The Apotheosis of Steve Jobs: Belief and Desire in the Discourse of Design

Abstract

This article addresses design theory’s lack of engagement with psychoanalysis by examining how the Lacanian concept of the subject-supposed-to-know can be used to explore the area of desirability in design and bring to light certain regularities in the structures of design discourse. After a brief introduction, the subject-supposed-to-know and the transference relation are situated in the context of Lacan’s work and explored with reference to Plato’s Symposium. The figure of Steve Jobs is then introduced as a representative example of the subject-supposed-to-know; that is, as a figure who mediates the relation between subject and object through various discursive strategies. The nature of the belief necessary to this relation is then interrogated via a reading of The Devil Wears Prada. The final section addresses the ideological function of Steve Jobs in the terms of the discourse of management.