A Psychoanalytic Exploration of Anxiety and Protesting

This article investigates the link between two apparently very distinct recent phenomena: the increasing levels of anxiety among young people and their growing participation in protest movements focusing on climate change. The article begins with a broad discussion of Lacan’s theory of anxiety and claims that protest movements can be interpreted as a form of acting out that helps in dealing with anxiety. By referring to the capitalist discourse, the article then explores why in recent times so many young people experience anxiety: the removal of limits which characterises capitalism in the twenty-first century, makes it very difficult for the youngest generations to find a lead.…