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Hate Speech as the Action of Inequality: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Democracy and Social Power.

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Title: Hate Speech as the Action of Inequality: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Democracy and Social Power.
Authors: Gentile, Jill (AUTHOR)
Source: Psychoanalytic Inquiry. Jun2026, Vol. 46 Issue 6, p617-632. 16p.
Subjects: Hate speech, Psychoanalysis, Gender studies, Winnicott, D. W. (Donald Woods), 1896-1971, Political science, Democracy, Psychoanalytic theory, Oppression, Power (Social sciences)
Abstract: This essay proposes that hate speech merits political consideration beyond society's usual efforts to either banish or restrict, or alternatively, (as in the US context) to impose few restrictions on it. Leveraging psychoanalytic, and most especially, Winnicottian theory, it explores the paradoxical role of hate speech: how it can perpetuate oppression (and serve anti-democratic ends) but also act as a political force pressing for equality, democratic inclusivity, and social renewal. In Winnicott, we find that hate originates and thrives in the context of power relations but is also key to the dismantling and material redistribution of that power—in the clinic and in society. The semiotic conflations that structure hate speech enable its rapid reproduction and contagion in digital and public forums, which are exploited by a politics of grievance but countered by the psychoanalytic praxes of translation (of hate) and nonretaliatory survival, commitments generally absent in the democratic sphere. Contemplating the movement from hate speech to "free" speech" — or a "speech of desire," — both as part of the work of analysis and a goal for the public sphere, the essay identifies hate's contradictory motions, repudiating but also inconveniently requiring the (trinitarian) feminine as key to hate's transformation. Finally, this essay considers Winnicott's interrelated conceptions of hate, destruction, and breakdown, interpreting in contemporary political calls for drastic structural change, the unconscious social longing for a collective/ spiritual reawakening of the repudiated Maternal, along with an emergent readiness for the shared remembrance of, and embodied reckoning with, archaic repressed traumatic truths, ancestral legacies, and ecstatic possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Copyright of Psychoanalytic Inquiry is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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  Data: Hate Speech as the Action of Inequality: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Democracy and Social Power.
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  Data: This essay proposes that hate speech merits political consideration beyond society's usual efforts to either banish or restrict, or alternatively, (as in the US context) to impose few restrictions on it. Leveraging psychoanalytic, and most especially, Winnicottian theory, it explores the paradoxical role of hate speech: how it can perpetuate oppression (and serve anti-democratic ends) but also act as a political force pressing for equality, democratic inclusivity, and social renewal. In Winnicott, we find that hate originates and thrives in the context of power relations but is also key to the dismantling and material redistribution of that power—in the clinic and in society. The semiotic conflations that structure hate speech enable its rapid reproduction and contagion in digital and public forums, which are exploited by a politics of grievance but countered by the psychoanalytic praxes of translation (of hate) and nonretaliatory survival, commitments generally absent in the democratic sphere. Contemplating the movement from hate speech to "free" speech" — or a "speech of desire," — both as part of the work of analysis and a goal for the public sphere, the essay identifies hate's contradictory motions, repudiating but also inconveniently requiring the (trinitarian) feminine as key to hate's transformation. Finally, this essay considers Winnicott's interrelated conceptions of hate, destruction, and breakdown, interpreting in contemporary political calls for drastic structural change, the unconscious social longing for a collective/ spiritual reawakening of the repudiated Maternal, along with an emergent readiness for the shared remembrance of, and embodied reckoning with, archaic repressed traumatic truths, ancestral legacies, and ecstatic possibilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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  Data: <i>Copyright of Psychoanalytic Inquiry is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
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        Value: 10.1080/07351690.2025.2489330
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        Text: English
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      – SubjectFull: Hate speech
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Psychoanalysis
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Gender studies
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      – SubjectFull: Winnicott, D. W. (Donald Woods), 1896-1971
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      – SubjectFull: Political science
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      – SubjectFull: Democracy
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      – SubjectFull: Psychoanalytic theory
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Oppression
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      – SubjectFull: Power (Social sciences)
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      – TitleFull: Hate Speech as the Action of Inequality: Psychoanalytic Reflections on Democracy and Social Power.
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              M: 06
              Text: Jun2026
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              Y: 2026
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