The 1956 Freud centenary revealed Freud as a tool for radical critique

Evidence

The events organized by Horkheimer and Mitscherlich to celebrate Freud’s centenary in the summer of 1956 revealed to Habermas that Freud, about whom he had heard practically nothing during his studies in psychology, was not only a significant theoretician and founder of the highly influential system of psychoanalysis, but also someone who, like Marx, could be used to analyse present-day conditions. Habermas reacted to what was the essential impetus behind Critical Theorythe utopian perspective of a radical critique of dominant conditionswith unconcealed astonishment and almost helpless sympathy. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2319

Categorization

• XREF: Freud-as-Marx parallel echoes the earlier Frankfurt School synthesis of Marx and Freud into critical social analysis.