The organization of Santa: fetishism, ambivalence and narcissism

Abstract

Santa is an essential part of Christmas. He is not just a fantasy image or cultural product. Instead, psychological and sociological research shows that we relate to Santa as both real person and a fantasy entity. In particular, parents, who know that Santa is not real, have been found to believe in Santa as if he were real. They both provide their children with misinformation about Santa and condition them into acting out their belief that Santa is a real person. The article argues that parents’ role in this organization of Santa can be understood through the psychoanalytic concepts of fetishism, ambivalence and narcissism. The article concludes that parents’ misinform their children about Santa in order to meet their own narcissistic wishes. They organize a world based on an image they wish were true as if it were true.