THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOANALYSIS ON SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES

Abstract

The theories of Freud, his colleagues and successors had a significant impact on Western thought for much of the 20th century. Psychoanalytic concepts were widely used in literary criticism and became part of everyday life in journalism and “popular psychology”. Almost every educated adult in Western society was familiar with these concepts, at least to some extent. Towards the end of the 20th century, however, it became clear that the psychoanalytic model was difficult to test empirically, or that it did not work well in experimental tests. By the end of the 20th century, psychodynamic treatment methods had largely been replaced by cognitive-behavioral and pharmacological techniques, but psychoanalysis as a form of psychotherapy and psychoanalytic concepts still had some adherents (Wertheimer 2020:158). In terms of social analysis and sociological theory, Freudian ideas have played a major role in the sociological conceptualization of human subjectivity and interpersonal relations, sexuality and modern culture, as well as the mixture of reason and irrationality in politics and history. There have been three important sociological developments in this context: first, there have been several early and influential articulations of psychoanalysis and sociology developed in Europe (as represented especially in the work of the Frankfurt school of sociology) and North America (especially in the writings of Talcott Parsons); second, structuralist and poststructuralist variants of psychoanalysis as it has been used in sociological debates; and finally, feminist and postmodern social theory have been significantly shaped by psychoanalysis.