The Irrational in Politics

By Maurice Brinton

Book Overview

Brinton argues that our political perceptions have been conditioned by social and sexual patterns to reinforce the dominant ideology, which results in both a need for authority and an inhibition of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0961328967
• ISBN13: 9780961328962
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: See Sharp Pr
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.3" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

A capable summary of Reich's ideas

"The family...and sexual repression...together result in the mass production of individuals perpetually craving authority and leadership, forever afraid of walking on their own and thinking for themselves." "Revolutionary ideas slither off the character armor of the masses because such ideas are appealing to everything that people have had to smother within themselves in order to put up with their own brutalization." -Wilhelm Reich In the first part of this pithy pamphlet, Brinton sheds light on the failure of purely rational arguments to win people to socialist causes that are in their own interest. Summarizing the ideas of Wilhelm Reich, Brinton points to the authoritarian family structure, and systematic sexual repression, as the hidden roots of people's irrational and seemingly inexplicable fears of joining the fight for freedom and justice. In the second part, he examines the failures of Soviet Russia to shore up and extend early gains mades in the struggle for sexual freedom after 1917. He points out how closely the emergence of the brutal Stalinist bureaucratic regime in the political realm was mirrored by the rolling back of freedoms in the realms of sexuality, the family, and child-rearing. It is a powerful and illuminating case study that provides ample evidence to support the Reichian theory presented in the first section of the pamphlet. This short pamphlet presents only a brief overview of Reich's theories-- those interested in finding out more would do well to look at his collection "Sex-Pol", which treats his efforts within the German Communist Party in the 1920s to combat sexual repression through mass organizing, and his book "The Sexual Revolution", which presents his ideas more systematically. Also, Brinton makes few practical suggestions on how to actually combat sexual repression. The anarchist psychologist and social critic Paul Goodman's masterwork "Gestalt Therapy" develops Reich's early ideas, and presents a wealth of theory and practical exercises for overcoming repression. Also worthy of attention is the "SomaTherapy" developed by the Brazilian anarchist psychologist Roberto Freire.