Globalism, Psychoanalysis, and the Integration of Eight Global Ideologies argues that psychoanalysis helps us comprehend the different ideologies shaping our world today by examining eight distinct belief systems through their psychological and rhetorical roots, moving beyond simple Left-Right political polarization.
The work uses Freud's theory of psychology and politics to answer pressing contemporary questions including why people believe in conspiracy theories, why politics has become so polarized, and what drives people to join political cults. Each of the eight global ideologies is connected to specific childhood desires, relationships, and psychopathologies, offering a counter-narrative to evolutionary psychology approaches. The goal is to develop a new form of globalism that recognizes and integrates foundational human desires and different ideological frameworks rather than simply appealing to facts and reason alone.
This book will be a fascinating resource for psychoanalysts, as well as faculty and graduate students interested in psychoanalysis, political theory, and cultural rhetoric.
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Reason and Equality: Steven Pinker’s False Path to Globalism
3. Inside the Mind of the Center-Right: Jonathan Haidt and the Naturalization of Ideological Distinctions
4. Critiquing the Ideological Brain
5. Aristotle’s Rhetoric and the Center-Right Justification for Social Hierarchy and Inequality
6. Erich Fromm and the Social Construction of Ideology and Subjectivity
7. The Freudian Theory of Ideology
8. Freud, Religion, and Identity Politics: The Formation of Global Subjectivity and Ideology
9. Conclusion
About the Author :
Robert Samuels holds doctorates in Psychoanalysis and English an teaches advanced writing at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of twenty-five books, including Trauma, Pedagogy, and the College Mental Health Crisis: Hysteria, Narcissism, and the Repression of Psychoanalysis and The Psychopathology of Political Ideologies both published by Routledge.
Review :
"Globalism, Psychoanalysis, and the Integration of Eight Global Ideologies is a provocative and ambitious contribution to contemporary debates about politics, ideology, and psychology. At a time when biological and rationalist explanations dominate the field, Robert Samuels makes a sustained case for the continued relevance of classical psychoanalysis—particularly Freudian metapsychology—in understanding political belief, polarization, and identification.
The book is both theoretically rigorous and clearly structured, offering a systematic framework that links eight distinct ideological positions to patterns of thought and relational dynamics rooted in depth psychology. Samuels engages directly with influential contemporary thinkers—from Zizek to Haidt—while situating his work in dialogue with historical figures such as Fromm and Aristotle. This integration of classical and contemporary perspectives makes the work particularly valuable for graduate students and scholars seeking a deeper, more nuanced understanding of ideology and its psychological underpinnings.
Written in a direct and accessible style, the book balances scholarly sophistication with readability, making complex ideas understandable without oversimplification. Whether one ultimately agrees with all of its claims or not, the work challenges prevailing assumptions and provides a timely, thought-provoking lens through which to examine the forces shaping political thought and social polarization today. It is a serious and significant contribution to psychoanalytic and political scholarship that invites reflection, discussion, and further research." - Karyne E. Messina, psychoanalyst and a training analyst at the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis, Washington, DC.
