Psychoanalysis and Feminism: A Radical Reassessment of Freudian Psychoanalysis [Paperback]

Juliet Mitchell (Author), Sangay K Mishra (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 21, 2000

In 1974, at the height of the women's movement, Juliet Mitchell shocked her fellow feminists by challenging the entrenched belief that Freud was the enemy. She argued that a rejection of psychoanalysis as bourgeois and patriarchal was fatal for feminism. However it may have been used, she pointed out, psychoanalysis is not a recommendation for a patriarchal society, but rather an analysis of one. "If we are interested in understanding and challenging the oppression of women," she says, "we cannot afford to neglect psychoanalysis." In an introduction written specially for this reissue, Mitchell reflects on the changing relationship between these two major influences on twentieth-century thought. Original and provocative, Psychoanalysis and Feminism remains an essential component of the feminist canon.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Juliet Mitchell has risked accusations of apostasy from her fellow feminists. Her book not only challenges orthodox feminism, however, it defies the conventions of social thought in the English-speaking countries... Psychoanalysis and Feminism is a brave and important book, and its influence will not be confined to feminists" -- New York Review of Books

About the Author

Juliet Mitchell, the author of Psychoanalysis and Feminism, is currently a visiting professor in Comparative Literature at Yale University, where she is also a Fellow of the Whitney Humanities Center. She is a university lecturer in Gender and Society at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Jesus College. She lives in London and Cambridge. Juliet Mitchell, psychoanalyst and author of Mad Men and Medusas (see page 100), is currently A.D. White Professor-at-large at Cornell University. She is a university lecturer in Gender and Society at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Jesus College.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; New ed of 2 Revised ed edition (August 21, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465046088
• ISBN-13: 978-0465046089
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #590,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excerpt, October 17, 2001

By 

"neeterskeeter27" (http://www.neeterskeeter.com/new) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychoanalysis and Feminism (Paperback)

I just wanted to give an excerpt from this book so that interested buyers can read the main ideas and have a better idea of the author's purpose. This excerpt is from the Introduction: "The greater part of the feminist movement has identified Freud as the enemy. It is held that psychoanalysis claims women are infereior and that they can achieve true femininity only as wives and mothers... I would agree that popularized Freudianism must answer to this description; but the argument of this book is that a rejection of psychoanalysis and of Freud's works is fatal for feminism... If we are interested in understanding and challenging the oppression of women, we cannot afford to neglect it."

In general this is an important work for anyone interested in Feminism or Psychology to read. The points that Mitchell makes are applicable for anyone in these fields.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excerpt, October 17, 2001

By 

"neeterskeeter27" (http://www.neeterskeeter.com/new) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Psychoanalysis and Feminism (Paperback)

I just wanted to give an excerpt from this book so that interested buyers can read the main ideas and have a better idea of the author's purpose. This excerpt is from the Introduction: "The greater part of the feminist movement has identified Freud as the enemy. It is held that psychoanalysis claims women are infereior and that they can achieve true femininity only as wives and mothers... I would agree that popularized Freudianism must answer to this description; but the argument of this book is that a rejection of psychoanalysis and of Freud's works is fatal for feminism... If we are interested in understanding and challenging the oppression of women, we cannot afford to neglect it."

In general this is an important work for anyone interested in Feminism or Psychology to read. The points that Mitchell makes are applicable for anyone in these fields.