Innovative analysts are socially conservative while politically radical analysts stagnate theoretically

Evidence

How should this charge be answered? It may be the case that in some instances Fanon’s ideological enthusiasm clouded his clinical judgment. And it may be that for all his political revolutionism, Fanon was, in strictly professional terms, a conservative thinker. But then this is hardly unique. In fact in the history of psychoanalysis it is the norm. Those whose ideas or practice have challenged or transformed the internal culture of the profession have tended to be conservative on wider social and political questions. This is certainly the case with Klein, Winnicott, Bion, and Balint. But equally the political radicals - Reich and Adler - have exercised an altogether retrograde influence vis a vis the sophistication of analytic ideas. Only in the case of Ferenczi do we find someone whose work is capable of pushing at both the external boundaries and internal limits of Freudianism at one and the same time. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1355 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Theoretically innovative psychoanalysts are usually politically conservative, and radicals theoretically retrograde — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1355; Intellectual originality can be a product of marginal social position — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 10

Broader Connections

• Theoretically innovative psychoanalysts are usually politically conservative, and radicals theoretically retrograde #corroborates (0.97) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1355