Crossing the Psycho-Social Divide

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Reviewed by Jeffrey Prager in Contemporary Sociology: (Full Text, PDF, Journal)

Crossing the Psycho-Social Divide is an impressive book -- well argued, deeply researched, compelling, and important. George Cavalletto identifies an issue now largely ignored in sociology and, by making the case that Freud, Weber, Adorno, and Elias were each deeply engaged in understanding the complicated relation between social forces and the individual psyche, he argues that the failure today by sociologists to entertain psychology undermines efforts to understand social action and, as a result, the social world. By returning to classic sociological thought, Cavalletto seeks to reinvigorate this set of concerns for sociology and to document the inadequacy of social theory that fails to provide a complex, highly theorized understanding of the self. His conclusion schematically outlines the contours of just such a theory, one that crosses this self-imposed divide between psychology and sociology.

Prager, J. (2008) 'Crossing the Psycho-Social Divide: Freud, Weber, Adorno and Elias', Contemporary Sociology 37, 1: 74-76

Discussed by Tony Jefferson in Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society: (PDF, Journal)

Looking at how four important theorists, namely, Freud, Weber, Adorno and Elias, connect the psychic and the social, Cavalletto sees himself as returning to "a discarded tradition", and very much as part of the recent psychoscial (re)turn. ... I can urge anyone interested in psychosocial work to check out what is a thorough, scholarly and impressive achievement.

Jefferson, T. (2008) 'What is "The Psychosocial"? A Response to Frosh and Baraitser', Psychoanalysis, Culture & Society 13: 366-373

From the Publisher:

The prevailing view among social scientists is that the psyche and the social reside in such disparate domains that their proper study demands markedly incompatible analytical and theoretical approaches. Over the last decade, scholars have begun to challenge this view.

In this innovative work, George Cavalletto moves this challenge forward by connecting it to theoretical and analytical practices of the early 20th century. His analysis of key texts by Sigmund Freud, Max Weber, Theodor Adorno and Norbert Elias shows that they crossed the psycho-social divide in ways that can help contemporary scholars to re-establish an analytical and theoretical understanding of the inherent interconnection of these two domains.

This book will particularly interest scholars and students in sociology and social psychology, especially those in the fields of social theory, the sociology of emotion, self and society, and historical sociology