Psychoanalysis and sociology

Psychoanalysis And Sociology – is a book, which was published in 1921 and written by Aurel Kolnai. The view of the relationship between psychoanalysis and sociology will be largely determined by our view of the relationship between the individual and society. Direct sociological applications of psychoanalysis are not feasible unless the forces that dominate the mental life of the individual also have a decisive influence on the life of society, or at least if social events are not derived from individual behavior. But apart from the consideration that psychoanalysis has not yet made a comprehensive differential study of the individual, the researcher may well be deterred from any such attempt by his recognition of the unique nature of society. Thus, psychoanalysis is still far from having an exhaustive or even extensive influence in the field of sociology. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that even today psychoanalysis, leaving its immediate field to enter the field of social sciences, can render very important services here. In addition, there is an indirect but more promising point of contact between the two disciplines. This matter is interesting, if only because psychoanalysis in this matter differs sharply from other branches of psychology and acquires in this respect a character peculiar to itself. The author had in mind those achievements of psychoanalysis that clarify the role of society in individual development. Psychoanalytic research has gone so far as to convince us that purely individual psychological categories can be explained solely in terms of their relationship to the surrounding community. Thus, psychoanalysis, without asserting the priority of society in any metaphysical sense, has come to recognize the existence of an intimate mutual determinism between the individual and society. Psychoanalysts have indeed been much concerned with the study of this reciprocal determinism, although not so much from the point of view of society as from the point of view of the individual and, above all, from the point of view of the psychopath.