TOWARDS A SOCIOLOGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF PSYCHOANALYSIS

BY PETER L. BERGER
scene. It is a partoftheAmerican SYCHOANALYSis hasbecome else takenforgranted in a wayprobably unparalleled anywhere evenifone in theworld. This can be asserted hesitation without in its narrower, meanspsychoanalysis sense,thatis, as a proper themediandbeyond form ofpsychotherapy both within practiced senseconin thisnarrower cal establishment. But psychoanalysis broader a much core of stitutes the institutional phenomenon. only ofpsychostructures Within corewe find thehighly this organized reof with networks its oriented hospitals, psychiatry, analytically and training the variouspsychoanalytic search centers, agencies whichadmitnonwhich associations denyand those (boththose The of clinicalpsychology. and wide sectors medicalpractice), and privilege of thisinstitutional complexin America prestige for thesociologist. not least a remarkable arealready Yet, matter, thatis, as an in a moregeneral if we takepsychoanalysis sense, in one activities derived and of ideas assortment wayor another thenwe findourin psychology, revolution the Freudian from of a social with in thiscountry selvesconfronted phenomenon scope.1 truly astounding
i Cf. George Wilbur and Werner Muensterberger(eds.), Psychoanalysisand Culture (New York: International Universities Press, 1951); Benjamin Nelson (ed.), Freud and the 20th Century (New York: Meridian Books, 1957); John Sutherland (ed.), Psychoanalysisand Contemporary Thought (New York: Grove Press, 1959); C. P. Oberndorf,A History of Psychoanalysisin America (New York: Harper and Row, 1964).

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there is a theinstitutional coreof psychoanalysis Surrounding and activities thatmaybe called, ringof satellite organizations entire and the loosely, counseling testing complex. Herewe find the in age and quite peculiar to thiscountry, professions, young which most them onlyin among important beingsocialcasework, acof a psychotherapeutic America has takenon the character and testing increasingly procomplex, tivity.2The counseling in itsstaff, intolargeareasof thetotalinstifessionalized extends sedimentation tutional structure of thesociety, itsheaviest being and both in the areas of welfare private, organization, public Yet even thismuch administration.3 and personnel education, exhausts ourphenomenon. more extended byno means perspective withinstitutions or evenprimarily, For we are notdealingonly, has become and organizations. Moreimportantly, psychoanalysis ofman a the nature a cultural of way understanding phenomenon, on thebasisof thisunderand an ordering ofhumanexperience model birth to a psychological hasgiven standing.Psychoanalysis core farbeyond its own institutional thathas influenced society in such new and the latter's law, especially fringe. American but by no relations as juvenileand domestic branches courts, withpsychoanalyticis increasingly meansonlythere, permeated bothin itsthought American religion, conceptions.4 allyderived has been deeplyinfluenced activities, l and in its institutiona by both"high" model.5American thesamepsychological literature, without it. The media and "low,"wouldbe unthinkable today derived from the withmaterials are filled of masscomunication in as expressed the samesource. Mostimportantly, life, everyday and intercommon has been invaded by theterminology speech, Termssuchas "repression," ofpsychoanalysis. schemes pretative
2 Cf. Gordon Hamilton, Theory and Practice of Social Case Work (New York: Columbia University Press,1940). s Cf. Martin Gross, The Brain Watchers (New York: New American Library, 1963). 4 Cf. Thomas Szasz, Law, Liberty and Psychiatry(New York: The Macmillan Co., 1963). Cf. Samuel Klausner, Psychiatryand Religion (New York: Free Press, 1964).

