Nancy J. Chodorow on ‘The American Independent Tradition: Loewald, Erikson, and the (Possible) Rise of Intersubjective Ego Psychology’

Nancy J. Chodorow argues that there is a trend within American psychoanalysis that can be characterized as an American Independent tradition analogous to the British Independent tradition, although there are some differences. She proposes that one way of describing this tradition is as an intersubjective ego psychology and explains how her view of intersubjectivity differs from the common contemporary understanding of intersubjectivity as a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. She discusses the significance of the work of Loewald and Erikson in articulating the American Independent tradition.