Freudo Marxism

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Basic model (Wilhelm Reich 1933)

The Freudo-Marxism is a theory of society, consisting of a compound of the theories of Sigmund Freud ( psychoanalysis ) and Karl Marx ( Marxism arose) from the 1920s. Freudomarxism, which at the time was unable to gain political influence either in psychoanalysis or in Marxism, formed one of the theoretical foundations for the New Left ( 1968 movement ) in the 1960s : the capitalist state suppressed the sexuality of its productive forces for the purpose of higher work performance ( which, according to Wilhelm Reich , leads to mass neuroses) and to the liberation or the autonomy of the “new person”, sexuality can be freely lived independently of social conventions.

Foundation laid by Wilhelm Reich

The psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich was the most famous representative of early Freudo Marxism. He tried to synthesize the Marxist method of dialectical materialism with psychoanalysis . Reich wanted to show that the purely clinical psychoanalysis contains nothing that contradicts Marxism. There was, however, a contradiction between Marxism and the psychoanalysis which Freud in the 1920s increasingly developed into a pessimistic attitude towards human nature in cultural philosophy (cf. death instinct ).

In contrast, Reich emphasized that psychoanalysis contains radical social criticism. He therefore hoped, like Otto Gross before him , that psychoanalysis could only find broad recognition and develop its full potential under socialism or communism . This attitude of Reich was one reason that he came more and more into conflict with Freud. While other Freudo Marxists of the time such as Otto Fenichel , Siegfried Bernfeld or Erich Fromm were tolerated in the psychoanalytic movement, Reich was excluded from it in 1934 at Freud's instigation without official justification. This shows that the conflict between Freud and Reich, which had already started before Reich's turn to Marxism, had deeper reasons than Reich's Freudo Marxism.

The basic assumptions of Reich's Freudomarxism are:

  • Society suffers from a mass neurosis . This idea was already addressed in Freud's The Uneasiness in Culture , without, however, being further specified there.
  • The cause for the neuroses of the individual is the social oppression of the individual by capitalism , work , power . In the sexual area in particular , this can be experienced, for example through regulations and false moral concepts that are intended to maintain this order.
  • The sexual liberation of the individual is a prerequisite for social liberation in the revolution. Sexual liberation, like other emotionality , is part of a revolutionary movement in society as a whole.

Further developments

Many young Berlin psychoanalysts in particular sympathized with Reich's approach of combining psychoanalysis with Marxism. Reich's ideas were taken up, changed and further developed by Erich Fromm and Karen Horney in particular . However, both emphasized the social factors in the development of neuroses . Libidinal factors, however, increasingly took a back seat .

The advocates of critical theory were also strongly influenced by Marx and Freud, particularly Herbert Marcuse , who was inspired by Heidegger . However, in contrast to Reich, he drafts his theory on the basis of the death drive theory of the late Freud. That is why he distances himself (in his book Eros and Civilization , 1955, German first Eros and culture , then instinctual structure and society ) from Reich, which he describes as undifferentiated and "primitive". Marcuse established the term "performance principle", which conflicts with the pleasure principle. Marcuse also notes a repressive desublimation (in the 1960s), where sexuality is “merchandise-shaped” in order to increase sales of products and (sexual) services.

Whether the theories of Fromm, Horney, Marcuse and others should be seen as further developments or dilutions of the original approaches remained controversial and ultimately unresolved. Reich himself revised his relevant writings in the 1940s, so that his Freudomarxism was known through (unauthorized) reprints of the early writings in the years around " 1968 ", but is hardly recognizable in the regular editions of his writings (from 1969).

Effects on the 68s

The early writings of Wilhelm Reich in particular gave Freudo Marxism recognition in the American, French and German '68 movement . Reich had also postulated that child sexuality must be liberated (otherwise child sexual repression would encourage fascist systems), which was also adopted by the 1968s, insofar as educational plans for school sex education in the FRG influenced and even became a creed within different scientific disciplines. The dissolution of the generational family order was also argued in terms of anti-authoritarian upbringing .

