Theoretically innovative psychoanalysts are usually politically conservative, and radicals theoretically retrograde

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

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

Categorization

• SEED: A possible essay: the tradeoff between intellectual innovation and political radicalism across disciplines — whether true boundary-pushers in theory tend to settle for the status quo in politics.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1355