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"needs" and "rationalization," not to mentionthe "frustration," exkey concept of "unconscious,"have become matter-of-course in broad strata of the While we cannot pressions population. be sure how farthislinguistic and how usage is merelyrhetorical farit has actuallyinfluenced to describe, the conductit purports we are probablyon safe ground if we assume that at least three affected areas of everyday life have been significantly by psychoand derived ideas child-rearing. sexuality, marriage analytically Both the so-called sexual revolution and the so-called family renascencein America have been accompanied by a flood of which,by the nature psychoanalytically inspiredinterpretations, become self-interpretations of such processes, have increasingly of thoseengagedin theseactivities. If we accept Robert Musil's observationthat ninetyper cent of human sex life consistsof talk,thenwe mayadd thatin Americathishas become more and more Freudian talk. And if we maybelieve JohnRechy'snovel, on Times Square Cityof Night,even the youngmale prostitutes about their narcissism. worry becomespartof whatAlfred of such magnitude A phenomenon that is, it belongs Schutzhas called the world-taken-for-granted, to thoseassertions about the natureof realitythateverysane perbelieves as a matterof course. Only a madman son in a society would have denied the existence in medieval Europe of defact was a self-evident demoniacalpossession moniacal possession; life. Today, only a madman would assertthis once of everyday of disease. Sane self-evident factas against,say,the germtheory of disease forgranted take the in our germtheory society people most of them have to and act accordingly, although,naturally, deferto expertsfor proofof this theory. It would seem that a have come to be taken of psychoanalysis numberofrootassertions the in a similar forgranted questioningof the exisway. Thus, Ameriof college-educated in a gathering tenceof theunconscious as of much a self -certification cans is likelyto be as derangement of disease. Insofar would be the questioningof the germtheory Americans as college-educated they know interpretthemselves,

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as a surefactof themselves to be equippedwithan unconscious notions alsohavequitespecific and,whatis more, they experience are is furnished. For as tohowthis example, they preappendage and to anticito admit the existence of unconscious guilt disposed in America could James pate its eventual eruption. And only into a political Baldwin have converted this predisposition strategy. a fairly likepsychoanalysis, unique position Sociology, occupies a common in theAmerican cultural situation.Thereis probably of of these two reason behind thecultural disciplines prominence surit wouldbe very Be thisas it may, collective introspection. the if they had not influenced each other. As we know, prising mutualinfluence has been massive.6There has been a strong of psychoanalytic undercurrent in the development sociological in the neo-Freudian in this schools, country, especially theory Viennese visionof thegreat which havetransformed thegloomy and into a probright, uplift social-engineering-oriented pessimist influence in the other direcof secularized Methodism. The gram is American tionhas beenno lessremarkable, sociology although than its less influenced still probably by psychoanalytic theory Whatis very cultural sister interesting, anthropology. discipline, of this theoretical acculturation within the is the however, range individual differ in their field ofsociology. sociologists Although of ideas the views psychoanalytic concerning feasibility integrating those whohavea strongly with positive opinion sociological theory, ofcontemporary in the muchcover thespectrum positions pretty farin incorporatwhohasgonevery field. Thus TalcottParsons, withinhis sociological system, ing psychoanalytic conceptions critics.7 Whatwithsomeof his sharpest shares thispredilection dominant ever else may be in disputebetweenthe currently
Hendrik Ruitenbeek (ed.), Psychoanalysisand Social Science (New York: Dutton and Co., 1962), particularly the articles by Talcott Parsons and John Seeley. 7 Cf., for example, the treatmentof the relationship between society and personality in Talcott Parsons, The Social System (Glencoe, 111.: Free Press, 1951), with that in Maurice Stein et al. (eds.), Identity and Anxiety (Glencoe, 111.: Free Press,1960).

