Critical Theory has traditionally been interested in engaging classical psychoanalysis rather than addressing postclassical thought. For the first time, this volume brings Critical Theory into proper dialogue with modern developments in the psychoanalytic movement and covers a broad range of topics in contemporary society that revisit the Frankfurt School and its contributions to psychoanalytic social critique.

The decline of the Liberal Arts in the 21st century is rooted in late 20th century trends, including grade inflation, the decline of rational authority, the rise of anonymous authority, and consumerism, which abets the tendency to elevate the pursuit of students' "self-esteem" above scholarly rigor. While the Left and the Right are apt to blame their ideological opponents, both share some responsibility for this state of affairs, which can only be remedied if they own up to their own erroneous (...) oversights, and agree to work together. (shrink)

“Human beings have two fundamentally different ways of thinking about and engaging with the world.” Some variant of this proposition is shared by many thinkers across time. This paper focuses on the core similarities and the subtle differences between Freud’s theory of primary and secondary processes, Karl Stern’s theory of the scientific and poetic modes of knowledge and Iain McGilchrist’s account of the differences between left and right-hemispheric competences, values and ways of “being-in-the-world”. It asks whether the collective tendency to (...) privilege one “way of knowing” over another promotes or inhibits optimal human development and cultural change and transformation. (shrink)

Soccer, or football, attracts vast numbers of passionate fans from all over the world; yet clinical psychology is yet to study it in depth. In this book, David Huw Burston, a consultant football psychology and performance coach, uses a phenomenological research method inspired by Amedeo Giorgi to consider what we can learn from the spirit of the game, and how this can be used positively in the consulting room and on the field of play. By examining detailed qualitative research with (...) professional soccer players of both sexes, Burston identifies and considers nine particular themes, including the family, god, heroes and dreams, and discusses how what we can learn from the game of football and team culture can be applied to Jungian analysis today. This book bridges the gap between clinical psychology and sport, outlining potential shortfalls in current youth development in sport, as well as discussing how traditional Jungian archetypes can be identified in everyday settings. It will be of key interest to researchers from both the fields of analytical psychology and sports studies. (shrink)

The Religious and Romantic Origins of Psychoanalysis. By Suzanne Kirschner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 212 pp., $27.95 cloth, $15.95 paper.

Reviews the book, Psychoanalysis: Freud’s cognitive psychology by Matthew Hugh Erdelyi . Few psychoanalytic clinicians or experimental psychologists ever bother to develop a historical or meta-theoretical perspective on their discipline, or pause to ponder the obstacles encountered and avenues taken or ignored en route to a synthesis between psychoanalytic, experimental and cognitive psychology. For those who have already pondered these issues somewhat, Erdelyi's book is a positive pleasure, full of penetrating insights, programmatic suggestions and astute historical reflections. For those new (...) to the area, it is the best available introduction to the field, grounded, as it is, in a fluent grasp of the various methods and models of unconscious mental processes in these increasingly convergent fields of inquiry. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)