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It is no surprise that classical Freudian psychoanalysis is being reconsidered in this country in favor of allegedly more egalitarian systems of thought concerning the dynamics of human behavior. Included here are object relations theories (Fairbairn, 1963; Jacobson, 1964; Kernberg, 1976) and self-in-relation theories (Miller, 1976) and Kohut's (1984) self psychology. As Freud is updated beyond recognition, and labeled antiquated, deterministic, and phallocratic, the equally questionable ideology of postindustrial capitalism sneaks into these new, essentialist theories of “liberation.”
My remarks here are condensed from a longer and fuller study of the commodification of the object (Buccino, 1989). My thought is that the object, as used in Freud's theories, has been eviscerated conceptually. The once radically lacking Freudian object has now become “commodified” in the truest Marxist sense. The commodification of the object is most readily apparent in object relations theory such as Kernberg's. I will review briefly my thoughts on Freud, Lacan, and the object. Next, I will review Marx's notion of the commodity and locate the commodity, as it were, in object relations theory. Finally, I will consider some of the implications for theory and practice of the transformation of the Freudian object into Kernberg's.