[ecrea] New book - Psychoanalysis and Digital Culture: Audiences, Social Media, and Big Data

New book
*Psychoanalysis and Digital Culture: Audiences, Social Media, and Big 
Data (Routledge)*

Psychoanalysis and Digital Culture offers a comprehensive account of our 
contemporary media environment—digital culture and audiences in 
particular—by drawing on psychoanalysis and media studies frameworks. It 
provides an introduction to the psychoanalytic affect theories of 
Sigmund Freud and Didier Anzieu and applies them theoretically and 
methodologically in a number of case studies. Johanssen argues that 
digital media fundamentally shape our subjectivities on affective and 
unconscious levels, and he critically analyses phenomena such as 
television viewing, Twitter use, affective labour on social media, and 
data-mining.

How does watching television involve the body? Why are we so drawn to 
reality television?　
Why do we share certain things on social media and not others? How are 
bodies represented on social media?
How do big data and data mining influence our identities? Can algorithms 
help us make better decisions?

These questions amongst others are addressed in the chapters of this 
wide-ranging book. Johanssen shows in a number of case studies how a 
psychoanalytic angle can bring new insights to audience studies and 
digital media research more generally. From audience research with 
viewers of the reality television show Embarrassing Bodies and how they 
unconsciously used it to work through feelings about their own bodies, 
to a critical engagement with Hardt and Negri's notion of affective 
labour and how individuals with bodily differences used social media for 
their own affective-digital labour, the book suggests that an 
understanding of affect based on Freud and Anzieu is helpful when 
thinking about media use. The monograph also discusses the perverse 
implications of algorithms, big data and data mining for subjectivities. 
In drawing on empirical data and examples throughout, Johanssen presents 
a compelling analysis of our contemporary media environment.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction: Psychoanalysis, Affect, and Digital Culture: Debates, 
Theories, and Methods
2. Audiences, Affect, and the Unconscious
3. Affect, Biography, and Watching Reality Television
4. Unable to Tweet: Inhibition and the Compulsion to Share
5. Affective Labour and the Body: Theoretical Developments
6. Affective Labour on Social Media
7. The Perverse Logic of Big Data
8. Conclusion

More information can be found here:
https://www.routledge.com/Psychoanalysis-and-Digital-Culture-Audiences-Social-Media-and-Big-Data/Johanssen/p/book/9781138484443

A preview of the book can be downloaded here:
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781351052054


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please
use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------