Table Of Content“Symbolism and symbolisation are central concerns in the disciplines of sociology,
ethnology, and psychoanalysis, but few attempts have been made to synthesize
the approaches from these different but related fields. Éric Smadja, who is both
a psychoanalyst and an anthropologist, has now done so in an admirably concise
but thorough treatment of the place of symbolism in the work of Durkheim,
Mauss, and Freud, with further thoughts on subsequent thinkers including Levi-
Strauss, Bourdieu, Lacan and others. This book will be a valuable resource for
scholars seeking a lucid and systematic interdisciplinary treatment of symbolism
and its key role in the mind and in sociocultural life.”
Robert A. Paul, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Anthropology
and Interdisciplinary Studies, Emory University;
Director, Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute, USA
ON SYMBOLISM AND
SYMBOLISATION
In On Symbolism and Symbolisation: The Work of Freud, Durkheim and Mauss,
É ric Smadja returns to the end of the 19th century and explores how the con-
cepts of symbolism and symbolisation have been discussed among theorists, and
how this discussion has developed and revolutionised the human sciences as we
know them today. Uniquely, he connects three key thinkers of psychoanalysis,
sociology and ethnology – Freud, Durkheim and Mauss – and discusses how
their diverse epistemological paths blend, and have consequently shaped our rep-
resentation of humanity, society and culture in the 20th and 21st centuries.
In this innovative work, Smadja provides a complete biographical journey of
these three influential founders, beginning with a dedicated chapter on Freud,
followed by Durkheim and then Mauss. He explains each of their revolutionary
creations – Freud’s psychoanalysis, Durkheim’s French school of sociology and
Mauss’s modern French ethnology – before exploring their ground-breaking, yet
differing, conceptions of symbolism and symbolisation, offering a discussion of
specific and common aspects detected between these conceptions. In his conclu-
sions, Smadja focusses on France to examine what became of their thoughts after
the second half of the 20th century. He inspects the fields of French anthropol-
ogy, sociology and psychoanalysis: Lé vi-Strauss and his structuralist revolution,
his colleagues Franç oise Hé ritier and Maurice Godelier, Pierre Bourdieu, who
was an ethnologist before becoming a sociologist, and, of course, Lacan.
On Symbolism and Symbolisation: The Work of Freud, Durkheim and Mauss is a
pioneering work that will appeal to psychoanalysts in practice and in training,
and to academics and students of psychology, anthropology, sociology, philoso-
phy and the history of ideas. It will also be of interest to anyone wanting to learn
more about the life and work of these three major theorists and the connections
between the human and social sciences.
É ric Smadja is a psychiatrist and a psychoanalyst based in Paris, France, and
London, UK. He is a member of the Socié té Psychanalytique de Paris, a guest
member of the British Psychoanalytical Society and a member of the International
Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). He is also an anthropologist and an associ-
ate member of the American Anthropological Association. He was awarded the
IPA’s Prize for ‘Exceptional Contribution Made to Psychoanalytical Research’
(2007). He is the author of several books which have been translated into many
languages, including The Couple: A Pluridisciplinary Story and The Oedipus Complex
(both Routledge).
ON SYMBOLISM AND
SYMBOLISATION
The Work of Freud,
Durkheim and Mauss
Éric Smadja
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2019 É ric Smadja
The right of É ric Smadja to be identified as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Smadja, Éric, author.
Title: On symbolism and symbolisation: the work of Freud, Durkheim and
Mauss/Éric Smadja.
Description: 1 Edition. | New York: Routledge, NY 2019. |
Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018024250 (print) | LCCN 2018035417 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781351124843 (Master Ebook) | ISBN 9780815357193 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780815357209 (paperbook)
Subjects: LCSH: Signs and symbols. | Symbolism. | Freud, Sigmund,
1856-1939. | Durkheim, Émile, 1858-1917. | Mauss, Marcel, 1872-1950.
Classification: LCC BF1623.S9 (ebook) | LCC BF1623.S9 .S63 2019 (print) |
DDC 150.19/52–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018024250
ISBN: 978-0-8153-5719-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-8153-5720-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-351-12484-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India
CONTENTS
By way of introduction 1
The diverse sources of symbolism 2
Notes 4
1 Freud 6
Biographical journey 6
His creation: psychoanalysis 16
Notes 22
2 Durkheim 23
Biographical journey 23
His creation: the French school of sociology 28
Notes 39
3 Mauss 42
Bibliographical journey 42
His creation: transforming–developing Durkheimian sociology 50
The creation of modern French ethnology 53
Notes 58
4 Symbols, symbolism and symbolisation 60
Durkheim, symbolism and symbolisation 60
Mauss, symbolism and symbolisation 68
Freud, symbolism and symbolisation 78
Elements for discussion 90
Notes 96
viii Contents
By way of conclusion 99
Lévi-Strauss and his structuralist revolution 100
Françoise Héritier and the body as the founding substrate of the
original categories of symbolic thought: the identical and the different 103
Maurice Godelier’s critique 104
Pierre Bourdieu, symbolic power and violence 105
Lacan and the symbolic function 106
Notes 108
Bibliography 111
Index 115
BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION
This theme of symbolism and symbolisation, which made its appearance at the
end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, would revolu-
tionise all the human and social sciences all throughout the 20th century, both
within each of them – thus reorganizing the diverse aspects of their own episte-
mological fields in different manners – and in their interrelationships.
Since the 19th century, the human sciences figuring among the sciences of the
mind and grounded in interpretation – understanding, in keeping with Wilhelm
Dilthey’s ideas, had, in fact, been pervaded and animated by an essential split
between, as Bruno Karsenti has expressed it,1 studying human beings from the
outside by analysing their social forms of existence and studying them from the
inside by focussing on the individual ego, conceived of as an inwardly turned
entity. This split between the collective and the individual principally translates
into the division instituted between sociology and psychology, in which Émile
Durkheim vigorously participated.
However, the theme of symbolism and symbolisation would become a “phe-
nomenon of transition”, a mediation-juncture between the individual and collec-
tive fields, psychology and sociology, thus acquiring a privileged status deriving
from the fact that the phenomena falling into this category undermine the prin-
ciple of the duality between interiority and exteriority. It would thus contribute
to eliminating the split between them, then to unifying them practically and
theoretically within a new epistemological space.
Nevertheless, detectable in the recent history of these human sciences are two
quite distinct “epistemological” paths converging towards this common theme.
It is a matter, on the one hand, of the path taken by Sigmund Freud and psy-
choanalysis and, on the other hand, of the one taken by Durkheim, then Marcel
Mauss – the French school of sociology, then modern French ethnology – which
we will examine in this work.
