The meaning of anger

It is a state of agitated enervation that moves the world. History is stalked by injustice, brutality and rage. But is anger like energy, forever changing form but never dissipating, or part of our repertoire of desires, the cry of a need unmet? From Freud to Lacan, psychoanalyst Josh Cohen discusses why we get angry, the various ways this our rage manifests in society and what happens when it's propelled to a level of pressure we cannot sustain. "We want to believe that our anger can be clearly directed and localised – that we can, as Judith Butler puts it, ‘craft and cultivate’ it. But as the beaten employee reminds us, when a claim for justice is dismissed, anger is liable to take on a life of its own. We are living in a world of proliferating and often conflicting angry demands for recognition. In terrorism, populist authoritarianism and online hate, we see some of the consequences of their denial."