Freud and Society, London (Routledge and Kegan Paul) 1983, 331 p., esp. pp. 173-192.

  • A vol in II PARTS and 14 Chpts, with an author's Introduction, which is part of the International Library of Group Psychotherapy and Group Process series, under the editorship of Malcolm Pines and Earl Hopper. Presented is the argument that Freudian psychoanalysis has been widely misinterpreted as a therapy primarily for the individual, and that its central concepts are basically social in nature and should be applied to the study of societies, their values, cultures, and politics. – PART I presents (1) Body and Mind – which evaluates materialist and mentalist interpretations of the theory of instincts; (2) Individual and Society – assesses the conflict between an individual's desires and the barriers or requirements of cultures, and the importance of libidinal forces for uniting groups; (3) Normality, Neurosis and Therapy – considers the supremacy of a health paradigm of normal versus pathological in contemporary society as against the historical religious paradigm characterized by good and evil; Freud's view of normality is analyzed; (4) Culture, Normality and Morality – examines Freudian discourse as a moral philosophy, with consequent implications for values of enjoyment, pleasure, joy, and truth; (5) Science and Philosophy – discusses four features of psychoanalysis: Freud's positivism, the value element in his work, his causal imagery, and certain basic concepts, eg, the unconscious; (6) Utopia and Illusion – examines attributions of utopian thinking in the concepts of pleasure and emphasis on sexuality in Freud's work; utopias of both Eros and Logos are analyzed; and (7) Psychoanalysis and Culture – outlines a role for psychoanalysis in the human sciences by applying the apparatus for interpreting dreams and neuroses to sociocultural problems. – PART II indicates directions for the application of psychoanalysis to modern cultures, and integrates the views of social theorists whose sociocultural criticism contains concepts from psychoanalysis. Thus, Wilhelm Reich's and Erich FROMM's analyses of fascism as a social rather than political occurrence both apply Freud's view of the psychology of character-structure and borrow from Marx the revolutionary concepts inherent in dialectical materialism. Chpt (8) – The First Radicalization of Freud: Reich and FROMM, the Optimistic Utopians – describes Reich's and FROMM's views of the family as a socializing agent, Reich's views on sexuality, and his analysis of fascism; and Reich's and FROMM's integration of Marxian and Freudian concepts; (9) The Discovery of the Radical Freud: Marcuse and Brown – describes the belief in a distorted human nature and the quest for a cure in a new civilization; both Herbert Marcuse and Norman O. Brown support psychoanalytic concepts in the analysis of human sickness caused by repression. (10) Psychoanalysis and Contemporary American Culture: The Present as Utopia in the Work of Rieff – introduces Philip Rieff's application of Freudian concepts to a cultural theory of the end-of-ideology in an analysis of contemporary America; (11) Ernest Becker's Homo Heroica': Narcissus as the Cosmic Hero Without Followers – discusses Becker's view of a harmony between man and nature, the concept of >genius of man<, and the absence of real meaning in modern life and culture; (12) Narcissism and Contemporary Culture – characterizes the modern narcissist as a result of the absence of love in a modern world dominated by bureaucracies; (13) The Death Instinct and the Age of the Machine – prescribes alternative modes of regarding moral disintegration, social-overregulation, and the depersonalization of modern life; (14) Conclusions – analyzes contemporary culture in terms of a polarity between a robot and a narcissist, but criticizes the reductionist tendencies of many modern social theorists. A therapeutic role for psychoanalysis, in application to contemporary culture, is outlined. Appendix: An Attempt at Integration – Talcott Parsons – deals with Parsons's views on the integration of personality theories and social systems. Also considered are his theory of socialization and the role of love and eroticism in the process, the function of the family, and the formation of personality.

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Metadaten
Author:Yiannis Gabriel
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:1983
Release Date:2014/01/28
Format:PDF-scan to download
IdNo:Gabriel_Y_1983
Writings about Erich Fromm (Secondary Literature):Articles / Artikel
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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