David M. Goodman

“Sheldon George’s chapter, “Jouissance and Discontent: A Meeting of Psychoanalysis, Race and American Slavery,” provides a captivating account of Freud’s contribution to these problems. Freud contended that civilization served to usurp the individual, and interrupt the impulse gratification that is more natural and instinctive for human beings. George points out that this places the blame for human misery on civilization and culture, which renounce the pursuit of pleasure. For Freud, then, ethnicity and racial identity are regressive. Civilization moves toward unity, but ethnicity and racial identification pull us back toward the aggressive and antisocial instincts. George provides a fascinating account of the consequences of Freud’s thesis, both for psychoanalysis and the broader cultural problem of racism. Utilizing Lacan, he offers a fresh analysis of the phenomenon of American slavery and demonstrates the way race mediates the way people access jouissance. The problem at hand runs deep, and George’s chapter provides a unique perspective on the development of the modern idea of “race” and its many consequences. Donna”
― David M. Goodman, Race, Rage, and Resistance: Philosophy, Psychology, and the Perils of Individualism