Communicability and mediatization of psychoanalytic discourses in Buenos Aires

In this article I analyze the circulation of psychoanalytic discourses beyond the clinic through some of its most popular media representations. To do so, I use the concept of communicability (Briggs; Hallin 2007), which help us understand the way in which discourses are disseminated through ideological channels, and mediatization (Agha, 2011), which designates the amalgam formed between communicative processes and their commodification. The analysis focuses on three media forms: graphic humor, television programs, and advertisements circulating in the city of Buenos Aires. A key argument of the analysis is that psychoanalytic listening plays an important role in the dissemination and reproduction in the public sphere of psychoanalytic discourses through their reception and continuous recycling by lay audiences.

Keywords:
psychoanalysis; communicability; mediatization; listening