Dreaming as Reflexivity: An Interpretation of Bernard Lahire's Sociology of Dreams
Gabriel Peters
European Journal of Social Theory August 27, 2026 DOI: 10.1177/13684310261482044 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Dreaming |
| Key points | Proposes that dreaming is an involuntary modality of reflexivity, an internal communication reflecting on existential concerns from waking life, and argues that the sociology of dreams is a central contributor to sociological accounts of human subjectivity. |
Abstract
Drawing on Bernard Lahire's sociological approach to dreams and revisiting its critical dialogue with Bourdieu, this article presents dreaming as an involuntary modality of reflexivity: an internal communication in which the subject reflects on existential concerns experienced in waking life. Like other forms of reflexivity—from artistic self-expression to reflections articulated on the psychoanalytic couch—dreaming constitutes a “deferred elaboration” of significant issues triggered in prior experience but insufficiently elaborated due to the intrusion of the “urgencies of practice” in everyday social life. The conceptualization of dreaming as reflexivity builds on pragmatist notions of “imaginative rehearsal” and “internal conversation,” as well as on phenomenology's contrast between dreaming and the “paramount reality” of ordinary life. Conceived as part of a research program on modes of reflexivity, the sociology of dreams emerges not only as an application of, but also as a central contributor to sociological accounts of human subjectivity.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on dreaming, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dreaming: a conceptual framework for philosophy of mind and empirical research | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Metaphor and hyperassociativity: the imagination mechanisms behind emotion assimilation in sleep and dreaming | 2015 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Varieties of Lucid Dreaming Experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Experimental Research on Dreaming: State of the Art and Neuropsychoanalytic Perspectives | 2011 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Neurobiology of Consciousness: Lucid Dreaming Wakes Up | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |