Play and toys: Contemporary society: What do we want for our children? - 2nd Edition

The aim of this book is to discuss the new forms of play and games in contemporary society, from the point of view of psychoanalysis, a consumer society that is influenced by advertising and television in the culture of the spectacle. Alongside an imperative for happiness and immediacy, a need for performance and efficiency dominates the lives of citizens, including children. The new logic of social life arranges people hierarchically through their consumption possibilities, taking away the right to authenticity and freedom from childhood. For the psychoanalytical basis of play, I draw on Sigmund Freud, D.W. Winnicott and Jacques Lacan. I approach the subject, in the transition from the modern society of production to the post-modern society of consumption, who seeks completeness in the acquisition of objects, which obliterates the ability to desire, play and fantasize. In order to exemplify this cultural change, I analyze some games and the current model of children's parties, which are then compared to other more traditional forms of celebration.