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This work of Kolnai offers a very suggestive introduction to a very important subject, namely, the relationship between psychoanalysis and sociology. The author raises the issues very definitely in the following questions: “What is the nature of the parallelism between the individual and society, and within what limits does that parallelism exist? In what social movements is it most conspicuous? What is the value of analogies between individual psychoses and social psychoses? Can we from these analogies draw conclusions which would be useful for therapeutic purposes?”
These questions give an idea of the way in which the author approaches the problem. Specifically he discusses such social movements as anarchism, communism, and bolshevism, and as a result of his analysis he concludes that they are all regressive in character. Anarchism, particularly, is doomed to failure, even as a regressive movement. It is founded, in his belief, upon the desire to kill the father, but unlike the movement which has actually taken place among primitive peoples to this end as set forth by Freud in his “Totem and Taboo,” it is not replaced after the fact is accomplished by a reconstitution of the father ideal. It is therefore totally destructive and is doomed in its very nature to failure. Communism he believes also to be a regressive movement, but from a higher level. The effort here is to get back to the mother, but there is no corresponding destruction of the father ideal.
The book as a whole is very suggestive, but unfortunately the style is exceedingly difficult of comprehension. Whether this fault exists in the original or is a result of the translation the reviewer is unable to express an opinion. Certainly the general tendency to apply the results which have been obtained in the newer psychology to the elucidation of sociological problems is a worth while endeavor and ought easily to lead