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of the propriety structural-functional school and its antagonists, is not. Those the sociological employmentof psychoanalysis forinstance aloof from who have psychoanalysis, sociologists kept to draw upon George HerbertMead ratherthan thosewho prefer of their sociological Freud for the psychological underpinnings work, have generallydone so without directlyquestioningthe intermarriage. validityof the interdisciplinary thisor thatfacet If one is married, one may describeprecisely of the marriagepartner'sconduct,but the apprehensionof the latter'stotalgestaltbecomes ever more difficult.A similardifficultyof perceptionhas been the result of the Americanliaison and sociology. Thus we have excellent between psychoanalysis of specific, partial aspectsof the psychoanalysesby sociologists analyticphenomenon. There is a whole literaturewhich conof thepsychotherapeutic cernsitself withvarioussocial dimensions of various enterprise. There are studiesof the social distribution of intensive relevant conditions, analyses the social psychiatrically now adding of the mentalhospital(theseinvestigations structure of medical within the of sub-discipline up to a sort sub-discipline studiesof attitudestowardsvarious psychotherapeutic sociology), and studiesof the social procin different social strata, procedures In recentyears esses going on in the course of psychotherapy.8 subsidizedby the National muchof thisworkhas been generously as well as Institute of Mental Health, by privatefoundations. Far be it fromus to disparagethesestudies,which have greatlyenrichedour knowledgeof manyfacetsof the phenomenonand in of muchwidertheoretical somecaseshave yieldedinsights import (as, for example, the work of August Hollingshead and Erving Goff man).9 All the same, thereremainsan enormousgap when
s Cf., as examples of these, William Rushing, The PsychiatricProfessions(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1964); John Seeley et al., CrestwoodHeights (New York: Basic Books, 1956); J. L. Moreno (ed.), Group Psychotherapy (New York: Beacon Press,1945). August Hollingshead and Frederick Redlich, Social Class and Mental Illness Asylums (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday(New York: Wiley, 1958); Erving Goffman, Anchor Books, 1961), and Stigma (Englewood Cliffs,N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1963).

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it comesto thesociological of thephenomenon as a whole. analysis Three recent attemptsat such analysiswhich have achieved a measureof comprehensiveness are Richard LaPiere's The Freudian Ethic, Eric Larrabee's The Self -ConsciousSocietyand Philip The Mind the Moralist.10 LaPiere's work is RiefFsFreud of burdenedwith a heavy political bias (because the author looks as some sortof socialistic subversion of Ameriupon Freudianism - hardlya helpfulsuggestion), can freeenterprise Larrabee'sdoes and Rieff'sis in the main an not go much beyond description, with some on what its exegeticalenterprise, generalobservations author calls "the emergenceof psychological man" in the concludingchapter. the present Obviously, paper cannoteven begin to fillthisgap. is to outline some of the presupWhat it does attempt, however, for the needed task of positions sociologicalanalysisand to venture some very tentativehypotheses on the possible results of such an analysis. The first are negative. It goes presuppositions withoutsayingthat a sociologicalanalysiswill have to bracket, or avoid passingscientific judgment on, the practicalutilityof the various psychotherapeutic activities. The sociologist,qua can be ofno assistance to distressed individualshesitatsociologist, of before the cults available on themarket ing multiplicity healing in the choice of the many today, just as he can be of no assistance or whichare engaged religious quasi-religious Weltanschauungen in pluralisticcompetitionin our society. In addition, a socioof our phenomenon will have to bracketthe queslogical analysis tion of the scientific model under validityof the psychological scrutiny. This mightbe a task for sociologicaltheoryor social but it is an unnecessary burden for the studyof the psychology, empirical phenomenonitself. The sociologist,qua sociologist,
10Richard LaPiere, The Freudian Ethic (New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, Inc., 1959); Eric Larrabee, The Self-Conscious Society (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Freud- The Mind of the Moralist (Garden City,N.Y.: DoubledayI960); Philip Rieff, Anchor Books 1961). For a European study of the diffusionof psychoanalysis,cf. - son image et son Serge Moscovici, La psychoanalyse public (Paris: Presses Universitairesde France, 1961).

