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In this First Chapter, Axelrod recognizes that “As clinicians, we have no models of mature working to guide us as we do varied and sophisticated models of mature loving” (p. 1). This predicament is hardly an accident, given the particular pastiche of ideas and clinical practices to which the author limits himself, calling it “my version of the analytic ideal.” Actually it is a popular enough combination of concepts and clinical practices, including old standbys like the Oedipus complex, psychic determinism, and object relations theory, with a dash of other familiar favorites. The absence of a model of maturity is at least partly the result of the retention of notions of human development that understand maturity as little more than an extrapolation from the childhood past. This also fails to explain, for instance, what differentiates us from those of our prehistoric ancestors who also had good-enough mothers.
Despite this kind of theoretical limitation, Axelrod has taken pains to inform himself about management theory and has even familiarized himself with business settings. The result is a book that may well prove acceptable and useful to those analysts of a similarly conservative stripe. Particularly addressed to this audience is his final chapter on “The Psychology of a Changing Workplace.” It is concise, well written, and underscores how today's changing technology has altered the climate of business practice. In this connection he pays particular attention to a current management strategy that has especially troublesome psychological consequences. It is the spread of downsizing, that is, dismissal of a large subdivision of employees for reasons of profitability, and without regard for their individual merits. In its current version, downsizing confronts all levels of employees with an ever-present threat of job loss.
It would have made excellent sense to put this chapter earlier in the book, in order to enrich information about working conditions relevant to the