Abstract
This chapter addresses the reception and dissemination of Freudian ideas in the United States from the Golden Age through the Freud wars to the rise of Lacanian psychoanalysis. Freud aligned psychoanalysis with the “scientific Weltanschaaung” and rational authority in theory. But in practice, Freud often wielded his authority in an elitist and authoritarian manner and scoffed at movements toward social equality. Freud’s various pronouncements on the goals of analytic treatment, on psychoanalytic technique, and training were all somewhat equivocal, rendering the Freud wars that damaged his reputation here all but inevitable. The replacement of the “American Freud” with the more esoteric “French Freud” of Jacques Lacan in American academic circles was a mixed blessing, which buttressed Freud’s reputation in some disciplines, but only at the expense of clarity, accessibility, and relevance to the population at large.
Note: Parts of this chapter are reprinted with permission from The Psychoanalytic Review, “Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry in the 21st Century: A Historical Perspective” Vol. 89, #4, August, 2002.
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Notes
- 1.
For a fuller discussion of Freud’s patriarchal biases, see Burston, D., 1989, “Freud, the Father & The Philosophy of History,” in Sigmund Freud: Critical Assessments, Spurling, L., ed., vol. 3, London, Routledge.
- 2.
For a fuller discussion of Nietzsche’s theory of réssentiment and its relevance to social psychology, please see Chap. 6, below.
- 3.
Fromm criticized Freud’s attitude toward Ferenczi, leaping to his defense in 1935, 1959, and 1970, long before Jeffrey Masson’s sensational book The Assault on Truth (Masson 1984) brought their differences to a wider audience. For a sympathetic summary of Fromm’s various attempts to set the record straight, see The Legacy of Erich Fromm (Burston 1991) chapter 8.
- 4.
For an analysis of the cultural, economic, and political trends that propelled psychiatry’s abandonment of Freud and his followers, and fostered the adoption of a more medicalized, pharmacological, and short-term approach to treatment, please see Burston, D. 2012. “Psychoanalysis and Psychiatry in the 21st Century: Historical Perspectives.” The Psychoanalytic Review. 99:1, pp. 63–80.
- 5.
The “pass” is a Lacanian term that refers to the process whereby Lacanian analysts-in-training “graduate” are credentialed or become full-fledged members of a Lacanian community.
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Burston, D. (2020). Freud in America: The Golden Age, the Freud Wars, and Beyond. In: Psychoanalysis, Politics and the Postmodern University. Critical Political Theory and Radical Practice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34921-9_2
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