Salecl, Renata. “Nobody Home.” Cabinet Magazine Issue 31 Shame Fall 2008
Lacan’s assertion is that the Other does not exist, but it still functions. In other words, the social symbolic order in which we live is not coherent; marked by antagonisms, it is essentially inconsistent. People nevertheless create their own fiction of a coherent Other, this desire not to see its inconsistency being crucial for their self-perception. Since the subject is also marked with a constitutive lack — i.e. is also inconsistent — he or she tries to find some perception of him or herself as consistent by turning to a fantasy of a consistent Other.