School Of PsychologyWays of Being - Regulating Subjectivity and SelfhoodWestern Sydney University Unit Code: 53068.1
Discipline: PSYCHOLOGY
Student Contribution Band: 1
Level: 4
Credit Points: 10
About this Unit
This unit examines the construction and regulation of subjectivity and selfhood from a critical psychological perspective, drawing on the knowledge developed in previous studies. Traditional psychological approaches, which emphasise a rational subject, are contrasted with psychoanalytic, humanistic, feminist and spiritual approaches. The means by which subjectivity is conceptualised and experienced from these different theoretical standpoints is explored, as is the impact of cultural acceptance of a particular strand of thought on individual subjectivity, relationality and cultural identity. This is achieved through examining conceptualisations of 'ways of being', such as craving, creativity, madness, despair, pain, rapture, falling, ecstasy, fear, rage, envy, guilt, greed, self loathing, happiness, love, desire, anger, insecurity and ambition. The regulation of ways of being, and as a consequence, of subjectivity and selfhood, is explored from a material and a discursive perspective, as are the mechanisms by which altered states are achieved. This includes an examination of individual and group psychotherapies, meditation, punishment or incarceration, drug use, sex, consumption, exercise, dance, and music.