Inside the Revolution: Power,Sex, and Technique in Freud’s “‘Wild’ Analysis”

ABSTRACT

This essay situates Freud’s “‘Wild’ Analysis” in its local and global histories, even while reading it for what it can tell us about psychoanalysis now. Even as it is taken on its own terms, this essay serves also as a means to consider psychoanalysis as host to crucial tensions, its ideas and their relation to technique, its traffic in power, and sexuality and the primal crime. Using a clinical vignette, the essay argues the heterogeneity and multiplicity inherent to psychoanalysis are a gift to later generations, even if they made trouble for Freud. In celebration and critique, it examines, in effect, where Freud was and where psychoanalysis is now.     

Freud and Developmental Theory A 21st-Century Look at the Origin Myth or Psychoanalysis

This article traces both Freud's contribution to developmental theory and the major trends in developmental theory since Freud. Although Freud's developmental theorizing has been criticized as outdated scientism, a close examination of his writings reveals a more radical “21st-century” Freud, whose, theoretical approach, to some extent, anticipated the deconstructive and postmodern perspectives of the current psychoanalytic scene. Freud's self-subversive analytic process has been lost in the developmental writings of his classical followers and in the writings of the alternative schools of psychoanalysis that have arisen since. In place of a psychoanalysis of inquiry, these theorists have reinstated a psychoanalysis of “truths,” universalist models of normal and pathological development, ostensibly allied to confirmatory infant observation. Such models can best be understood as psychoanalytic “origin myths,” selected and codified to support the belief system, meanings, and customs immanent in the school of thought they purport to validate.     

On Moralism and Ethics: Associations to Henry Abelove’s “Freud,Male Homosexuality,and the Americans”

Henry Abelove (1986) writes that Freud was troubled by what he saw as moralistic leanings pervading the theory and practice of early American psychoanalysis. Drawing on Erikson’s (1976) distinction between moralism and ethics, my associations to Abelove’s still very timely paper explore the psychological “deals” we all tend to make between moralism and ethics. I begin with Freud’s less than progressive views of female homosexuality. I then focus on the way that what I have called normative unconscious processes enter contemporary theory and practice. I draw attention to a continued presence in our theories of a straight/gay binary (which, according to Abelove, Freud contested), and I give an example of the effects of an unconscious adherence to neoliberal cultural norms. I conclude with the suggestion that, although fraught, it is nonetheless crucial to think about what is “the good.”     

Was Freud a Medical Scientist or a Social Theorist? The Mysterious "Development of the Hero"

Rather than viewing Freud as a presumptuous Viennese physician who late in life attempted to "apply" some of his provocative psychological speculations to various social phenomena, this essay argues that from first to last, Freud was a social theorist. Indeed, what drew Freud to the study of biology and medicine was precisely the hope of addressing scientifically the most fundamental cultural problems: the nature of man and his culture; the origins of religion, morality, and tradition and the nature of their extraordinary power; the sources of social order and disorder; the direction of contemporary cultural development; and, finally, the problem of how to live in a disenchanted and psychologically impoverished world. Reading Freud in this manner moves his "cultural" texts from the periphery to the center of his work and makes possible an appreciation of the more complex, coherent, and illuminating social theory that lies at its heart.     

Competitive lobbying for a legislator’s vote: A comment

 This comment deals with some imperfections of the analysis presented by Austen-Smith and Wright [1]. It is argued that in [1] being informed is incorrectly identified with being informative, yielding an incomplete equilibrium analysis, and leading to bias in the kind of equilibrium behavior predicted. After correcting for this bias, the results obtained corroborate their main conclusion – legislators are often lobbied by just one of two competing groups, typically the a priori disadvantaged group. The comment also strengthens their case for counteractive lobbying; the a priori favored group typically only lobbies to counteract the influence of an opposing group. Another conclusion, however, is qualified; an increase in the groups’ stakes can make it less, rather than more, likely that the legislator makes the correct decision. Received: 26 January 1996/Accepted: 27 March 1996     

Lacan Meets Freud? Patho-Analytic Reflections on the Status of the Perversions in Lacanian Metapsychology

