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Freud's work is so rich in ideas and potential that it has appealed to thinkers with diverse political and ideological positions. Gabriel surveys what social theorists have done with the Freudian corpus, in each case selecting a perspective or part of it that they used for their own theory building and understanding. This book is a review of all the major statements Freud made about society and culture, followed by a survey of how various modern culture critics and social scientists have engaged with Freud and used him in their work.
Part One of the book is an examination of Freud's dualisms between body and mind, individual and society, normality and neurosis, culture and morality, science and philosophy, utopia and illusion, and psychoanalysis and culture. My reservation about this section is that it is largely static. Gabriel does not show Freud's ideas as they developed over time. The book often collapses the early Freud of the 1890's with his late cultural writings of the 1930's. If the book had incorporated the historical dimension, we could see Freud's thought in context as it evolved, progressed, and was reshaped in the phases of his development as a theorist, clinician, and culture critic.
Part Two plays off the utopian interpreters of Freud against the conservatives such as Philip Rieff and Talcott Parsons. Freud's writings, with their richness and ambiguity, offer ample justification for both readings. Freud builds in a tension between truth and pleasure—the gratification of passion inhibits the pursuit of the intellect, while the strengthening of reason tames the instincts.