Psychoanalytic Theory: An Introduction by Anthony Elliott Oxford:  Blackwell, 1994,  183 pp., $49.95; $19.95 paper.

Anthony Elliott's book aims to “provide a reasonably comprehensive discussion of developments in psychoanalytic theory” (p. 1). Elliott casts the net of analytic theory wide indeed. He does not limit himself to clinical theories but, rather, includes psychoanalytic social critique theories, such as those of Marcuse and Lasch, psychoanalytic feminism, poststructuralism, and postmodernism. Indeed, he gives roughly as much space to each of these movements as he does to a single chapter on object relations theory, Kleinian thought, and self psychology together.

To do justice to so many complex theories is indeed a tall order for a 183-page book, and Elliott acknowledges that “an introductory discussion such as this will necessarily involve certain simplifications, omissions, and gaps” (p. 1). This tension between the aim of offering a comprehensive introduction to the vast domain of psychoanalytic theories and the brevity of the book, with its selectivity and omissions, pervades the work. To make the task even more difficult, Elliott attempts to link psychoanalytic theory with developments in contemporary thought and social practice. Here his aim is to show the relationship between the various psychoanalytic theories and a radical critique of contemporary society. This theme also conflicts with Elliott's intent to provide an introduction to psychoanalytic theory.

In his introduction, Elliott sets forth his purpose as the discussion of three themes: human subjectivity, the relationship between self-organization and the contemporary social and political world, and epistemological issues. Elliott uses “epistemology,” however, in a very special sense. He is not referring to the current debate on the scientific status of psychoanalysis, but to psychoanalysis as a social critique by uncovering asymmetrical forms of power. His concern with the relationship between self and the social