Left Freudians combined Freudian drive theory with Marx’s class theory

Evidence

According to the film scholar Christoph Hesse, the essay ‘throws together, indeed remarkably, the Marxian concept of fetish and the Freudian one’, something which can be seen in its very title. Yet while Hesse’s claim may be true of the first version of ‘Fetish-Character’, it is only partially so of its republication. … In the original version of ‘Fetish-Character’ from 1938, there is a clear interplay - what Hesse offhandedly refers to as a ‘throw[ing] together’ - between the Marxian and Freudian concepts of fetishism. It is precisely fetishism, Adorno writes in a 1937 letter to Erich Fromm, which is supposed to serve as the mediating element for converting the relationship between Marxian theory and psychoanalysis from one of analogy to one of genuine synthesis: I am increasingly convinced that the actual coincidence of Marxist theory and psychoanalysis does not lie in analogies such as that between superstructure and base versus ego and id, etc. — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 405 (#expands, via linked claim)

Marx stressed the economic or “material” foundations of society and politics, viewing culture and ideology as manifestations of economic systems like capitalism. He is most famous for his writings on revolution and political transformation, inciting the embattled “workers of the world” to organize and throw off the “chains” of their oppression. As the 20th century wore on, Marx’s theories of ideology, which were used to explain why revolution was not forthcoming, were eventually merged with Freud’s theory of psychoanalysis by members of the Frankfurt School, first in Germany and then in the United States. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 100 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

In contrast, Horkheimer’s interest in Freud had extended back into the 1920’s. His concern was partly stimulated by Leo Lowenthal, who was actually analyzed by Frieda Fromm-Reichmann in the mid-twenties. In addition; the relationship between psychology and socialism was a topic often discussed in the Frankfurt of those years. A figure of some importance in left-wing university circles after 1929 was the Belgian socialist Hendrik de Man, whose On the Psychology of Socialism (1926)’ attempted to replace economic determinism with a more subjectively grounded activism. De Man attacked the utilitarian, interest-oriented psychology he attributed to Marx, stressing instead the irrational roots of radical action. It was rumored at the time that de Man was brought to the Frankfurt faculty as a professor of social psychology to provide a counterweight to the Institut’s more orthodox Marxism. Whatever the reason, his coming did not win Horkheimer and the others over to an irrationalist position, which was clearly incompatible with Critical Theory; de Man’s later flirtation with fascism would seem to confirm their distrust. What they did share with him, however, was a desire to go beyond the instrumental utilitarianism that permeated vulgar Marxism. — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 317 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Marxist theories of false consciousness merged with Freudian psychoanalysis in the Frankfurt School. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 100; Psychology-socialism debates shaped Horkheimer’s turn to Freudian theory — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 317; Adorno used fetishism to mediate Marx and Freud into synthesis — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 405 (+2 more)

Related

• Marxist theories of false consciousness merged with Freudian psychoanalysis in the Frankfurt School. (similarity 0.86)
• Psychology-socialism debates shaped Horkheimer’s turn to Freudian theory (similarity 0.86)
• Adorno used fetishism to mediate Marx and Freud into synthesis (similarity 0.86)
• Adorno defended Freud’s instinct theory against neo-Freudian revisionist critiques (similarity 0.82)
• Psychoanalysis justified the Frankfurt circle’s contempt for specialized academic disciplines (similarity 0.81)
• Fromm was a practising analyst and left-Freudian synthesizer of Marx and Freud. (similarity 0.81)
• The early Adorno’s project of fetishizing pre-capitalist society contradicts Marxian theory (similarity 0.80)
• Habermas derived a theory of institutions and ideologies from Freudian psychoanalysis by analogy. (similarity 0.80)
• Fromm saw psychoanalysis as filling Marxism’s missing link between ideology and economic base. (similarity 0.79)
• The Frankfurt philosophy faculty pioneered systematic ideology critique around 1930. (similarity 0.79)
• Adorno’s 1950s empirical method preserved the Institute’s Fromm-Horkheimer schema of economy, psyche, and culture (similarity 0.79)
• Adorno grounded his analysis of fascist propaganda in Freud’s group psychology. (similarity 0.79)
• Personal networks placed psychoanalysis inside the Institute of Social Research, linking it with Marxism (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Marxist theories of false consciousness merged with Freudian psychoanalysis in the Frankfurt School. #corroborates (0.85) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 100
• Adorno used fetishism to mediate Marx and Freud into synthesis #expands (0.85) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 405
• Psychology-socialism debates shaped Horkheimer’s turn to Freudian theory #corroborates (0.80) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 317