The encounter between social theory and psychoanalysis has been a classical topos in the history of the Frankfurt School's early critical theory. Allen's bold, original, and timely book revisits this theoretical relationship with a strong systematic intention. She urges us to do nothing less than to critically rethink the social nature of the psyche as well as the imaginary dimension of contemporary politics.

Autorentext
Amy Allen is Liberal Arts Professor of Philosophy and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and head of the Philosophy Department at the Pennsylvania State University. Her previous Columbia University Press books include The End of Progress: Decolonizing the Normative Foundations of Critical Theory (2016) and Transitional Subjects: Critical Theory and Object Relations (2019, coedited with Brian O'Connor).

Klappentext

Does critical theory still need psychoanalysis? Amy Allen offers a cogent and convincing defense of its ongoing relevance. She draws on Freud, Klein, and Lacan to develop a more realistic strand of psychoanalytic thinking that centers on notions of loss, negativity, ambivalence, and mourning.

Inhalt
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Critical Theory Needs Psychoanalysis (Now More Than Ever)

1. Kleinian Realism: Between the Intrapsychic and the Intersubjective
2. A System of Scars: The Problem of Ego Integration
3. Beyond Developmentalism: Psychoanalysis and the Critique of Progress
4. The Cure Is That There Is No Cure: Psychoanalysis and the Idea of Progress
5. Transference: Psychoanalysis and the Methodology of Critique
   Conclusion: From Theory to Praxis
   Notes
   Bibliography
   Index