Grounding a Critical Psychoanalysis in Frameworks of Power

Abstract

This article outlines two frameworks of power to explore the relationship between consulting room practices of psychoanalysis and societal networks of power. First, focus falls on Habermas's view of Freudian psychoanalysis as an emancipatory practice. Despite Habermas's problematic rationalistic interpretation of classical analysis, he may have been correct in noting that it attempts to stand in external relation to the systems of power that it seeks to address. This is a problematic grounding for critique, which may lead to idealism and authoritarianism. The second framework is an internalist Foucauldian one, which proposes that the analyst cannot avoid participation in societal power dynamics even in the consulting room. This framework is preferred, but must take account of Habermas's charge that Foucault's position succumbs to relativism. Following some reworking, the internalist approach is used to generate three principles for critical activity in relation to which classical and other psychoanalytic practices are examined.