Imagination and the control of subjectivity in the field of work: creative imagination and conformist and fatalist realism

Abstract

Imagination is often confused with daydreams with no impact on reality, having historically been superseded by psychology over other mental faculties. However, as a higher psychic function, it plays a fundamental role in human conscious activity. Especially at work. This article aims to dis-cuss, based on Cultural-Historical Psychology, the relationship between imagination and subjectiv-ity control in the field of work; as well as defend the thesis that the control of the imagination can alter the individual’s relationship with reality and the psychic processes of subjective image production of objective reality. From this, two predominant forms of cognitive-affective processes are proposed, which manifest themselves as tendencies in the functioning of the psyche: one whose prevalence occurs through the exercise of creative imagination; and the other through "fa-talistic and conformist realism", understood as the form of imagination typical of alienated work, responsible for the exercise of imagination as production of fictitious images.