Summary of ‘Anti-Oedipus – Psychoanalysis and Familiarism’ by Guattari and Deleuze

In ‘Anti-Oedipus – Psychoanalysis and Familiarism’, Guattari and Deleuze critique traditional psychoanalysis for its reduction of desire to familial determinations. They argue that such a perspective overlooks the broader social field in which desire operates. The authors discuss the concept of ‘group fantasy’, which they argue is inseparable from the symbolic articulations that define a social field. They suggest that traditional psychoanalysis tends to view individual fantasies as imaginary qualities that confer a kind of transcendence or immortality on the existing social order. In contrast, Guattari and Deleuze argue that group fantasies are plugged into the existing social field and invest it with desire. They also critique the psychoanalytic concept of castration, arguing that it introduces lack into desire and imposes an exclusive direction on the disjunction of the sexes. The authors conclude by suggesting that psychoanalysis has a tendency to castrate the unconscious, injecting it with beliefs that are consistent with the established order. [End of Notes, Message #2]