Psychoanalytic approaches to qualitative psychology

The possible syncretism of contemporary social psychology and psychoanalysis has a number of facets, relating particularly to a shared concern with language or communication as the medium through which people compose themselves. The ‘affective turn’ in the social sciences has opened this out still further, despite some radical criticisms of ‘social psychoanalysis’ developed therein. This chapter explores the issues involved in this ‘syncretism’ and in the critiques, and examines practical issues around the deployment of notions such as reflexivity, transference and countertransference in research. We present an example from recent research on ‘brothering’ and argue both for the productivity of the application of psychoanalysis to qualitative material and for its problems. We argue that the use of psychoanalytic understanding must be tentative, rooted both in biographical information and in a dynamic contact with research participants that allows space for emotional connectedness and observation and thoughtful reflection on the relationship that arises. As with other forms of qualitative research, analysis of textual material must be rigorous and cautious, employing psychoanalytic concepts but grounding them in clearly observable textual moves –however open these might be to alternative readings as well