Love and Work: The Value System of Psychoanalysis

Proposing that ``psychoanalysis is a theory of happiness ,'' more philosophy than science, Fine ( The Intimate Hour ) documents and explains the pervasive presence of analytic tenets, ideas and values current in global society. His stance as apologist (``Generally people nowadays approach Freud with a negative transference'') is evident in his views on homosexuality, in his opposition to the ``remedicalization'' of psychiatry and his support of non-medical analysts. Chapters on love distinguish romantic infatuation from ``normal'' or ``mature'' love; others attempt to approach changing views of sexuality and job satisfaction, including the move of women into the marketplace, from a historical perspective. While the study is valuable in its documentation of psychoanalysis's growth and development, Fine's overview of today's society seems scattershot, dated, arbitrary and occasionally unreliable, as in his interpretation of Erica Jong's phrase ``zipless fuck.'' (Sept.)