Concept
Doer and done to
Jessica Benjamin's name for the complementary relation into which two subjects fall when mutual recognition breaks down. Each experiences the other as acting upon them and only one point of view seems able to survive, so that one is the doer and the other the done to, and the roles can switch. In analysis she sees it in the twoness of impasses and enactments, where analyst and patient each feel coerced by the other and each defends their own reality. The way out is not for one side to win but for both to reach a third position, often begun when the analyst acknowledges their own part in the deadlock.
Read more- Introduced by
- Jessica Benjamin
- Key works
- 2
- Related
- Thirdness
introduced by
- Jessica Benjamin 2004 Benjamin named the complementary relation of doer and done to in her 2004 paper on thirdness, where it describes the twoness of analytic impasse and enactment. Her 2017 book took it into social conflict as well.
opposes
- Thirdness 2004 In Benjamin's account the complementary twoness of doer and done to is what thirdness is lost to: when the shared third collapses, each partner feels done to by the other, and surrender to the third restores recognition.