La teoría lacaniana de la ideología: su potencial explicativo y limitaciones

Abstract

This article tackles the explanatory potentiality of the Lacanian theory of ideology as has been formulated by the ‘Essex school’. This issue will be approached by way of a case study; namely, the xenophobic discourse in Tenerife. It will be argued that the Lacanian theory is an uneven one. On the one hand, thanks to its emphasis on the subject’s complicity with ideology, it can account for the seductive power of ideological discourses. Furthermore, it can render the very existence of these discourses intelligible in cases in which they lack logical consistency. On the other hand, however, the Lacanian theory is unable to answer some relevant questions: Why do some ideological discourses have more success than others? Why are just some subjects, and not all of them, gripped by ideology? In addition, some conceptual ambiguities will be highlighted, which undermine the analytical utility of this theoretical approach.