The Unhappy Divorce of Sociology and Psychoanalysis : Diverse Perspectives on the Psychosocial

A collection of 18 contributions by well-known scholars in and outside the US, The Unhappy Divorce of Sociology and Psychoanalysis shows how sociology has much to gain from incorporating rather than overlooking or marginalizing psychoanalysis and psychosocial approaches to a wide range of social topics.

Preface by Jeffrey Alexander and Foreword by Craig Calhoun.

Why does the field of sociology in the United States often overlook or marginalize psychoanalytic
concepts like anxiety, defence mechanisms and the unconscious dating back to Sigmund Freud?
The Unhappy Divorce of Sociology and Psychoanalysis shows that this was not always the case,
and that the field of contemporary sociology can benefit from inclusion of psychoanalytic
perspectives. It features eighteen essays by well-known scholars in and outside the United
States - including Nancy Chodorow, George Cavalletto and Catherine Silver, Jeffrey Prager,
Neil Smelser, and Gilda Zwerman - alongside junior scholars who are all working on how
sociology, psychoanalysis, and the psychosocial interrelate. The articles consider the history
of the relationship, ongoing debates and the need for psychosocial analyses when studying
racism, gender, immigration, class and the housing crisis, trauma and social movements
(among other applied topics). This book makes a lively case for the significance of tapping into
interdisciplinary approaches, including the psychosocial, if sociology is to offer cutting-edge
research on a range of contemporary social issues requiring multi-dimensional insights.