Psychoanalysis as a Relevant Factor for Understanding Contemporary Culture - Proposal - Essay Example

PLAN PROPOSAL: ESSAY Is psychoanalysis relevant for understanding contemporary culture? Discuss with appropriate cultural examples. AIMS: I am going to explore the psychoanalysis theories and how they define contemporary culture. CONTENT: 1. I am going to use the film sky fall, to depict the current culture. Understanding and reviewing a film is important because it measures the contemporary culture, through its reception. 2. I am going to use the social theories of Freud as they a clear understanding of the elements of culture. SUMMARY AND ORDER OF THEMES TO BE COVERED: 1. I will define different elements of the paper 2. I will discuss culture, and relate it to psychoanalysis theories of culture. 3. I will discuss readings on the social psychoanalytic theory 4. I will discuss the film, sky fall. 5. I will return to the question and analyse how psychoanalytic theories define culture. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Adams, M. (2003). The Reflexive Self and Culture: A Critique. The British Journal of Sociology, 54(2), 221-238. BBC - Homepage. (n.d.). BBC - Homepage. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ DiCenso, J. (2007). Kant, Freud, and the Ethical Critique of Religion. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 61(3), 161-179. Freud, S., & Brill, A. A. (1938). The basic writings of Sigmund Freud;. New York: Modern library. Freud, S. (1952). The major works of Sigmund Freud. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. Freud, S., & Rickman, J. (1957). A general selection from the works of Sigmund Freud. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday Anchor Books. Grindstaff, L. (2008). Culture and Popular Culture: A Case for Sociology. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 619, 206-222. Hollan, D. (2000). Constructivist Models of Mind, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and the Development of Culture Theory. American Anthropologist, 102(3), 538-550. Pals, D. L. (1996). Seven theories of religion. New York: Oxford University Press. Reef, C. (2001). Sigmund Freud: pioneer of the mind. New York: Clarion Books. Storr, A. (1989). Freud. Oxford: Oxford University Press. FILMOGRAPHY: Mendes, S. (Director). (2012). Sky Fall [Motion picture]. England: Metacritics. Adams, M. (2003). The Reflexive Self and Culture: A Critique. The British Journal of Sociology, 54(2), 221-238. After analyzing the contents of this journal, I concluded that it is useful for my research on psychoanalysis, and contemporary culture. The reason is because it covers contemporary thoughts on psychoanalysis and culture. The Journal is found in JSTOR, and I typed, “Psychoanalysis and contemporary culture”. The author is a lecturer at London School of economics, and he specializes on Freudian theories. On this note, this journal is relevant. However, the journal does not go deep in explaining the relationship between Freudian theory and other contemporary social theorist. (88 words) BBC - Homepage. (n.d.). BBC - Homepage. Retrieved November 16, 2012, from http://www.bbc.co.uk/ This website is important for my research. BBC is an international broadcasting house, owned by the British government, and my interest lies on how they report on issues relating to culture. The institution has reporters all over the world, and it is therefore a good source for getting knowledge. Its board of directors are appointed by the monarch, and therefore it serves the government. I managed to access this website through the internet search. I used the key words, “British Broadcasting”. (81 words) DiCenso, J. (2007). Kant, Freud, and the Ethical Critique of Religion. International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 61(3), 161-179. This article contains information concerning religion and how it affects the cultures of people. The article analyzes psychoanalysis theory of Freud, and applies it to the various religious believes, and its impact in shaping the lives of people. On this basis, this journal is an important source of data for my research. The Journal is found on JSTOR, and I typed the key words, “Psychoanalysis and the Religious Culture”. The author is the chairman of the department of Religion, at the University of Toronto. This makes the article reliable because it is written by an expert of religion. (98 words) Freud, S., & Brill, A. A. (1938). The basic writings of Sigmund Freud;. New York: Modern library. This book analyzes the various theories of Sigmund Freud, and their applications. I find it useful for this research because it contains writings on Psychoanalysis theory, and their application. Specifically, it explains how the mind affects the cultural beliefs of a person. Sigmund Freud is a philosopher, while Brill was a lecture. I found this book on the library shelves, and I used the key word Freud. The major weakness of this book is that it does not provide a detailed critique of Psychoanalysis theory. (90 words) Freud, S. (1952). The major works of Sigmund Freud. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica. These book contains the major theoretical believes of Sigmund Freud, and among them is the psychoanalysis theory. This book is useful for my research because it defines culture, under the content of the psychoanalysis theory. Sigmund Freud is a social theorist and Scholar, whose works are studied all over the world. This book is on the library shelve, and I found it by using Works are studied all over the world. Its major weakness is that it only concentrates on the works of Freud, and does not give the views of other social theorists. (94 words) Freud, S., & Rickman, J. (1957). A general selection from the works of Sigmund Freud. Garden City, N. Y.: Doubleday Anchor Books. This book gives an overview of various works by Sigmund Freud. It is important for my research because it enable me to understand the context in which Mr Freud was developing his papers. This will help me analyze how the perception of a mind, develops the culture of a person. Mr Freud is a respected scholar of social sciences, while John Rickman was a government official, and mathematician. This book is on the library’s shelf, and I used the key words Freud to get it. (89 words) Grindstaff, L. (2008). Culture and Popular Culture: A Case for Sociology. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 619, 206-222. This article talks about popular culture and its relation to the mind. It analyzes the views of Sigmund Freud in relation to culture and through his Psychoanalysis theory. I find it useful for my research because it explains the role of the mind, in shaping the culture of an individual. A major weakness with this article is that it focuses so much on Sigmund’s view, and it does not give a critique of his approach. This article is found on JSTOR, and the key words to use while searching it is Culture and the Mind. Grindstaff is a lecturer of popular culture at the University of California. (96 words) Hollan, D. (2000). Constructivist Models of Mind, Contemporary Psychoanalysis, and the Development of Culture Theory. American Anthropologist, 102(3), 538-550. This article analyzes the views of contemporary psychoanalyst, in relation to a person’s mind, and how it contributes to the development of culture. This article is useful for my research, because it explains the psychoanalytic view of culture. This article is found on JSTOR, and I used the key words Psychoanalysis and Culture. The author is a lecturer of anthropology at the University of California, and therefore this article is relevant for my studies. This is based on the wealth of knowledge that Hollan has concerning this issue. (88 words) Pals, D. L. (1996). Seven theories of religion. New York: Oxford University Press. This book outlines how religion affects the culture of an individual. It borrows heavily on the theories of Psychoanalysis to explain the role of religion, in shaping the cultural views of an individual. I find it useful because it gives examples of real life circumstance where Psychoanalysis theory shapes the emergence of a culture, through religion. Pals Daniels has taught religion since 1975, and therefore he is experienced enough to write a book. The major weakness of this book is that it focuses on religion alone. This book is in the school’s library, and I found by using the key word, religion. (102 words) Reef, C. (2001). Sigmund Freud: pioneer of the mind. New York: Clarion Books. This book explains the basic tenets of Psychoanalysis. It is useful for my research because it outlines how the mind shapes the culture of an individual. Catherine Reef is a sociologist, and a novelist. She has extensive experience in sociology, and this makes it a reliable source. I bought this book online at the Amazon stores, and other issues are still available. The major weakness with this book is that it does not explain the Psychoanalysis concept by use of examples. (81 words) Mendes, S. (Director). (2012). Sky Fall [Motion picture]. England: Metacritics. This is a movie that depicts loyalty and trust. This movie is useful for my research because it depicts some aspects of popular culture, like pop music, prostitution and vengeance. Mendes is an experienced movie director, who was born in 1965, in England. The major weakness of this motion picture is that it depicts to much violence, and deceit. I managed to buy the DVD for this movie at my neighborhood. Storr, A. (1989). Freud. Oxford: Oxford University Press. This book analyzes the various theories of Sigmund Freud, and gives their critiques. It deeply talks of Psychoanalysis theories and their impact on culture. I find it useful because it explains in a simple and easier to understand manner, the teachings of Sigmund Freud on culture. This book is written by a lecturer with a wide teaching experience on Philosophy. It is therefore a reliable resource. This book is in the stock, at the docklands library, and I found it by using the key word Freud. (86 words) Read More