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need not serveas arbiteramong competingpsychologies, just as, to returnto the previousanalogy,the sociologist of religiondoes not have to concernhimselfwith the question of whetherGod can exists. It should be strongly emphasizedthatthisbracketing occur even if the sociologistbelieves,as most Americansocioloof man do, that the psychoanalytic understanding gistsevidently virtue of is somehowtrue. Ideas do not succeed in history by their truthbut by virtue of their relationshipto specificsocial processes. This, as it were, root platitude of the sociologyof that a phenomenonsuch as ours knowledgemakes it imperative in an attitudeof rigid abstinencefromepistemobe investigated about it. logicaljudgments for such a socioThe most important positivepresupposition logical analysisis that it proceed within a frameof reference that is itselfsociological. This means that sociological modes limitsand not of analysismust be pushed to theirown intrinsic be blocked by limitsstipulatedby anotherdiscipline. This proof cedure excludesthe commonpracticeof Americansociologists within to the psychologists preserves conceding extraterritorial the sociological universe of discourse (a courtesy, by the way, Whatevermay be the rarelyreciprocated by the psychologists). cannot the sociologist meritsof otherdisciplines, methodological allow the scope of his workto be dictatedby the latter.Thus, in the sociologistcannot allow the different areas of investigation, signson terrijuristor the theologianto put up "no trespassing" is the rules of his own sociological game, legitimate torythat,by us that interests In terms of the phenomenon huntingground. exclusive to the cannot concede here,the sociologist psychologist It was call area we to that vast psychological. commonly rights Herbert Mead to show of George the greatachievement precisely how the sociologist may enterthis area withoutabandoning the of his own discipline. presuppositions This is hardlythe place to argue in what sense a sociological on the basis of Mead's work.Two maybe constructed psychology of a sociological approach to psychological crucial propositions

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ofnecesbe explicated(in thiscontext, must, however, phenomena in an abbreviatedand axiomaticfashion).The first proposisity, betweensocial tion assertsthat thereis a dialecticalrelationship the second that thereis, simstructure and psychological reality, between a dialecticalrelationship realityand psychological ilarly, model. It must be emphasizedthat, any prevailingpsychological in eitherproposition, realitydoes not mean some psychological be uncovered or verifiedby scientific that promay givenness means the ceduresof one kind or another.Psychological reality in a situation subjectively specific way in which human beings between themselves. The dialectical psyrelationship experience is already chological reality,in this sense, and social structure of the social genesis Meadian theory implied in the fundamental of the self.A particularsocial structure generatescertainsocialin their serve to shape certainsocially izationprocesses turn, that, with whateverpsychological configuration recognizedidentities, In to each of these identities. and emotive)appertains (cognitive other words, societynot only definesbut shapes psychological in specific realityoriginates reality. Justas a given psychological so the continuedexistence of identity social processes production, of such a psychological and subjectiveplausibility realitydepend confirmation. Self and of social processes identity upon specific interwoven entities. are inextricably as Mead understood, society, is a dialectical rather between the The relationship two,however, is readyin thana mechanistic one, because the self,once formed, its turn to react upon the societythat shaped it. This underto a sociological whichwe would regardas fundamental standing, withhis logical starting point psychology, providesthe sociologist to of any psychological in the investigation wit, phenomenon of the situationin question. the analysisof the social structures The second propositionconcernsthe relationshipof this psychologicalrealitywithwhatevertheorieshave been concoctedto destinednot only explain it. Since human beings are apparently we may assume that to experiencebut also to explain themselves, a model (in some cases poseverysocietyprovides psychological

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forthispurposeof self-explanation. siblymorethanone) precisely from Such a psychological model may take any numberof forms, differentiated intellectual constructions to highly primitive myths. And once more we have here a dialectical relationship.The model, insofaras psychological realityproducesthe psychological of the former. But the psythe latteris an empiricaldescription is in turnproducedby the psychological model, chologicalreality in because the latternot only describesbut definesthe former, that creative sense of definitionintended in W. I. Thomas' will famousstatement thata situationdefinedas real in a society be real in its consequences, thatis, will become realityas subjecthe members of that society.Althoughwe tivelyexperiencedby have jumped manystepsof argumentation here, it may be clear that our second propositionfollowsof necessity fromour first; both propositions springfromthe same underlying understanding of thestructuring of consciousness as a social process. As faras the second proposition, an importantone for our phenomenon,is it mayat least partially be paraphrased concerned, by sayingthat in models as psychological operate society self-fulfilling prophecies. The phenomenonthat interests us here is a particularpsychoin American logical model, acculturatedand institutionalized societyin particularways. The sociological analysismust then revolvearound the question of what social structures, with their this realities, particularpsychological appropriatepsychological model corresponds to (or, if one wishesto use a Weberian term, with what social structures this model may have an elective Beforewe turn to some hypothetical reflections on this affinity). the character of it will be advisable to clarify question,however, model a littlefurther. the psychological Now, it mustbe emphathatin the characterization to followit is not sized verystrongly theoriesto our intentionto reduce the various psychoanalytic at this some sortof commondenominator. Indeed, point we are not primarilyinterestedin theories at all, but in the much outlined in our opening rebroadersocio-cultural configuration that has its historical a configuration marks, origin and its theo-

