Alfred Lorenzer
| Alfred Lorenzer | |
|---|---|
| Organization details | |
| Type | Psychoanalyst |
| Orientation | Freudian, Interdisciplinary |
| Operations | |
| Headquarters | Frankfurt, Germany |
Alfred Lorenzer (8 April 1922, Ulm – 26 June 2002, Perugia) was a German psychoanalyst and sociologist regarded as a pioneer of interdisciplinary psychoanalysis.[1] He sought to integrate the psychological, biological, and sociological dimensions in psychoanalytic theory, maintaining a commitment to Freud while engaging with Frankfurt School critical theory.[2]
Lorenzer's work emphasized the dialectical relation between social conditions and individual mental structures, developing concepts such as "scenic understanding" (szene), "engram," and "interaction forms" to analyze embodied, affective experience in socialization.[2][3]
History
Early Life and Education
Born in Ulm, Germany, Lorenzer earned a PhD in psychiatry in 1949 under Ernst Kretschmer.[2] Between 1954 and 1960, he completed psychoanalytic training in Stuttgart with Felix Schottländer as his training analyst.[2]
Academic Career
In 1971, Lorenzer was appointed Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Bremen, where he developed his theories on socialization, drawing from phenomenology, philosophy of language, and linguistics while grounding them in psychoanalytic practice.[2] In 1976, he moved to Frankfurt as Professor of Social Psychology at the Goethe University, continuing clinical work and theoretical engagement with the Frankfurt School.[2]
Lorenzer viewed psychoanalysis as both a social science and a natural science, closely following Freudian principles while rereading them through a materialist lens influenced by Marxism.[3]
Key Concepts / Theoretical Orientation
Lorenzer's interdisciplinary approach addressed how subjective experience emerges through routinized socialization processes, emphasizing:
- Scenic understanding (Szene): Embodied, affective configurations of experience excluded from conscious awareness via language games, yet linked to broader societal relations.[2]
- Engram: Traces of pre-verbal, sensorimotor experience shaping the unconscious.[2]
- Interaction forms (Interaktionsformen): Patterned social processes mediating the dialectic between individual subjectivity and society.[2][3]
His work critiqued reductive sociologism, insisting on the non-identity of social and subjective levels, and explored empirical methods for "depth hermeneutics" to access unconscious processes in social practices.[2][4]
Publications
Lorenzer's key works include explorations of language, life praxis, and scenic understanding in psychoanalytic therapy.[5]
See also
References
- ↑ "Alfred Lorenzer - Wikipedia". Retrieved 2026-01-31.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 "Special issue on Alfred Lorenzer: Introduction - Open Research Online" (PDF). Retrieved 2026-01-31.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Psychoanalysis, socialization and society: the psychoanalytic thought and interpretation of Alfred Lorenzer" (PDF). Retrieved 2026-01-31.
- ↑ Olesen, Henning Salling (2013). "Cultural Analysis and In-Depth Hermeneutics". Historical Social Research 38 (2): 7–157.
- ↑ Bohleber, Werner (2016). "Introduction to Alfred Lorenzer's paper 'Language, life praxis and scenic understanding in psychoanalytic therapy'". Int J Psychoanal 97 (5): 1393-1398. Template:Citation/identifier.