Description
Book SynopsisCritical theory draws on Marxism, psychoanalysis, postmodern and poststructuralist theorists. Marxism and psychoanalysis are rooted in the Enlightenment project, while postmodernism and poststructuralism are more indebted to Nietzsche, whose philosophy is rooted in anti-Enlightenment ideas and ideals. Marxism and psychoanalysis contributed mightily to our understanding of fascism and authoritarianism, but were distorted and disfigured by authoritarian tendencies and practices in turn. This book, written for clinicians and social scientists, explores these overarching themes, focusing on the reception of Freud in America, the authoritarian personality and American politics, Lacan’s “return to Freud,” Jordan Peterson and the Crisis of the Liberal Arts, and the anti-psychiatry movement.
Trade Review“Burston’s book is an outstanding work of scholarship in which he favourably reviews Wilhelm Reich and Erich Fromm’s contention that ‘sadomasochism and authoritarianism are not confined to the extreme Right … . Burston endorses the mode of rational authority needed by democratic entities, which is the one that promotes competence and mutual respect.” (Ann Casement, Journal of Analytical Psychology, Vol. 66 (1), 2021)
Table of ContentsChapter One: Critical Theory and the Problem of AuthorityChapter Two: Freud and America: The Golden Age, the Freud Wars and BeyondChapter Three: Jacques Lacan and Louis Althusser: Return to Freud? Chapter Four: Of Two Minds: Language and the Unconscious in Freud, Stern and McGilchrist Chapter Five: Trump, Authoritarianism & the End of American DemocracyChapter Six: Nietzsche, Postmodernism and the Hermeneutics of SuspicionChapter Seven: Jordan Peterson and the Postmodern UniversityChapter Eight: Anti-Psychiatry: The End of the Road?
