Overview
- Brings together diverse perspectives from leading scholars in the growing field of psychoanalytic political theory
- Emphasizes practical application of D.W. Winnicott’s thought in addressing pressing contemporary concerns of political theorists
- Accessibly written to appeal to a wide audience of interdisciplinary scholars, students, and practitioners
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About this book
In this volume, the work of British psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott is set in conversation with some of today’s most talented psychodynamically-sensitive political thinkers. The editors and contributors demonstrate that Winnicott’s thought contains underappreciated political insights, discoverable in his reflections on the nature of the maturational process, and useful in working through difficult impasses confronting contemporary political theorists. Specifically, Winnicott’s psychoanalytic theory and practice offer a framework by which the political subject, destabilized and disrupted in much postmodern and contemporary thinking, may be recentered. Each chapter in this volume, in its own way, grapples with this central theme: the potential for authentic subjectivity and inter-subjectivity to arise within a nexus of autonomy and dependence, aggression and civility, destructiveness and care. This volume is unique in its contribution to the growing field of object-relations-oriented political and social theory. It will be of interest to political scientists, psychologists, and scholars of related subjects in the humanities and social sciences.
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Table of contents (15 chapters)
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Front Matter
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The Subject’s Creation: Aggression, Isolation, and Destruction
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Front Matter
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The Subject Faced with Deprivation and Disaster
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Revitalizing the Subject of Political Theory
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Front Matter
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Intersubjectivity, Justice, and Equality
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Reviews
“True scholarship must encompass the rediscovery of sorely neglected sources of valuable knowledge. Bowker and Buzby and their likewise excellent contributors do us a great service in bringing Winnicott's profound psychoanalytic wisdom back into the fray of political theory, front and un-decentered. I couldn't recommend this stimulating and provocative volume too highly.” (Kurt Jacobsen, University of Chicago, USA and author of "Freud's Foes" and "Pacification and Its Discontents”)
“The shared premise of this book is illustrated with admirable deftness, theoretical sophistication, and lucidity across a wide spectrum of themes. The result is a volume which, in its totality, is much more than the sum of its parts. Anyone interested in the potential of free, humane subjectivity, and in the critique of anti-humanism, will find it deeply rewarding.” (David N. Smith, Professor and Chair of Sociology, University of Kansas, USA)
“This book is a fine volume of uncommon depthand reach. A clinician rather than a political thinker, Winnicott’s work nevertheless emerges as a significant resource for our understanding of political agency and what a good society might be. Readers already persuaded of that fact will find their thinking taken in new and surprising directions. Those unfamiliar with Winnicott’s ideas will find many reasons to take seriously his relevance to political thought and to matters of pressing political concern.” (Peter Redman, Editor of “Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society”)
Editors and affiliations
About the editors
Matthew H. Bowker is Clinical Assistant Professor of Humanities at Medaille College, USA. He is the author of several books in the field of psycho-politics, including: A Dangerous Place to Be (Forthcoming), Ideologies of Experience (2016), and Rethinking the Politics of Absurdity (2014).
Amy Buzby is Associate Professor of Political Science at Arkansas State University, USA. She obtained her PhD in political science from Rutgers University, USA. Her published works include Subterranean Politics and Freud’s Legacy (2013) and Communicative Action (2010).
Amy Buzby is Associate Professor of Political Science at Arkansas State University, USA. She obtained her PhD in political science from Rutgers University, USA. Her published works include Subterranean Politics and Freud’s Legacy (2013) and Communicative Action (2010).
Accessibility information
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Bibliographic information
Book title: D.W. Winnicott and Political Theory
Book subtitle: Recentering the Subject
Editors: Matthew H. Bowker, Amy Buzby
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-57533-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan New York
eBook packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-1-349-95418-6Published: 14 July 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-57533-3Published: 31 January 2017
Edition number: 1
Number of pages: XVII, 378
Number of illustrations: 3 illustrations in colour
Topics: Political Theory, Political Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Democracy, Self and Identity, Childhood, Adolescence and Society