Jacob Johanssen
Psychoanalysis and Digital Culture
Audiences, Social Media, and Big Data
Routledge 2019
New Books in British StudiesNew Books in CommunicationsNew Books in Critical TheoryNew Books in Peoples & PlacesNew Books in Politics & SocietyNew Books in PsychoanalysisNew Books in Science & TechnologyNew Books in SociologyNew Books Network February 28, 2019 Dave O'Brien

How can insights from psychoanalysis help us understand digital culture? In Psychoanalysis and Digital Culture: Audiences, Social Media, and Big Data (Routledge, 2019), Jacob Johanssen, a senior lecturer in the University of Westminster’s School of Media and Communication, draws on the work of Freud and Anzieu to explore both traditional and new forms of media. The book uses research projects on the Embarrassing Bodies television show, and on digital labour, to show how psychoanalysis can inform research methods and explain how people engage with TV, use Twitter, and present themselves online. Moreover, the book grapples with the rise of big data, offering new perspectives on content providers such as Netflix. Packed with rich analysis and a wealth of examples, the book will be essential reading across cultural and media studies.