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retical as wellas institutional movecorein thepsychoanalytical but whichis no longerco-extensive withthismovement. ment, The following, is an to isolate some then, keypropositions attempt ofa psychological world modeloperative in thetaken-for-granted ofeveryday lifein oursociety, a phenomenon that(perhaps faute 11 de mieux)we woulddesignate as psychologism: to smallsegment of the totalselfis present Onlya relatively consciousness. The unconscious is the matrix of decisive mental The conscious self is movedout of theseunknown processes. into actions the true ofwhich it doesnotundermeaning depths and stand. Men are typically of theirown motives ignorant and of interpreting theirown symbolizations. Specific incapable verifiable hermeneutic have to be scientifically applied procedures for suchinterpretation. conduct. is a keyareaofhuman Sexuality The on-going Childhood is thekeyphaseof humanbiography. of theselfmaybe understood in terms of theoperation activity of which thetwomost of scientifically ascertainable mechanisms, arerepression and projection.Culture maybe underimportant forces stood as thescene ofinteraction between unconscious motor and consciously established norms. havea bearing on thesuccess of Whatstructural developments In the model in our to follow this society? argument psychological indebted to ArnoldGehlen's and ThomasLuckwe are strongly ofindustrial mann's contributions to a socialpsychology society.12 force in modern is indusThe fundamental society structurizing and the processes of trialization.In rationalizing fragmenting industrialization has autonomized the economic area production fabric. This autonomous economic area has of theinstitutional from the thenbecomeprogressively segregated politicalinstitu11The authors of a sociological study of religious best sellers have suggested "mentalism" for roughly the same complex of phenomena in the area of popular culture, but this is at least as ambiguous a term as "psychologism." Cf. Louis Schneider and Sanford Dornbush, Popular Religion (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press,1958). 12 Cf. Arnold Gehlen, Die Seele im technischen Zeitalter (Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1957); Thomas Luckmann, Das Problem der Religion in der modernen Geselschaft (Freiburg: Rombach, 1963).

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tions on the one hand and fromthe familyon the other. The former does not concern us here. The segregation segregation betweenthe economiccomplex and the family, is very however, relevant forour considerations, forit is closelyconnected withthe of a novel social the emergence quite sphereof the phenomenon private. A modernindustrialsocietypermitsthe differentiation betweenpublic and privateinstitutional spheres. What is essential forthe psychological of such a reality societyis thatits members experiencethis dichotomization as a fundamental ordering of their life. itself then tends to be principle everyday Identity at the veryleast,in terms of a public and a private dichotomized, self. Identity,in this situation,is typically uncertainand unstable. In other words, the psychological concomitantof the structural of industrialsocietyis the widelyrecognized patterns of crisis. Or in even simplerwords,indiphenomenon identity viduals in this sortof societydo not know for certainwho they do not know to which of a number of are, or more accurately, selves which theyexperiencetheyshould assign priority status. Some individuals solve the problem by identifying themselves in terms of their selves. This solution, however, primarily public can be attractive only to those whose roles in the public sphere this means occupationalroles) allow such identification (usually in the first place. Thus one mightperhapsdecide that one's real selfis identicalwith one's role as a top businessexecutiveor as some kind of professional. This option is not veryseductivefor thegreatmassesof people in themiddleand lowerechelonsof the occupationalsystem. The typicaloption for them has been to to theirprivateselves,that is, to locate the "real assignpriority me" in the privatesphereof life. Thus an individual may say, - on Madison Avenue I only "Don't judge me by what I do here - but come home withme to Darien and I'll showyou play a role who I reallyam." has its ideologicaldimensionand of identity This privatization difficulties. If the "real me" is to be located in its psychological the private sphere, then the activitiesof this sphere must be

