Open AccessObjectification and Instrumentalization: The Activation of Thanatos in Connection with “Body-Power”; or the Human Body as a Critical Object of Power in the Resent Social Reality
Author(s) -
Yana D. Nikolova
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of psychological studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1918-722X
pISSN - 1918-7211
DOI - 10.5539/ijps.v13n4p1
Subject(s) - objectification , psychology , power (physics) , psychosexual development , psychoanalysis , instinct , object (grammar) , death drive , social psychology , epistemology , philosophy , linguistics , physics , quantum mechanics , evolutionary biology , biology
This paper is about the ways in which the human body has been objectified under and through the use of power. The article explains the different aspects and ways of objectification of the body and the hidden nature of human behaviour that results from activation of the inner human instincts - the death drive, called Thanatos (Note 1) and the life drive called Eros as a response to Thanatos. By using the theories of Freud, Nussbaum, Erikson, Fanon and Foucault, the relationship between the human body and external power is examined. Using some recent events (such as the Covid-19 pandemic, the world lockdown and the Black Lives Matter movement) human behaviour is seen to result from activation of the inner drives (Eros (Note 2) and Thanatos), but also to be linked to the psychosexual and psychosocial aspects of human development.