Reich, whose Character Analysis is a classic in psychoanalytic literature, has been rediscovered by the antiauthoritarian protest movement of the late 1960's. Decisive for this renaissance are Reich's concept of 'sexual economy', his request for the politicization of private life, his criticism prior to 1933 of Stalinist propaganda, his warnings concerning the fascist potential of the middle class, and, most important of all, his equation of repression with fascism. Dahmer details the differences between Reich's concepts and those of historical materialism and psychoanalysis, both claimed by Reich as his bases. The crucial differences between the two great theories and Reich's views require a determination of the relationship between psychoanalysis and social theory beyond the reductions of biologism; Dahmer attempts such a determination.