Some Notes on the First Attempts of British Psychoanalysts to Apply Psychoanalysis to the Understanding of Sociopolitical Issues

26th Karl Abraham Lecture

In his lecture, Riccardo Steiner will sketch how some of the pioneers of British psychoanalysis tried to apply psychoanalysis to understand sociopolitical and historical issues during the first decades of the last century. Apart from Freud’s and Ferenczi’s work, he will focus on some papers of Ernest Jones, Edward Glover’s famous book War, Sadism and Pacifism (1932, 1947) and Roger Money-Kyrle’s Psychoanalysis and Politics (1951). The debate between Otto Fenichel and Edward Glover will also be mentioned, and the often ignored influence of Karl Abraham and his pupil Melanie Klein on their British colleagues will be demonstrated, as well. Finally, Riccardo Steiner will discuss the relevance of those interactions and debates up to this day and argue for a cautious and reality-based psychoanalytic input.

Riccardo Steiner (London) works as a psychoanalyst in private practice and has taught at several universities in Great Britain and elsewhere. He is a proven expert on the history of psychoanalysis. His edition (together with Pearl King) of The Freud-Klein Controversies 1941-45 has been awarded several international prizes. He has written papers and books on clinical theory and on the translation of Freud’s work into English. In 2001 he was honoured with the Sigourney Award for his contributions to psychoanalysis. He is a full member of the British Psychoanalytic Society and a training analyst of the British Psychoanalytic Association.