This article analyzes the first edition of Freud’s (1905b) “Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality” and more particularly the status of the perversions as it appears in that book, demonstrating how this seminal text contains a radical critique of a “psychiatric style of reasoning” (Davidson, 2001a) that turns the perversions into a separate identity fundamentally different from other ?identities?. Freud’s insights are then confronted with the Lacanian idea of a “perverse structure.” It is argued that Lacan’s theories on perversion remain deeply influenced by the French psychiatric tradition on the topic (Dupré, 1925) and that they imply a return to the “psychiatric style of reasoning” that Freud tried to overcome. Finally, I formulate some suggestions with regard to a re-thinking of sexuality in psychoanalytic metapsychology.     

A field experiment on the impact of a prior donor’s social status on subsequent charitable giving

We study the effect of a prior donor on subsequent charitable giving in a natural field experiment and investigate in particular whether his social status matters for subsequent giving. To do so, we trailed a person asking for donations in Cologne’s streetcar network while (1) either implementing an initial donor or not and (2) varying the apparent social status of the initial donor. We find that other passengers are more prone to give when there is an initial donor, with this effect being amplified when he seems to have a high social status. Further analyses reveal that women tend to react stronger than men to the prior donor’s status.     

“Freud,Male Homosexuality,and the Americans” Revisited: A Brief Contribution to the History of Psychoanalysis

Henry Abelove summarizes the main arguments of “Freud, Male Homosexuality, and the Americans,” a paper he wrote in the early 1980s. He also says that in writing it he aimed chiefly to challenge American moralism, which then was, and still is, both destructive and immensely influential.     

A unionist’s perspective on the future of American unions

In summary, I do not see a major change in American unions over the next decade. The exception is further consolidation of national unions through mergers and affiliations which will change the makeup and increase the effectiveness of the unions involved. It behooves us all who love freedom and democracy to do what we can to assure strong and viable unions in America. We in the labor movement do not believe that we can have a free society and a high standard of living without free and effective unions. In this regard, I conclude with a statement made in 1945 by my first boss, Philip Murray, president of the United Steelworkers of America and the Congress of Industrial Organizations: “American democracy cannot survive in an atmosphere of insecurity, joblessness, and poverty. When people are at work at high wages, prosperity is continuous. To return to an era of low wages is to invite unemployment and catastrophe from which no segment of the population, no matter how apparently secure, will escape. We dare not allow mass misery and unemployment to overtake us again.”     

A Woman＇s P ace

＂Social science affirms that a woman＇s place in society marks the level of civilization.＂ -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton     

甘肃省开展《甘肃省性别平等促进条例》立法调研

A team from the Committee for Internal and Judicial Affairs （CIJA）, under the Gansu Provincial People＇s Congress, visited Dingxi and Baiyin （cities in Gansu Province） on September 16, to monitor the cities＇ implementation of the Law of the People＇s Republic of China on the Protection of Women＇s Rights and Interests. The team was headed by Wang Lan, Deputy Director of the Office of C1JA. Officials fiom Gansu Women＇s Federation accompanied the team.     

“90后”大学生网络信任建构过程研究

网络信任是随着网络时代的来临而出现的新的信任类型,是网络社交发展到一定阶段的后天产物。其发生主体是切实的社会个体在网络空间形塑的虚拟角色,发生情境是个体互动所处的具体网络空间,其建构过程大致经历了初建、维系与深化、破裂、走向现实几个阶段。网络信任的建构过程不断涉及个人的认知与判断,信任决定的修正依据是个体在网络社交过程中逐渐暴露出的信息。网络信任的发生概率非常低,仅极少数的信任获得了稳定发展,甚至转变为现实信任。     

‘You can do Nasty Things to your Brothers and Sisters without a Reason’: Siblings’ Backstage Behaviour

This article contributes to the recent, but still limited, literature on the sociology of sibship. It argues that during childhood the ambivalent love/hate nature of sibship is played out through the sharing of knowledge, time and space. It draws on the work of Goffman to illustrate that children's sibling interactions tend to consist of backstage, rather than frontstage, performances. The article is based on children's own perspectives from a sample of 90 children aged 5–17 drawn from 30 families of mixed socioeconomic backgrounds in central Scotland.