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The very fact of this book's publication should be welcomed by psychoanalysts of all theoretical orientations. The editors emphasize that work has been a relatively neglected topic in the psychoanalytic literature, and their attempt to address this deficiency is certainly timely. Dramatic changes in technology along with important sociological and economic shifts are provoking a reappraisal of the role of work in everyday life. The national debate on welfare reform is based on assumptions about the “work ethic” and the centrality of work for the healthy functioning of the individual and society. By and large, psychoanalysts have been silent on these issues, although I believe we are in a unique position to understand and help ameliorate work-related problems. I believe that we can ill afford this noninvolvement, especially as our profession experiences increasing pressure to demonstrate its effectiveness in addressing specific areas of patient functioning.
Work and Its Inhibitions is, to my knowledge, the first edited psychoanalytic book on the topic of work. Socarides and Kramer view their book as a kind of introductory sampler that “will prove to be an enticing invitation to others to further probe the psychoanalytic mysteries surrounding disturbances in work” (p. xxi). Although the reader's interest in the topic of work may indeed be stimulated by this collection of essays, the editors could have provided a better platform for future efforts to systematize the understanding and treatment of work-related problems. The reader is apt to come away from reading this book rather confused about psychoanalytic conceptions of work and its treatment.
Because this book is an initial effort to define a field of inquiry for psychoanalysis it could have benefitted from a stronger editorial voice. The book's introduction makes only passing mention of previous psychoanalytic contributions to the topic of work, and is devoted instead to summaries of all the books' chapters. Some co