Sexuality and Class Struggle

by Reimut Reiche

This book which combines the methods and results of both Freud and Marx is by one of the leaders of the West German student left during its most militant phase in the late 1960s. For reasons the author makes clear, the anti-authoritarian movement took more thorough­going and trenchant forms in West Germany than anywhere else. A new sexual morality was not only preached but practiced.

Is it possible, however - the author asks - that this new emphasis on sexual enlightenment and liberty can become merely a characteristic of Western capitalism, which serves to activate the market economy, deflect rebellion, and hence contribute to the preservation of the system? In answering this question Reiche explains and develops Marcuse's widely misunderstood concept of 'repressive desublimation'. He exposes the artificial and illusory nature of many attempts - in Germany and elsewhere - at 'sexual liberation', and shows why it is impossible to overcome sexual oppression and mystification in our society in isolation from the political struggle.

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Reimut Reiche is a German sociologist, sexologist, author and psychoanalyst born in Germany in 1941. He left school when he was fifteen, and qualified for university from night school. He studied sociology in West Berlin and Frankfurt, and joined the German student socialist move­ment – the SDS – becoming both one of its leading activists and chief theoreticians, publishing numerous articles in its leading journal, Neue Kritik. He was President of the SDS during the height of its activity in 1966–67. He was also a member of the group Revolutionärer Kampf in Frankfurt. Among his other publications are an historical and theoretical study of colonial revolution, and a critique of Herbert Marcuse.

From 1973 to 1980 Reiche studied at the Sigmund-Freud-Institut in Frankfurt am Main and he became a psychoanalyst in 1980 (DPV). Since 1980 Reiche has been working as a psychoanalyst in Frankfurt/Main.

Reviews

[Lore · Rating 2 out of 5]

onnodig lastig geschreven, en dit zeg ik ook maar voor 10% uit misschien nog niet zo psycho-analytisch taalvaardig zijn. de stukken die opvallend helderder waren, had ik ook zo veel keer beter mee.

edit: lees ook zeker het vertalersnawoord. of lees alleen het vertalersnawoord. dit maakt het boek een 2,5 waard.

[Justice McCray · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very ahead of its time. That being said, all in all it is not an accessible text, nor is it an introductory text. If you are interested in the intersections of sexuality and class struggle, don't start here.

[Blue]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1yR...