Toward a New Psychology of Women
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Jean Baker Miller in her Toward a New Psychology of Women begins with the indication that there is a new spirit among women today, a spirit that is collective and cooperative. The issue Miller sees as paramount is the issue of difference and how people behave toward those who are different from themselves. The idea of differences suggests, though it may not require, the idea of inequality and the idea of domination versus subordination. The dominants often suggest a number of untruths about subordinates, and Miller suggests that conflict is inevitable between unequal groups. She then turns to the issue of conflict and how it has been manifested in the past as covert conflict and as closed conflict. Conflict is open between equals and closed between non-equals:Within a framework of inequality the existence of conflict is denied and the means to engage openly in conflict are excluded. Further, inequality itself creates additional factors that skew any interaction and prevent open engagement around real differences (13). The dominant-subordinate relationship of interest to Miller is the male-female relationships, and she tries to get at the nature of the inequality in that relationship. These relationships involve closed conflict and a good deal of deception and manipulation. Open conflict is initiated when subordinates do not accept their place as inferior or secondary, and this can lead to discomfort, anxiety, and more serious reactions. To avoid this, says Miller
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n her book Psychoanalysis and Feminism begins by noting that the greater part of feminism has identified Freud as the enemy, holding that psychoanalysis claims women are inferior and that they fulfill their femininity only as wives and mothers. Feminism has on the other hand embraced the ideas of Wilhelm Reich on sexuality and R.D. Laing on the family. Mitchell finds that there is much of value in Reich and Laing, but she also finds value in Freud and believes that feminists have been too ready to dismiss psychoanalysis and to adopt everything stated by Reich and Laing without properly questioning their ideas. She proposes that it is possible to understand and make use of Freud's interpretations of femininity and patriarchy only in light of his whole science of psychoanalysis and not as a separated unit as the neofeminists try to do. On the other hand, she believes Laing and Reich only make sense when separated from the science they claim. Mitchell proposes to analyze Freud's theories and the ways in which feminism has misused those theories, and she then proposes to interpret the theories of Reich and Laing and how they have been misused as well as how they have ill-served the feminist movement.
Mitchell states that the fi
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Psychology Women, Piaget Freud, Sigmund Freud, Mitchell Gilligan, Reich Laing, Gilligan Gilligan, Laing Reich, York Vintage, RD Laing, Carol Gilligan, reich laing, psychoanalytic theory, psychological theory, women's development, human behavior, wilhelm reich, psychoanalysis feminism, rd laing, jean baker, psychology women, voice cambridge massachusetts, gilligan carol voice, boston beacon press, carol voice cambridge, beacon press 1976,
Approximate Word count = 3678
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page)
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