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Perhaps inspired by Jones' monumental biography, or perhaps by the course of time, the traditional academic anti-Freudian invective is giving way in a number of quarters to a searching reappraisal of the
man and his teachings. This book may be looked upon as a fairly significant part of the reappraisal.
The author is a sociologist whose field of interest ranges from the social sciences to intellectual history. He has taught at the University of Chicago and elsewhere, and is now on the faculty of the University of California at Berkeley. In 1957-58 he was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, during which time the work was written.
Professor Rieff tries to assess the intellectual and especially the moral implications of Freud. As he puts it, he wishes to show the mind of Freud, as it derives lessons on the right conduct of life from the misery of living it. All of Freud's writings come under careful scrutiny, and some of the major topics in psychoanalytic-social theory, such as conflict, interpretation, sexuality, authority, politics and religion, are examined in detail.
Unlike many of his colleagues, Rieff expresses boundless admiration for Freud. He calls his work “the most important body of thought committed to paper in the twentieth century.” He says that Freud is the least confused of modern minds. The jacket says that today in America the influence of Sigmund Freud perhaps outweighs that of any other modern thinker.
Writers on ideas are sometimes classified in three groups: originators, communicators and popularizers. Rieff falls into the second category. His book is directed to the educated graduate student, though its impressive erudition makes it heavy reading.
The central thesis is that contained in the title, that Freud was a moralist, and had a moral message to convey to mankind. The term “moral” however is used more in the old sense of moral philosophy, which we would today render more adequately as social science or social p