A Rebel Unconscious

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.