Psychoanalysis and cultural theory
Lacanian approaches to ideology, subjectivity and the unconscious across contemporary culture.
Culture · Media · Sport
Jack Black, PhD
Academic researcher, author and editor examining the cultural and political life of the unconscious.
Associate Professor of Culture, Media and Sport · 2023—2026
Author of four books · 60 journal articles
Profile
Research across disciplinary boundaries
My work brings psychoanalytic theory into conversation with cultural studies, sociology and media analysis. I use empirical research and close cultural analysis to examine how unconscious attachments shape public life, from generative AI and online hate to racism, comedy and sport.
I am Senior Editor for Sport and Psychoanalysis and an Associate Editor for the International Journal of the Sociology of Leisure and Psychoanalysis, Culture and Society.
Read my full profileResearch
Four connected fields of inquiry
A research programme concerned with how subjects form attachments, encounter contradiction and negotiate social authority.
AI and digital media
The authority of generative AI, our investments in technology, and the limits of machine knowledge.
Race, racism and ideology
The psychic and cultural structures through which race, racism and national identity acquire their force.
Sport, fandom and online harms
Sport as a concentrated cultural form shaped by fantasy, enjoyment, conflict and digital abuse.
Selected work
Recent and defining publications
The Subject of AI: A Psychoanalytic Intervention
Theory, Culture and Society 43(2), with Jacob Johanssen
The Violence of Online Hate
The Communication Review 29(1)
Sport and Psychoanalysis
Lexington Books, with Joseph S. Reynoso
The Psychosis of Race
Routledge
Books
Psychoanalysis in public culture
Four books develop a distinctive account of race, comedy, environmental catastrophe and the unconscious life of sport.
Explore the booksJack BlackThe Psychosis
of RaceRoutledge · 2023
of RaceRoutledge · 2023
Black and ReynosoSport and
PsychoanalysisLexington · 2024
PsychoanalysisLexington · 2024
Jack BlackRace, Racism
and ComedyRoutledge · 2021
and ComedyRoutledge · 2021
Cherrington and BlackCatastrophic
EnvironmentsRoutledge · 2022
EnvironmentsRoutledge · 2022
Public impact
Research in policy and public debate
Academic work translated into evidence, reports and commentary for public institutions and media organisations.
Policy
Talks, interviews and public engagement United Nations Human Rights Council
Co-authored research on online abuse in sport, submitted to the UN General Assembly Human Rights Council in 2025.
Read the UN report ParliamentOnline harms in football
Invited evidence to the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Football at the Palace of Westminster in 2026.
View the inquiry MediaSky Sports News
Co-authored a practitioner report on sports media, online harms and institutional responses.
View the project recordContact
Research, editorial and media enquiries
jack.black122808@gmail.com
I welcome enquiries concerning research collaboration, publications, speaking and media contributions.