is a beautifully written and structured book, offering a layered and distinctive perspective on the relation between subjectivity and political change […]. Sánchez’s conceptual clarity and analytic precision provide a model for psychosocial political theory and research.”
—Claudia Lapping, Professor of Psychosocial Studies and Education, UCL, UK

“Gustavo’s scholarly work is rigorous and innovative, and it traces the figure of an original, confident, brave, and compelling voice at the forefront of the next generation of Lacanian discourse studies.”
—Jason Glynos, Professor of Social and Political Theory, University of Essex, UK

This book offers a novel approach to social change by challenging conventional views of the emancipatory nature of political movements. Focusing on the 2019 Chilean revolt, it empirically demonstrates the contradictory ways in which socially desirable experiences are unconsciously organised. Drawing on interviews and observations with politically engaged scholars, the book systematically maps unconscious fantasies that offer solutions to the uncertainty surrounding emancipatory identifications. Its central claim is that alienation is not the opposite of emancipation but its very condition.

A Rebel Unconscious will appeal to readers interested in contemporary popular uprisings, struggles against neoliberalism, and the unconscious dimension of everyday life. It makes an important contribution to psychosocial and Lacanian studies by extending the interpretive reach of fantasy to encompass emancipatory experiences.

Gustavo Sánchez holds a PhD in Psychosocial Studies from Birkbeck, University of London, and is a Qualitative Research Associate in the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience at King’s College London, UK.