Where Id was

Book excerpt: There have been many 'returns to Freud', many attempts to recover the first psychoanalyst's radical challenge to the dominant culture of the day. At no time has it been more important than now -- when the values of 'normalization' pervade not only society but increasingly the consulting room itself -- to break through the atrophies of Freudian theory to recapture its early spirit. Many psychoanalysts are doing just that, in an attempt to focus attention on the inherently political dimensions of psychoanalytic culture. Where Id Was brings together some of today's best known psychoanalytic thinkers to present an authoritative analysis of the individual and social concerns which inform the politics of contemporary psychoanalysis.