The Subversive Mission of Psychoanalysis

  • The potential of psychoanalysis as social criticism is explored in the context of the major social divides of gender, sexual orientation, race, social class, and ethnicity. It is argued that these divides play central roles in constructing individual psyches, and that their influence is inseparable from other social-familial forces. Further, analyst and patient alike, inevitably enact the imperatives of class, race, gender, and sexuality in the analytic dyad. It is crucial that psychoanalytic theory be extended to account for the formative power of these cultural categories both in the construction of individual identity, and on the course of analytic work. Further, individual psychoanalysts must be aware of cultural countertransference in the analytic engagement. Finally, as a profession we have an obligation publicly to oppose the destructive imperatives of our economic, political, and social systems in the interest of individual and community psychic well-being.

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Metadaten
Author:C. Grey
Parent Title (English):International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Oslo (Scandinavian University Press), Vol. 2 (No. 1, March 1993), pp. 13-17.
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:1993
Release Date:2012/12/13
Format:xerox upon request / Fotokopie auf Anfrage
IdNo:Grey_C_1993
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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