The Politics of Psychoanalysis: An Introduction to Freudian and Post-Freudian Theory: Stephen Frosh. New York:  New York University Press, 1999,  336 pp.

Psychoanalysis is a profound source of both insight and challenge for individuals who wish to build social forms conducive to positive human development and to enrich personal relationships. This second edition of The Politics of Psychoanalysis: An Introduction to Freudian and Post-Freudian Theory has been thoroughly revised to take into account the many developments in psychoanalysis of the past decade. The author is most concerned about psychoanalytic theory, particularly its relevance to social relations and politics. He updates his accounts of the theories covered in the first edition and adds new material on feminist thought, relational theories, and post-modernist points of view.

There have always been theorists and practitioners who wish to promote social and political consequences from the study of psychoanalytic theory, and this appears to be the case with Stephen Frosh. Frosh reassesses his earlier criticisms of object relations theory and now includes chapters on contemporary intersubjectivity theory, and, in an attempt to clarify newer developments, he includes fashionable post-modernist thoughts. He deals extensively with social issues as they relate to psychoanalytic theories, and discusses current approaches to homosexuality, racism, and gender theories.

The book is composed of four parts. Part 1 is mainly an exposition of Freudian theory on the unconscious, instincts, and defences. Part 2 begins with a discussion of the concepts of repression and the unconscious and goes on to deal with ego psychology, object relations, Klein, and Lacan. Parts 3 and 4 have to do with psychoanalysis and politics, and psychotherapy and concepts of cure. He concludes with a chapter called “The Politics of Psychoanalysis” and also lists an extensive bibliography.

Stephen Frosh is a professor of psychology at the University of London and a consultant psychologist at the Tavistock Clinic. He writes with the assuredness of the social scientist rather than with the wonder and b