The Dream of Culture: Essays on Culture's Elusiveness

Here an innovative psychoanalytic anthropologist explores in sixteen intense essays: Slovak ethnic identity, theory of ethnicity, culture theory, cultural relativism & problems of medical organizational consultation. Stein's main influences are Freud & Weston LaBarre: from both he retains the grounding in biology of both classical psychoanalysis & anthropology. Particularly fascinating gems are the essays on the Evil Eye, the Swaddling Ethos, "The Eye of the Outsider," one on anthropology's dogma of cultural relativism & "Alcoholism as Metaphor in American Culture." The title essay, the Introduction, presents a provocative theory of the relationship of culture to the dream. He knowingly portrays the process of culture change in both anthropological & psychodynamic terms. "He has the capacity to see through to the meaning of things, & to understand it & express it with precision--a quality that people used to refer to as genius."--Prof. Howard Schwartz, Oakland University. Order from Psyche Press, P.O. Box 780, New York, NY 10024; 212-721-4466.Stein, Howard F. is the author of 'The Dream of Culture: Essays on Culture's Elusiveness' with ISBN 9781885809025 and ISBN 1885809026.