Deconstructing the Psychopath: A Critical Discursive Analysis
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Spring 3-2009
Journal / Book Title
Cultural Critique
Abstract
In response to (and also in reaction against) the pervasive discourse of the monstrous and of human monsters as caricatures of madness and danger, the objective of this paper is twofold: first, to conduct a critical, Foucauldian analysis of the psychopath, based on a discursive analysis of psychiatric descriptions of psychopathy, and second, to deconstruct the mythic figure of the psychopath and therefore to shed light on the relationship between psychiatric power and the construction of so-called monsters and psychopaths. Our argument is that the construction of the psychopath, a historically ill-defined concept (Gough; Sutherland 1950b; Cleckley; Hare 1993), as the main figure of modern monstrosity, involves the elaboration of a technical-knowledge system that is capable of characterizing anyone who deviates from the norm as dangerous to persons and to society (Movahedi; Sutherland 1950a; Hare 1993, chapter 7).
DOI
10.1353/cul.0.0037
MSU Digital Commons Citation
Federman, Cary H.; Holmes, Dave; and Jacob, Jean Daniel, "Deconstructing the Psychopath: A Critical Discursive Analysis" (2009). Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 169.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/justice-studies-facpubs/169
Published Citation
Federman, C., Holmes, D., & Jacob, J.D. (2009). Deconstructing the Psychopath: A Critical Discursive Analysis. Cultural Critique 72, 36-65.