Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society

, Volume 20, Issue 3, pp 284–302 | Cite as

The flattened self: Generation Y reads Freud

  • Katherine Jenness
Original Article
First Online:
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Abstract

In this paper, undergraduate students’ responses to texts written by Freud are explored. Interviews with students reveal that they are uncompelled by Freud’s interrogation of the inner life, and generally refuse to privilege the depth-psychological sphere. The paper argues that interviewees may retreat from engaging subjective material because they, paradoxically, are already so accustomed to scrutinizing their own subjectivity. Implications for contemporary psychoanalysis are discussed.

Keywords

psychoanalysis Freud postmodernism reflexivity 
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Copyright information

© Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  • Katherine Jenness
    • 1
  1. 1.New York UniversityNew YorkUSA

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