The Apotheosis of Steve Jobs: Belief and Desire in the Discourse of Design

Abstract

This article addresses design theory’s lack of engagement with psychoanalysis by examining how the Lacanian concept of the subject-supposed-to-know can be used to explore the area of desirability in design and bring to light certain regularities in the structures of design discourse. After a brief introduction, the subject-supposed-to-know and the transference relation are situated in the context of Lacan’s work and explored with reference to Plato’s Symposium. The figure of Steve Jobs is then introduced as a representative example of the subject-supposed-to-know; that is, as a figure who mediates the relation between subject and object through various discursive strategies. The nature of the belief necessary to this relation is then interrogated via a reading of The Devil Wears Prada. The final section addresses the ideological function of Steve Jobs in the terms of the discourse of management.

Keywords:

• desirability
• psychoanalysis
• Lacan
• transference
• ideology

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 For the purposes of clarity, I treat the analyst as female and the patient as male. Explicatory economy is the only motive for this differentiation.

2 Sileni were companions of the wine-god Dionysus, depicted with horse-like features.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephen James Beckett

Stephen J. Beckett teaches in the Department of Visual Communication Design at Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. His research interests center on the convergence of design theory and critical theory, especially psychoanalysis, dialectics, and semiotics. [email protected]