Sociology 2: Cultural Narcissism — Some Examples from Anglo-American Sociology

Abstract

In 1920, facilitated by his nephew and would-be American emissary Edward Bernays, Freud was in liaison with Cosmopolitan magazine regarding the commission of a series of popular articles on psychoanalysis. Freud proposed to write on the topic of not using psychoanalysis in polemics. However, when the editors suggested that, given the taste of the general public, he’d be better off writing on ‘The Wife’s Mental Place in the Home’ or ‘The Husband’s Mental Place in the Home’, Freud responded with indignation. It is a matter of record that Freud abandoned this project, admonished his nephew, and passed over forever the opportunity to be listed as a contributor to Cosmopolitan magazine (see Jones, 1957: 30–31). Still, it would only be a matter of time before psychoanalysis, at least in its therapeutic guise, inveigled its way into the popular print media.