A cultural and sociological interpretation of psychoanalysis in China: Psychoanalysis as cultural object, epistemic culture, and therapeutic culture

The global circulation of psychoanalysis is indicative of social modernisation throughout the world. But as psychoanalysis spreads from the West to countries in the Global South, it is not accurate to see the process simply as the spread of an advanced form of knowledge and clinical practice from the centre to the periphery. A sociological perspective can help reveal the dynamic and complicated social processes involved in the flourishing of psychoanalysis in China after its decline in the West. This article adopts three theoretical frameworks from cultural sociology to shed light on the issue. First, as a cultural object, psychoanalysis interacts with Chinese culture at the discursive level, but the analysis must be situated in a specific social context, taking into account multiple social actors. Second, as an epistemic culture, psychoanalysis is co-constructed by the state, the market, and the professional institutions of hospitals and universities, as well as by indigenous practitioners and Western analysts at the meso-level. Finally, as an important element of therapeutic culture in China since the psycho-boom, psychoanalysis facilitates the recognition and interpretation of individual suffering in an emotionally repressive social context at the macro level. Taken together, these multilevel discussions underscore the importance of social processes and invite future empirical studies on the topic.