On Some Uses of Psychoanalysis1

One of the charges made by critics of Freud is that psychoanalytic theory sets sharp limits to the perfectibility of man, and so it does. When they criticize the biological elements of the theory, they fail to realize that these elements also guarantee man's uniqueness and individuality; for the theory also sets limits to man's ability to be manipulated and it insists that there is an irreducible, stubborn, active core of individuality demanding fulfillment and gratification, no matter what the claims of society or the demands of culture. In the early days of psychoanalysis it was felt that if children were properly reared, and if childhood sexuality could be satisfied while at the same time the trauma of infancy and childhood could be avoided, then the oedipus complex would either pass or be smashed; and if there were a sensible method of contraception and a sane sexual morality, so that the actual neuroses would vanish, then neurosis would either vanish or be so severely reduced that the rational aspects of man's psyche would prevail. To be sure, this might take three generations, but the drying up of the sources of anxiety would be under way once the tenets of psychoanalysis were widely accepted. At a minimum, the result would be the sexual liberation of the child and the adult.

To Socialists and Communists even early psychoanalytic theory was bad utopian dogma. Although not politically reactionary, it laid so little stress upon economic factors that it was useless to those movements. Economic matters were of obvious importance to the psychoanalysts; at least in Europe,