To Have or Not to Have Sex in Critical Theory: Sexuality in the Early Writings of Wilhelm Reich and Erich Fromm

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Issue Date
1992-04-01Author
King, C. Richard
Publisher
Department of Sociology, University of Kansas
Type
Article
Rights
Copyright (c) Social Thought and Research. For rights questions please contact Editor, Department of Sociology, Social Thought and Research, Fraser Hall, 1415 Jayhawk Blvd, Lawrence, KS 66045.
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Show full item recordAbstract
This paper explores the relationship between society and sexuality, which is overlooked in the later phases of CriticalTheory. The author begins with a discussion of the role of sexuality in the writings of Wilhelm Reich and Erich Fromm. Reich uniformly celebrates and strategically deploys sexuality to critique Western capitalistic society while Fromm lacks a clear and consistent utilization of sexuality. Reich uses Marx in his predominately Freudian framework of sexual repression in trying to' address the problem of repression and suppression in Western capitalism. Fromm, on the other hand puts Freud into his already Marxist approach to authority, the family, and ideology. Adorno, Marcuse, and Horkheimer largely ignored sexuality in their later writings, but instead used Freudian concepts in their theory ofthe tuuhoritarian personality.
Citation
Mid-American Review of Sociology, Volume 16, Number 2 (SPRING, 1992), pp. 81-91 http://dx.doi.org/10.17161/STR.1808.5086
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