Psychoanalysis and Sociology

Abstract

The repeated assertion that a combined psychoanalytic and sociological framework would provide a comprehensive model of human behavior has met with a variety of resistances. Because so few sociologists are interested in psychoanalysis (Wallerstein & Smelser 1969; Rabow & Zucker 1980; Endel man 1981; Rabow 1979, 1981), views differ widely on what a combined framework should include and on what problems merit study. I Indeed, while authorities from various disciplines have argued that psychoanalysis adds to the social sciences by providing a comprehensive and useful model of human behavior (Ruitenbeck 1962; Goodman 1977; Fine 1977; Levine 1978; Gabriel 1982), receptiveness to this argument varies with the discipline (Levine 1978; Rabow 1983). In this paper I review and evaluate selected efforts, past and present, to integrate psychoanalysis and sociology. I do not try to convince my sociologic­ al audience that psychoanalysis has something to offer sociology. A number of sociologists have found psychoanalytic concepts useful and have made this argument. I do not introduce or evaluate the considerable efforts to translate Freud into a positivist framework (Hook 1959; Wollheim 1971; Wollheim 1974) . The controversy over the scientific validity of psychoanalysis continues and little would be gained from assessing the arguments (see Sulloway 1979 and Breger 1981 for the latest psychological-biological debate). I generally

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 4 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.