Arguing with the Raving Phallus

The phenomenon of all-night-long parties with electronic dance music played by a DJ was a remarkable landmark of the '90s youthscape. For many scholars and commentators, the emergence of rave and club cultures signified a fascinating possibility to test out concepts for analyzing altered states of consciousness which became a trademark of raves and clubbing. Some of the concepts of psychoanalysis (and its polemical versions) happened to be very handy. But how are these concepts used and with what implications?