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This legitimaas decisive occasions for self-discovery. legitimated and its solemnization tionis provided by interpreting sexuality forthe discovery in thefamily thecrucialtests as precisely (we are the of this ofidentity. wouldsay, thedefinition) Expressions in our society, of sexualism and familism ideologies ideologies thataresometimes in competition magazine against (say, Playboy and sometimes theLadies' Home Journal) mergeinto synthesis constellation).The psycho(the sensible-sex-for-young-couples offirm socialcondifficulties stem from theinnate paucity logical to The individual trols in theprivate seeking discover sphere. real selfin the private his supposedly spheremustdo so with of his totallife) limitedidentityonly tenuousand (in terms thentheneed to assist him. Thereappears confirming processes for identity-maintenance agenciesin the privatesphere. The and forthe definition the of is, course, principal agency family reasons that for maintenance ofprivate However, many identity. Other alone is insufficient. thefamily cannot be developed here, desocialformations mustfillthisgap. These are the agencies market. needsof the identity signedto meetthe psychological are old institutions some of these agencies Variously organized, while suchas thechurches, new functions, transformed to fulfill such as the others are institutional novelties, psychotherapeutic charhere. All reflect the over-all that interest us organizations that of a social acter oftheprivate market, sphere poorin identity ofpublic with thesphere control mechanisms (atleastas compared ofa considerable measure of individand permissive institutions) thustendto The various ual liberty. identity-marketing agencies at leastinsofar and consumer-oriented, be voluntary, competitive the is restricted to as their private sphere. activity withits central to the public sphere, If we now turnbriefly we are confronted withyet and economic institutions, political the prevaof industrialization another structural consequence As Max Weber forms of administration. lence of bureaucratic is one of the mainresults of the showed longago, bureaucracy modern indusnecessitated of rationalizationssociety by profound

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trialcapitalism.Bureaucracy, is much morethana form however, of social organization.Bureaucracy modes of also entailsspecific human interaction. Broadlyspeaking,one may say thatbureauskillrather thanbyoutright tendsto control cracy bymanipulative coercion. The bureaucrat is thusnot onlya sociologicalbut also a psychological broughtabout by type. The psychological reality administered institutions has been studied by a bureaucratically the conceptsof some of them good numberof recentsociologists, we need only having actuallygained broad popular familiarity; mentionDavid Riesman's"other-directed character" and William man" by way of illustration. Whyte's"organization behind us it is not difficult With thisexcursusof sociologizing to returnto the phenomenonthatconcernsus here. In view of concomitants and its psychological the structural configuration "If Freud had not outlined one would like to existed,he say, just would have had to be invented." Institutionalized psychologism, movefromthe psychoanalytic as derived directlyor indirectly an admirably ment,constitutes designedresponseto the needs of socio-historical situation.Unlike some othersocial thisparticular crisis(suchas thechurches entities involvedin themodernidentity on the other),instituon the one hand and political fanaticisms straddlesthe dividing line between the tionalizedpsychologism an unusuallystrategic thusoccupying public and privatespheres, In the in our it appearsas one of society. privatesphere, position the agenciessupplyinga population of anxious consumerswith maintenance and repair of services forthe construction, a variety of identities. In the public sphere,it lends itselfwith equal economic and political bureaucraciesin successto the different need of non-violent techniquesof social control. The same psyclinical psychologist, psychi(psychiatrist, chologicalpractitioner can in one role assist the or what-have-you) atric social worker, of his sophistisuburbanitein the interiordecorating privatized us another role assist him and in cated psyche, (let assumethathe in dealingmoreeffectively with relations is an industrial director) in the If one troublemakers or actual organization. potential

