The Drifting Subject
Core Question
China has a long tradition of “opting out” — from ancient reclusion to contemporary phenomena like 躺平 and 润, and to collective symbolic acts that refuse all existing codes. These forms echo one another across two millennia, yet they are not the same. This dissertation investigates the genealogy from a psychoanalytic perspective: the internal psychological mechanisms, and what genuinely supports subject formation.
- What forms does it take?
- What are the internal psychological mechanisms of these forms?
- What is their relationship to subjectivity formation?
- How do they relate to traditions of opting out in other cultures?
Methodology
Depth Hermeneutics + Psychoanalytic Hermeneutics
The research follows a hermeneutic methodology, not standard qualitative coding. Cultural texts, historical materials, literary works, and contemporary phenomena are interpreted through a three-phase procedure: socio-historical analysis (reconstructing the conditions of production), formal/discursive analysis (structural features of the texts), and interpretation/re-interpretation (depth-level meaning, including what the texts provoke in the researcher).
The psychoanalytic dimension draws on Lorenzer’s scenic understanding: the researcher’s affective and embodied responses to the material are not noise to be eliminated but methodological tools — traces of what the text carries but does not say.
The researcher’s positionality — Chinese, queer, in psychoanalytic training, Buddhist practitioner — is an epistemological condition, not a disclaimer.
Theoretical frameworks (Laplanche, Ferenczi, Kohut) are not the starting point of the research. They emerge as findings from the interpretive process — the material demanded them, not the other way around.
Materials
The research draws on cultural texts, historical materials, and contemporary phenomena across a wide temporal range. Materials are organised not chronologically but by the mode of opting out they represent.
Ancient Traditions of Withdrawal
The shidafu (士大夫) tradition and its internal 出世/入世 tension. The Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove. Buddhist reclusion and the Biographies of Eminent Monks (高僧传).
Contemporary Withdrawal
躺平 (lying flat) and low-consumption communities. 润 (emigration), 走线 (unauthorised border crossing), liberal arguments for exit. Stand-up comedy. Independent games.
Collective Symbolic Acts
Contemporary moments where the refusal to speak within any existing code becomes itself a form of communication.
Taiwanese and Queer Traditions
Taiwanese literature, especially its queer tradition — alternative genealogies of subjectivity outside the mainland framework.
Dialogue Layer
The Chinese materials are brought into conversation with other traditions of opting out: Buddhist renunciation, queer refusal, and the Western “Great Refusal” (Marcuse). The dialogue reveals what is specific to the Chinese forms.
Emerging Patterns
Four distinct modes of opting out are beginning to emerge from the materials. These are not fixed categories but interpretive orientations that will be tested and revised as the analysis deepens.
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Ghostly PersistenceBecoming visible through invisible means. Not direct confrontation, not withdrawal, but a spectral presence within existing symbolic systems. Stand-up comedy, independent games, queer literature.
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Economic WithdrawalRefusal to participate in the capitalist economic order — without leaving the physical space, without switching symbolic systems. 躺平, low-consumption communities.
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Switching the OtherNot refusal to translate, but translation using a different set of codes. Rejecting one Other’s symbolic system while accepting another’s. 润, liberal exit arguments. The act of translation itself is not interrupted.
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Beyond-Symbolic TranslationCommunication that transcends all symbolic codes. The absence of content becomes itself the message. Collective acts of symbolic refusal.
A cross-cutting phenomenon — defection (倒戈) — complicates the picture: figures who once refused to translate later translate willingly (e.g., Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige). Refusal may not be a stable position.
Key References
Methodology
- Thompson, J. B. (1990). Ideology and Modern Culture.
- Krüger, S. (2024). Formative Media.
- Bereswill, M. et al. (2010). Alfred Lorenzer and the depth-hermeneutic method.
- Hollway, W. & Jefferson, T. (2000). Doing Qualitative Research Differently.
- Rothe, K. et al. (Eds.) (2022). Cultural Analysis Now!
Theory
- Laplanche, J. (1999). Essays on Otherness.
- Ferenczi, S. (1933). Confusion of the tongues.
- Kohut, H. (1971). The Analysis of the Self.
- Saketopoulou, A. (2023). Sexuality Beyond Consent.
- Marcuse, H. (1964). One-Dimensional Man.
- Halberstam, J. (2005). In a Queer Time and Place.
Timeline
Programme begins
Enrolled in PsyaD at Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis. Coursework begins.
First proposal draft
Initial dissertation proposal written. Research question and theoretical framework outlined, but the project stalls — the method and the question don’t feel aligned.
Research methods course
Qualitative research methods course with dissertation supervisor. Attempt to develop the proposal as a course project. RQ undergoes multiple revisions; literature review and preliminary analysis begin.
Methodology breakthrough
Method identified as depth hermeneutics + psychoanalytic hermeneutics. RQ reframed: phenomenon-centred, not theory-centred. Internal working proposal completed. Currently reading methodology literature and preparing for formal proposal submission.