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A priori, there seems to be [[nothing ]] that would provide common ground between a [[theory ]] of [[unconscious ]] [[psychic ]] [[processes]], such as [[psychoanalysis]], and a [[social ]] theory such as [[Marxism]]. Nothing, that is, but that which derives as much from [[social processes ]] as from psychic processes: the [[intellectual ]] [[activity ]] and beliefs of [[human ]] beings. In <i>New Introductory Lectures on [[Psycho]]-[[Analysis]]</i> (1933), Sigmund [[Freud ]] explicitly referred to Marxism. He did not dispute the fundamental validity of the theory, he merely considered it incomplete. If there aresocial [[conditions]] for the production of the intellectual, [[moral]], and artistic activities of human beings, there are also [[psychological]] conditions that are independent of the former.In the second generation of [[psychoanalysts]], some authors, positioning themselves on the [[Left]] (within the social-democrat or [[communist]] movements), sought to constitute a social [[psychology]] by bringing [[Freudian]] analysis of psychic processes into articulation with [[Marxist]] analysis of social processes. This line of [[thinking]] has been called "Freudian Marxism," despite its [[heterogeneity]]. Particularly productive during the 1920s and 1930s, this approach was notably illustrated by Wilhelm [[Reich]], Siegfried [[Bernfeld]], Erich [[Fromm]], and [[Paul]] Federn.In <i>The Dogma of [[Christ]] and [[Other]] Essays on [[Religion]], Psychology, and [[Culture]]</i> (1930), Fromm sought to establish the factors that shaped the [[development]] of [[ideas]] [[about]] the [[relationship]] between God the [[Father]] and [[Jesus]] Christ up until the Nicene Council. The basis for the articulation is as follows: Marxist [[class]] theory provides the tools for analyzing the [[life]] conditions of the different social groups; on the basis of these conditions and the [[science]] of the unconscious, which sheds light on the frustrations and expectations of the believers, it becomes possible to describe the "psychic surface" of the persons involved in various events.In "[[Dialectical]] [[Materialism]] and Psychoanalysis" (1929), Reich argued that if the [[instincts]] are [[biologically]] conditioned, they are also susceptible to [[change]] under the influence of [[environment]] and social [[reality]]. Social psychology studies the psychological characteristics shared by members of a group and the group's [[instinctual]] [[structure]] as a function of its "destiny"—that is, its [[economic]] and social [[situation]].Reich wrote

 <i>The Mass Psychology of [[Fascism]]</i> (1933/1946) in this same spirit. He again argued that the [[sexual]] poverty of human beings is mainly the result of their [[alienation]] by economic and social modes of production. <i>The Sexual [[Revolution]], toward a [[Category:PsychoanalysisSelf]]-Governing [[Character]] Structure</i> (1936/1962) denounced the [[role]] of the [[family]] as "<i>a factory for authoritarian [[ideologies]]</i> and [[conservative]] [[structures]]" (p. 72), and in this [[work]] Reich denounced, as Fromm had done, the "patriarchal" [[system]]that prevails in our societies.Work of this type was poorly received on the side of both psychoanalysis and Marxism. Nevertheless, Freudian Marxist research continued after [[World]] War II in [[Germany]], with Alexander Mitscherlich ([[author]] of <i>The Inability to Mourn</i> and <i>[[CategorySociety]] without the Father:TermsA Contribution to Social Psychology</i>) and the journal <i>[[Psyche]]</i>. During the same period, the Marxist-oriented [[philosophers]] of the Frankfurt Institute of Social Research became interested in psychoanalysis and tried their hand at bringing the two theories together with [[regard]] to ideology. Works such as <i>The Authoritarian [[Personality]]</i> (1950) by Theodor [[Adorno]] and collaborators marked this convergence.In the [[United States]], Herbert [[Marcuse]], a former member of the Frankfurt [[School]], published <i>[[Eros]] and [[CategoryCivilization]]:ConceptsA [[Philosophical]] Inquiry into Freud</i> (1955). In this work he openly posed the question of [[happiness]]. He rejected Freud's theory that civilization requires that the [[individual]]'s [[libido]] be sacrificed. Must happiness and the values of culture be antithetical? No, argued Marcuse. He attempted to show that [[libidinal]] [[repression]] does not take the same [[form]] in all cultures. He forged the [[concept]] of <i>[[surplus]]repression</i> to refer to that part of repression which is specific to a given culture and is not indispensable for group life.During the 1970s there was renewed interest in the [[Category:Sigmund idea]] of bringing together Marxism and psychoanalysis, but on different bases. Jacques [[Lacan]]'s rereading of Freud, on the one hand, and Louis [[Althusser]]'s rereading of [[Marx]], on the other, were relevant to this trend, not necessarily through direct influence, but by calling into question old stereotypes. Much of the work is [[being]] done in the early twenty-first century on [[belief]] systems, social representations, the [[ideal]], or the <i>habitus</i> originated in this [[cultural]] ferment and bears its imprint, although it is more accurate to [[speak]] in [[terms]] of multireferentiality rather than of "[[synthesis]]." ==See Also==* [[CategoryAlthusser, Louis]]* [[Anti-Oedipus:Jacques LacanCapitalism and Schizophrenia]]* [[Bernfeld, Siegfried]]* [[Caruso, Igor A.]]* [[Detski Dom]]* [[Fenichel, Otto]]* [[France]]* [[Fromm, Erich]]* [[Ideology]]* [[Marcuse, Herbert]]* [[Mass Psychology of Fascism, The]]* [[Morgenthaler, Fritz]]* [[Philosophy and psychoanalysis]]* [[Politics and psychoanalysis]]* [[Politzer, Georges]]* [[Reich, Wilhelm]]* [[Rittmeister, John Friedrich Karl]]* [[Russia/USSR]]* [[Sociology and psychoanalysis, sociopsychoanalysis]]* [[Surrealism and psychoanalysis]]* [[Weltanschauung]] ==References==<references/># Fromm, Erich. (1963). The dogma of Christ and other essays on religion, psychology, and culture. New York: Henry Holt. (Original work published 1930)# Marcuse, Herbert. (1955). Eros and civilization: A philosophical inquiry into Freud. Boston: Beacon.# Mitscherlich, Alexander. (1974). Society without the father: A contribution to social psychology (Erick Mosbacher, Trans.). New York: J. Aronson. (Original work published 1964)# Reich, Wilhelm. (1972). Dialectical materialism and psychoanalysis. In Sex-pol; essays, 1929-1934 (Anna Bostok, Tom DuBose, and Lee Baxandall, Trans.). New York: Random House. (Original work published 1929) [[Category:MarxismNew]]