You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Samuels is a peripatetic traveler, wandering as he does over many questions, regarding them from political, psychological, cultural, and sociological vantages. While the theme of politics and depth psychology ties this book together, it is by a rather thin thread. One does not get a sense of a cohesive whole, and each chapter can
easily be read as a separate essay. During the course of his meanderings, Samuels focuses on such topics as morality and politics, fathers, object relations, group process and political change, and Jung's involvement with the Nazis. The book is unevenly written, some chapters being clearer in his treatment of the subject matter than others. Those which are more theoretical and philosophical tend to be less clear.
The only idea that has continuity throughout this work is the call for the application of “depth psychology,” which the author contends will enhance our understanding of politics and the political role of the analyst. His hope is that this will have a transforming influence on the nature of politics, public policy, and the political role of the analyst. A major aim is to make the clinician aware of the political, both inside and outside of the consulting room, and, as he puts it, “to politicize the clinical project” (p. 1). Samuels's analysis is drawn from both a Jungian and an idiosyncratic perspective. His aim, however, is thwarted by his often convoluted and obscure writing. It also appears that the author cannot make up his mind as to whether his objective is the use of depth psychology as an analytic tool or whether it is advocacy of his own political agenda. Aside from putting forth his own ideological views and analysis of the political, which he defines broadly, he leaves the reader without a clear conception of the tools that analysts and therapists can utilize. He conveys more of a feeling of philosophical and political urgency than of fruitful and clear analysis.
When Samuels speaks of the political he means “the concert