Cartel
| French: cartel |
A cartel is the basic working unit in Lacanian psychoanalysis, originally established by Jacques Lacan as the foundational structure of the École Freudienne de Paris (EFP) in 1964. It functions as a small, non-hierarchical study group designed to facilitate the elaboration of psychoanalytic theory and clinical practice. Today, most Lacanian schools and associations across the world continue to organize their research and training work around the cartel structure[1][2].
Jacques Lacan
History
The cartel is the basic working unit on which Lacan based his school of psychoanalysis, the École Freudienne de Psychanalyse (EFP), and most Lacanian associations continue to organize work in cartels today.
In his Founding Act on 21 June 1964, Lacan introduced the cartel in the following way:
"Those who enter this School will undertake to fulfil a task that is subject to both internal and external supervision. In exchange they are assured that nothing will be spared in order that anything valuable they do gets the attention it deserves and in the appropriate place. To carry out this work we shall adopt the principle of sustained elaboration in small groups.”
Lacan later elaborated the function of the cartel in his 1967 text *Proposition du 9 octobre 1967 sur le psychanalyste de l’École*, making it a formal requirement for work within the School[3].
School
The cartel is essentially a study group consisting of three to five people (though Lacan considers four the optimum number), plus a supervisor (known as a "plus-one" (plus-un)) who moderates the group's work. A cartel is created when a group of people decide to work together on a particular aspect of psychoanalytic theory which is of interest to them, and it is then registered in the school's list of cartels.
Lacan emphasized that the School would be composed of such working groups and not of fixed institutional hierarchies. The cartel was designed to avoid the reproduction of academic or bureaucratic authority and instead foreground the subjective elaboration of analytic knowledge.
Each member of a cartel selects an individual theme related to a shared object of study (e.g., a Lacanian concept or Seminar), and is encouraged to produce a product—a written or oral contribution stemming from their own work.
Membership
Although participation in cartels plays an important part in the training (formation) of Lacanian analysts, membership of cartels is not restricted to members of the school. Indeed, Lacan welcomed the exchange of ideas between analysts and those from other disciplines, and saw the cartel as one structure which would serve to encourage this exchange.
Lacanian schools continue to support cartels that include participants from philosophy, literature, the arts, and other sciences, as part of a broader effort to resist professional closure and maintain a critical dialogue with the symbolic order of knowledge.
Function of the Plus-One
The role of the *plus-one* is to facilitate the work of the cartel, not to lead or teach. The *plus-un* is responsible for:
- Organizing the group’s meetings
- Maintaining the group's focus and momentum
- Encouraging production without directing it
- Preventing rigid hierarchies or stagnation
This echoes Lacan’s broader concern with avoiding the traditional Master’s discourse and promoting the logic of the **analyst’s discourse**, where the production of truth emerges from the division of the subject rather than from an authoritative position[4].
IPA
By organizing research work around a small-scale unit like the cartel, Lacan hoped to avoid the effects of massification which he regarded as partly to blame for the sterility of the International Psycho-Analytical Association (IPA).
The cartel structure was, for Lacan, a direct challenge to the prevailing model of psychoanalytic training promoted by the IPA. Whereas the IPA favored a structured curriculum with strict certification procedures and control over the title of analyst, Lacan insisted that psychoanalytic formation had to remain linked to the **subjective effects** of analysis and ongoing critical work.
Contemporary Practice
Today, cartels remain an active and evolving component of many Lacanian organizations including the **École de la Cause Freudienne**, the **New Lacanian School**, and the **World Association of Psychoanalysis**. International cartels often meet online and present work at **Journées d’étude** (study days), reflecting Lacan’s original vision of the School as a living, dynamic structure.
Cartels may work on themes such as:
- Lacan’s Seminars
- The object *a* and desire
- The logic of the pass
- Feminine jouissance
- Language and the unconscious
Criticism and Debate
While the cartel structure has been praised for encouraging active engagement and resisting hierarchy, some critiques have emerged:
- The absence of expert guidance can lead to superficial work, especially for newcomers.
- The structure can become informal and lack rigor without institutional oversight.
- Some cartels fail to produce the "product" or fall apart due to lack of commitment.
Nevertheless, these difficulties are often viewed within the Lacanian field as **subjective obstacles**, which reflect the very tensions inherent in psychoanalytic work and social bond.
See Also
- ↑ Lacan, J. (1967). "Proposition du 9 octobre 1967 sur le psychanalyste de l’École." In *Autres Écrits*. Paris: Seuil, 2001.
- ↑ Miller, J.-A. (1997). "Le cartel au travail." *La Cause freudienne*, No. 36.
- ↑ Lacan, J. (1967). *Proposition du 9 octobre 1967 sur le psychanalyste de l’École*. In *Autres Écrits*. Paris: Seuil, 2001.
- ↑ Lacan, J. (2007). *The Other Side of Psychoanalysis*. Trans. Russell Grigg. W.W. Norton & Company.