The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, & the Problem of Domination [Paperback]

Jessica Benjamin (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0394757300 | ISBN-13: 978-0394757308 | Publication Date: July 12, 1988

Why do people submit to authority and derive pleasure even others have over them? What is the appeal of domination and submission, and why are they so prevalent in erotic life? Why is it so difficult for men and women to meet as equals? Why, indeed, do hey continue to recapitulate the positions of master and slave?

In The Bonds of Love, noted feminist theorist and psychoanalyst Jessica Benjamin explains why we accept and perpetuate relationships of domination and submission. She reveals that domination is a complex psychological process which ensnares both parties in bonds of complicity, and shows how it underlies our family life, our social institutions, and especially our sexual relations, in spite of our conscious commitment to equality and freedom.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Benjamin, psychoanalyst, feminist theorist and member of the graduate faculty of the New School for Social Research, presents an intriguing analysis of the interplay between love and domination and of how "domination is anchored in the hearts of the dominated." She builds on the foundation of Freud's Oedipal theory, critically revising it to include the female's struggle for independence. Acknowledging indebtedness to the seminal works of Simone de Beauvoir, Carol Gilligan, Nancy Chodorow, Evelyn Fox Keller and Dorothy Dinnerstein, the author sets out to demonstrate that "what appears in Freudian thought as the psychological inevitability of domination can be traced to the social fact of woman's subjugation." The book's conclusion offers the hope that feminism can help end the cycle of domination by opening up "a new possibility of mutual recognition between men and women." Intelligent, thoughtful and informed, this volume deserves a wide audience. Freud once asked, "What do women want?" and Benjamin goes a long way toward providing an answer.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"A clear, closely argued study of power and desire, which succeeds in making psychic life a social reality."

Richard Sennett, author of The Fall of Public Man

"An important book...an amazingly lucid account of the way power all too often becomes intertwined with gender."

Ethel Person, New York Times Book Review

"Many of us have long admired Jessica Benjamin's intricate rethinking of social theory and psychoanalytic theory. The Bonds of Love gives us Benjamin at her best, and psychoanalytic social theory at its best, as she demonstrates brilliantly the complex intertwining of familial, gender, and social domination."

Nancy Chodorow, author of The Reproduction of Mothering

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Pantheon (July 12, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394757300
• ISBN-13: 978-0394757308
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #143,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good but very dense., July 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, & the Problem of Domination (Paperback)

Initially I was shown this book by a friend because it contains an analysis of the "Story of O".

I especially liked the attempt by Benjamin to work out a cogent explanation of the source and nature of feminine Sexual Desire. She doesn't arrive at adefinitive model but does present a convincing case that it lies in the sense of being able to feel safe and free within a "transistional space" wherein one feels ones drives as being from ones own self and not the result of identifcation with the other.

Overall a very dense book, that for me rewarded skipping around alot.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Salvaging Freud, January 19, 2003

By 

tamiii "tamiii" (San Juan Capistrano, Ca. United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, & the Problem of Domination (Paperback)

In remarkably clear language, Benjamin reworks Freudian psychoanalysis so to include the possibility of mothers and fathers mutually recognizing each other as subjects thereby enabling a cooperative relationship where similarities and differences are acknowledged. Without this modification, she argues that traditional Freudian theories with their sole reliance on individual intrapsychic reality cannot help but reproduce patriarchal gender relationships which are characterized by domination and submission, most notably reflected in the cultural polarity of male rationality and female vulnerability as seen, for example, in the Story of O. She further argues that the dispassionate rationality of the marketplace masks not only the dependency of the working class but male domination as well. Convincing in its integration of Freudian theory with both feminism and marxism, it marks a significant step forward in understanding how the personal is indeed political.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book - ahead of her time., October 21, 2010

By 

Angela (Chicago, USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Bonds of Love: Psychoanalysis, Feminism, & the Problem of Domination (Paperback)

This is an incredible book. Jessica Benjamin is able to make complex and nuanced concepts easily accessible to her audience. This is one you will read, underline, and find yourself referencing. Her ideas are still very contemporary and I was surprised to see the publication date! I wish she would write more!