Djurskyddets ideologiska fantasier

En psykoanalytisk läsning av ”grisskandalen” 2009

Abstract

Animal welfare’s ideological fantasies: A psycholanalytical reading of the Swedish “Pig Scandal” in 2009

Swedes take significant pride in their country’s animal welfare standards, often touting their system as the ‘best in the world’. But what happens when this self-image is challenged and needs to reclaim its legitimacy? This article deals with the media reporting about the Swedish “Pig Scandal” in 2009. The scandal broke out after animal rights activists revealed extensive mistreatment of pigs in the meat industry. Bringing a psychoanalytically informed discourse theory to bear on the ensuing struggle over the meaning of the event, I argue that the restoration of the Swedish animal welfare discourse played out partly in the psychic register of fantasy. By displacing the animal cruelty inherent to the social order itself onto a series of external enemy-obstacles, the utopian promise of harmonious human–animal relations could be salvaged. In addition to this empirical contribution, the article introduces a Lacanian perspective on the role of lack, enjoyment, and fantasy in politics. The aim in this regard is to demonstrate the relevance of these psychoanalytical concepts as crucial resources for critique in the social sciences.