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is in a probably mayput it thisway,institutionalized psychologism along withitsclientele. It is capable unique positionto commute of doingjust whatinstitutionalized religionwould like to do and the individualin both is increasingly unable to do- to accompany sectorsof his dichotomizedlife. Thus the symbolsof psychoin a truly collectiverepresentations logismbecome over-arching Durkheimiansense and that in a cultural context singularly when it comes to such integrating symbols. impoverished even further into can however, penetrate Sociologicalanalysis, the social rootsof the psyto wit,it can clarify the phenomenon, can now go back to our charmodel itself. Thus we chological acterization of this model and ask how its centralthemesrelate to the social situationin which the model has been so eminently first of all, that a psychological successful. We would suggest, a model thathas as its crucial concept notion of the unconscious may be relatedto a social situationin which thereis such comthatthe individualis in the fabric ofrolesand institutions plexity in itstotality. In other his society no longercapable of perceiving words,we would argue that the opaqueness of the psychological as a whole. model reflects the opaqueness of the social structure The individual in modern societyis typically acting and being motor forces of which are incomprethe acted upon in situations of the decisive ecohensibleto him. The lack of intelligibility in this connection. is paradigmatic nomic processes Societyconor in other fronts the individualas mysterious words,the power, forcesthat shape individual is unconsciousof the fundamental and identihis life. One's own and the others'motives, meanings as theyare comprehensible, ties,insofar appear as a narrowforethe of ground translucency, backgroundof which is providedby of a social worldthatis opaque, immensely the massive structures of one's powerfuland potentiallysinister. The interpretation Freudian icebergis of the largelysubmerged own being in terms one's verified thussubjectively ongoingexperienceof a society by with thesecharacteristics. the As the crucial psychologistic conceptof the unconsciousfits

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social situation,so do the other themes used in our previous characterization of the model. The theme of sexualityfitsthe of requirements the social situationin which the essentialself is located in the private sphere. In consequence, the identitysexual myths are legitimated functions of contemporary defining on various levels of intellectualsophistication. by psychologism of Again, the themeof childhoodservesto establishthe primacy This the private sphere in the hierarchyof self-definitions. in the psychologistic themehas been particularly significant legitian that the mationof contemporary familism, ideology interprets * locale of * affirmation. The as the most 'healthy* identity family of mechaof the self as an assemblage psychological understanding nisms allows the individual to deal with himself with the same technical,calculatingand "objective" attitude that is the attitude par excellence of industrialproduction. Indeed, the has easily found its way fromthe language term"productivity" of the engineer to that of the psychologist. In consequence, furnishes the (nota bene) "scientific" legitimation psychologism of both inter-and intra-personal manipulation. Furthermore, the interpretation of culture as a drama between individual "needs" and social realitiesis a fairlyaccurate reflection of the and "frustration" in ongoingbalancingact between"fulfillment" the everyday lifeof individualsin a high-level consumers' society. In consequence,psychologism a "scientific" again provides legitimationto theadjustment without whichsuch a society technology could hardlyget along. of soberFinally,psychologism providesa peculiarcombination nessand fantasy thatwould seemto correspond to profound aspirations of people living in a highlyrationalizedsociety. On the one hand, psychologism itselfas a science and as a techpresents nique of rationalcontrol. On the otherhand, however,psychologism makes possible once more the ancient fascinationwith and magic. Indeed, one is temptedto speak here of a mystery formof neo-mysticism. Once more the true self is to be dis-

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covered a descent intothepresumed ofone'sown through depths is notthat ofthedivine and,eveniftheultimate being, discovery least not it still has theold this side of (at anywhere Jungianism), flavor ofthenuminous.Psychologism abouta strange thus brings ofmodern reversal ofthedisenchantment and demythologization consciousness. The otherworld,whichreligionlocatedin a transcendental within human consciousis nowintrojected reality, ness itself. It becomesthatotherself (the morereal, or the or however it maybe calledby or themore mature self, healthier, of the thedifferent which is the goal psychologistic quest. schools) abbreviOur considerations herehave had to be distressingly has once more,our argument ated. And,we wouldemphasize in its intention. Hopefully, been tentative and hypothetical we havebeen able to indicate thescopeof theanalytic though, in hisrecent of psytaskto be undertaken. ThomasSzasz, study oftheemergence chiatric influences on American law,has spoken well be that thelatter is but state/' It may of the"therapeutic ofa "psychological oftheemergence oneaspect society."It is all underof sociological thatthe fullweight the moreimportant to bear on this monumental be phenomenon. standing brought