Psychoanalyzing the Left and Right after Donald Trump

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-v

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Robert Samuels

   Pages 1-5

3. Victim Politics: Psychoanalyzing the Neoliberal Conservative Counter-Revolution

   • Robert Samuels

   Pages 7-29

4. Beyond Hillary Clinton: Obsessional Narcissism and the Failure of the Liberal Class

   • Robert Samuels

   Pages 31-59

5. Trump and Sanders on the Couch: Neoliberal Populism on the Left and the Right

   • Robert Samuels

   Pages 61-76

6. Global Solidarity and Global Government: The Universal Subject of Psychoanalysis and Democracy

   • Robert Samuels

   Pages 77-101

7. Conclusion

   • Robert Samuels

   Pages 103-106

8. Back Matter

   Pages 107-113

   PDF

This book outlines a new model for global social justice movements that is based on Freud and Lacan’s central insights regarding the unconscious, repetition, drives, and transference. Since most of our current social issues are global in nature, Bob Samuels convincingly argues that we need a global solution, but that global solidarity is blocked by narcissistic nationalism and the capitalist death drive. In examining contemporary social movements for global justice, Samuels articulates a comprehensive theory of non-pathological social solidarity, and argues that in the age of multinational corporations and global climate change, we need a new model of global justice and government that requires an understanding of analytic neutrality and free association. This book uses psychoanalytic theories and practices to explain how someone like Trump can rise to power, and explores why liberals have failed to provide a convincing or effective political alternative. It will be compelling reading to students and teachers in a range of psychological and political disciplines, and to anyone interested in psychoanalysis and current politics.

• evolutionary psychology
• neuroscience
• Slavoj Zizek
• behavioural economics
• critical theory

“Psychoanalyzing the Left and Right after Donald Trump applies psychoanalytic theory to analyze the contemporary politics surrounding the 2016 election of the 45th president of the United States of America. … Students and teachers from a wide range of psychological disciplines with an interest in current politics may find this book an interesting example of the connection between contemporary issues relevant to the public and the historically fundamental concepts of psychology’s founding theories.” (Kara Ayers, PsycCRITIQUES, Vol. 62 (11), March, 2017)

• UCSB , Santa Barbara, USA

  Robert Samuels

Robert Samuels teaches writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA. He is also President of UC-AFT, the union representing 4,000 librarians and lecturers (non-tenured faculty) in the UC system, and has authored seven books, including Why Public Higher Education Should Be Free. 

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