Psychoanalysis and politics

In this series of interviews, sociologist Daniel Friedmann questions seven psychoanalysts about the relationship between psychoanalysis, politics, and ideology. Drawing on their experience of political engagement or their decision to remain non-political, the analysts bring out the dangers of viewing psychoanalysis as a substitute for power of any sort, and remind us that psychoanalysis must be disengaged from politics. They note that the values of the group are unlike those of the individual, and that the narcissism of politics is the opposite of listening to the other, which is the foundation of analysis. The interviewees are Eduardo Prado de Oliveira, François Roustang, Isi Beller, Jean Clavreul, Jean-Bertrand Pontalis, Laurence Bataille, and Markos Zafiropoulos.