The grip of ideology: A Lacanian approach to the theory of ideology

Is it possible to say something about how an ideology grips subjects that goes beyond today's sophisticated accounts of how particular socio-political traditions have been contingently constituted? This paper explores how a Lacanian conceptual framework provides the resources with which to offer an affirmative response to this question. In outlining such a response, I rely on Slavoj ?i?ek?s political re-articulations of psychoanalytic categories and on Ernesto Laclau's hegemonic approach to ideology. I begin by situating the hegemonic approach to ideology in the context of other contemporary approaches. I then offer a reading which suggests that ?i?ek?s Lacanian approach can be seen as a particular version of the hegemonic approach to ideology. Crucial to the former are the concepts of desire, fantasy, and enjoyment. I suggest that a Lacanian theory of ideology offers us a set of concepts drawn from the clinic that provoke interesting insights for the analysis and critique of ideology.