Neurotic Personality of Our Time: "Modern Society and Man" Classic Translation Series

Author: (American) Karen Horney, translated by Feng Chuan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-05-01
Features: Karen Horney (1885-1952) was a prominent figure in the Western contemporary school of neo-analysis, alongside Alfred Adler, Carl Jung, Otto Rank, and Erich Fromm. Horney's revision of orthodox psychoanalysis primarily involved replacing Freud's biological determinism with cultural determinism. She believed that the individual inner conflicts that lead to neurosis, while not excluding factors such as sexual repression, genetic predisposition, and childhood experiences, are fundamentally rooted in the influence of a particular social and cultural environment on the individual. Human nature, various human tendencies and pursuits, the repressions and frustrations people experience, inner conflicts and anxieties, as well as the standards for what constitutes normal and pathological personality—all of these vary depending on cultural and historical differences. This idea was fully developed in her book Neurotic Personality of Our Time. The book's insightful and profound analysis of the diverse manifestations of neurotic personality is particularly engaging and fascinating for general readers.