Relationship Impasses in Modern Times: A Lacanian Perspective

This article seeks to elucidate the impasses experienced in contemporary romantic relationships through the lens of Lacanian psychoanalysis. Within this scope, the transformation of modern relationships is examined through three fundamental concepts: the evaporation of the Father, the capitalist discourse, and the imaginary order. The article initially examines how the decline of paternal authority undermines the subject’s capacity to enter and sustain a position within the symbolic order. It argues that this erosion of the paternal function generates a structural impasse in the constitution of desire. The discussion then turns to capitalist discourse, contending that it disavows constitutive lack and reorients subjects toward an endless cycle of consumption. In this context, online dating applications are conceptualized as spaces where the subject treats others through a logic of consumption. Drawing on Lacan’s theory of sexuation, the article contends that the failure of dating applications to provide a symbolic framework poses unique structural risks -particularly for subjects in the feminine position regarding their relation to Other jouissance. Finally, digital spaces trap the subject in identifications with flawless images by reproducing the mirror stage through the practice of the selfie. Social media platforms, acting like a Big Other, set the standards for recognition and demand constant visibility. Subjects seeking to avoid the lack and fragility inherent in the symbolic order are becoming unable to tolerate the imperfections that real encounters bring. Consequently, the article demonstrates how contemporary socio-digital transformations damage the subject’s capacity to navigate lack, structure desire, and cultivate relational continuity.