Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dissociation, unconscious and social theory : towards an embodied relational sociology Rafieian Koupaei, Shahram Award date: 2015 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 29. Sep. 2021 Dissociation, unconscious and social theory towards an embodied relational sociology Thesis submitted for examination for: PhD in Sociology and Social Policy Shahram Rafieian koupaei School of Social Sciences Bangor University 2015 I hereby declare that (i) the thesis is not one for which a degree has been or will be conferred by any other university or institution; (ii) the thesis is not one for which a degree has already been conferred by this University; (iii) the work for the thesis is my own work and that, where material submitted by me for another degree or work undertaken by me as part of a research group has been incorporated into the thesis, the extent of the work thus incorporated has been clearly indicated. (iv) the composition of the thesis is my own work. Shahram Rafieian koupaei I agree to deposit an electronic copy of my thesis (the Work) in the Bangor University (BU) Institutional Digital Repository, the British Library ETHOS system, and/or in any other repository authorized for use by Bangor University and where necessary have gained the required permissions for the use of third party material. Shahram Rafieian koupaei i Abstract The recent attention which has been paid in sociology to the role of embodiment, intersubjectivity and reflexivity has resulted in the development of new social theories which aim to provide better explanations of structure and agency interactions and the dynamics of self and identity formation. In the process of the development of these theories, social theorists have often communicated with other relevant disciplines such as social psychology and psychoanalysis. Clearly, new developments in these related disciplines are likely to have relevance for micro-sociological theories. The aim of this project is to further develop modern micro-sociological theories in the light of new ideas in social psychology and recent understandings in psychoanalysis. Drawing on the ideas of relational psychoanalysis and relational sociology I have tried to define a dynamic unconscious in social theory and a fluid conceptualization of self and identity by applying the concept of dissociation as the key mechanism for shifting between different self-states. Also, based on the theories of Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens and Margaret Archer, the relationship between reflexivity and habitus is explored, different levels of reflexivity and various forms of consciousness are considered, and these interactions are further investigated using the two examples of sports training and hypnotic involuntariness. Using hypnosis as a model, the development of social self and embodied agency is explored in depth in this context. Furthermore, as a real-life example, the role of subjectivity, relationality and embodiment in doctor-patient relationships is investigated using findings in the research fields of hypnosis and placebo. In conclusion, based on the conceptualization made in this research, the place of two consciousness modalities (discursive and practical) and forms of unconscious (psychological and psychoanalytical) is clarified. Finally, the implications of this categorization for understanding core concepts such as agency, self and identity are explored and some suggestions are made for the further development and application of the theories explored in this project. ii Acknowledgements My deepest gratitude to Professor Howard Davis who supervised this dissertation and whose insightful questions, constructive criticisms and comments supported my work. Without his encouragement and help this research would never have been completed. I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my wife Sima for providing help and support in completing this difficult task. I am very grateful to my parents for their encouragement throughout my academic life. Also I thank my wife’s parents for their support. I dedicate this work to my wife and her parents, my parents and also to Homa, Nasrin and Bahram. This work would not have been possible without the 125th Anniversary Research Scholarship awarded by Bangor University (2012-2015). iii Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1 Thesis Overview ........................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 2: Self, Identity and the Relational Approach in Sociology and Psychoanalysis .. 19 Relational sociology and relational psychoanalysis ................................................... 22 Peirce, human subjectivity and the unconscious ........................................................ 26 Dialogical unconscious ............................................................................................... 35 Body and embodiment ................................................................................................ 37 Discussion and concluding remarks ........................................................................... 39 Chapter 3: Recovering the value of the concepts of dissociation and unconscious for social theory ................................................................................................................................... 41 Dissociation and the relational context ....................................................................... 43 Self and dynamics of identity formation ..................................................................... 50 Self states, Erving Goffman’s dramaturgy and Judith Butler’s performativity .......... 57 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 60 Chapter 4: Habitus and Psychological Automatism ............................................................ 62 The concept of habitus ................................................................................................ 63 Psychological origins of habitus ................................................................................. 66 Psychological automatism .......................................................................................... 69 Psychological unconscious and social life .................................................................. 72 Automatism, agency and determinism ........................................................................ 75 Habitus and psychological automatism ...................................................................... 76 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 81 Chapter 5: Dissociation, reflexivity and habitus ................................................................. 83 iv Theories of reflexivity in modern social theory ......................................................... 84 Habitus, reflexivity and unconscious ......................................................................... 86 Dissociative theory of mind ....................................................................................... 89 Habitus and internal conversation .............................................................................. 95 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 102 Chapter 6: A sociological analysis of hypnosis: development of social self and phenomenology of agency ................................................................................................ 104 The nature of hypnosis ............................................................................................. 106 Hypnosis and development of social self ................................................................. 108 Goffman’s dramaturgy and Turner’s anthropology of performance ........................ 110 Acting, embodiment and alteration of consciousness .............................................. 112 Phenomenology of volition and social agency ......................................................... 113 Agency and embodied self-reflexivity ..................................................................... 118 Culture, role taking, rituals and alteration of consciousness .................................... 120 Summary and concluding remarks ........................................................................... 121 Chapter 7: Hypnosis, placebo and performance: recovering the relational aspects of medicine ...........................................................................................................................