On a feminist basis, Shulamith Firestone adopts approaches from Wilhelm Reich and concepts from Marcuse (in: The Dialectic of Sex (1970), German: Women's Liberation and Sexual Revolution ). While Kate Millett (1970) advocated the "full realization" of the sexual revolution, Firestone argued that it was of no benefit to women, on the contrary.

Millett and Firestone are considered to be the main protagonists of Freudo-Marxist feminism , which exerted a significant influence on the American women's movement and is now reflected in relevant gender-political concepts (see reproductive health and reproductive rights , see UN Women)

In the run-up to the May riots in Paris in 1968, the revolting students at the University of Nanterre around Daniel Cohn-Bendit referred to Wilhelm Reich in particular . In their bedroom revolt (Boadella) they forced, among other things, the lifting of the gender segregation in the student residences of the University of Nanterre.

Sex repression and bio-power

Michel Foucault (1977) does not fundamentally contradict the Freudo-Marxist concept of state sexual repression, but differentiates in the sense of bio-power in that the intention of the (economic and government) elites (see also governmentality ) is primarily oriented towards bio- political regulation of the population In past centuries, for example, to ensure the creation and maintenance of military and labor forces. Gunnar Heinsohn and Otto Steiger argue similarly in The Destruction of Wise Women with regard to the systematic persecution of angel makers .

Selected literature

  • Siegfried Bernfeld : Psychoanalysis and Socialism . In: Der Kampf , Vienna 1926, p. 385 ff.
  • Wilhelm Reich: Dialectical Materialism and Psychoanalysis (1929); various reprints 1968 ff.
  • Reimut Reiche : Sexuality and Class Struggle '. On the criticism of repressive desublimation . Berlin 1968.
  • Helmut Dahmer : Libido and Society. Studies on Freud and the Freudian Left . Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1973.
  • Michael Schneider: Neurosis and Class Struggle. Materialistic criticism and attempt at an emancipative re-foundation of psychoanalysis . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1973, ISBN 3 499 25026 8 .
  • Karl-Heinz Braun : Critique of Freudomarxism . Pahl-Rugenstein, Cologne 1979.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christin Sager: The enlightened child. On the history of the Federal Republic of Germany's sex education (1950-2010) . Bielefeld 2015, p. 129 ff.
  2. ↑ Cf. Günther Deegener (2016): Assessment of pedophile demands in the German Child Protection Association (archived version on Docplayer), p. 3 ff.
  3. ↑ See TAZ, Meike Sophia Baader (2010): Pedagogical Eros. The end of the silence : “In contrast to the Catholic Church, possible pedophilia is legitimized here not with a hierarchy between the generations, but precisely with a de- hierarchization of the generation difference and the assumption that children have to live out their instincts in order to be free and to become a responsible adult. The perspective here was that the adult should not evade childish desire. "
  4. ^ Stephanie Genz: Postfeminism . Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2009, p. 95: "Firestone argued that the sexual revolution 'brought no improvements for women' but proved to have 'great value' for men [...] a new reservoir of available females was created [...]."
  5. ^ Ginette Castro: American Feminism. A Contemporary History. New York University Press, New York and London 1990, p. 91: "For Shulamith Firestone, the sexual revolution must liberate women from the tyranny of their reproductive function [...]. Besides recognizing women's right to nonmotherhood, this suggestion offers an essentially political proposal: the destruction of the very foundations on which rests the categorization of women as a sexual class. "
  6. ↑ UN WOMEN (2011): Advocacy Toolkit for Women in Politics. 8 Key Gender Concepts (PDF; 439 kB)
  7. ↑ Mike Laufenberg: Sexuality and biopower. From the security disposition to the politics of concern . Bielefeld 2014, p. 63.