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Young Americans’ Dreaming in the Specular Age
Author(s) -
Sheriff Robin E.,
Mageo Jeannette
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
ethos
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.783
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1548-1352
pISSN - 0091-2131
DOI - 10.1111/etho.12237
Subject(s) - specularity , mode (computer interface) , representation (politics) , sociology , lens (geology) , psychology , aesthetics , specular reflection , art , optics , political science , computer science , law , physics , politics , operating system
Based on the analysis of recent dreams collected from college students in both the eastern and western regions of the United States, this article identifies a new visual mode of self‐making wherein young Americans imaginatively see themselves and others as images captured by and performing for a lens. Extending Lacan's notion of the mirror phase and building on Metz's concept of scopic regimes, we propose the concept of “specularity.” Further, we link specularity dreams to contemporary middle‐class child‐rearing practices and an increasingly obligatory engagement with technomediated practices. Specularity, we suggest, is a new mode by which subjectivities are reconfigured and brought into alignment with neoliberal styles of self‐representation.