Eugene Victor Wolfenstein (July 9, 1940 – December 15, 2010) was an American social theorist, practicing

psychoanalyst PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk th ...

, and a professor of

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

Early life and education

Wolfenstein graduated with his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' from Columbia College in 1962. He was a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

. Wolfenstein received his

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in 1964 and his Ph.D. in political science in 1965 from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. Wolfenstein became a professor of political science at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. He also completed a Ph.D. in psychoanalysis from the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute in 1984. He was the member of the faculty of the institute from 1988 to 2004. Moreover, he was in private practice from the time he received his degree up to the time of his death.

Work

Wolfenstein worked in the

critical theory Critical theory is a social, historical, and political school of thought and philosophical perspective which centers on analyzing and challenging systemic power relations in society, arguing that knowledge, truth, and social structures are ...

tradition, with a focus on

African American culture African-American culture, also known as Black American culture or Black culture in American English, refers to the cultural expressions of African Americans, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. African-American/Bl ...

and

social movement A social movement is either a loosely or carefully organized effort by a large group of people to achieve a particular goal, typically a Social issue, social or Political movement, political one. This may be to carry out a social change, or to re ...

s. In his book ''The Victims of Democracy: Malcolm X and the Black Revolution'', he used a theory of the interaction between social classes and psychological groups to analyze white racism and the black liberation struggle. He developed a more general version of this theory in ''Psychoanalytic-Marxism: Groundwork'' (1993) and refined it further through engagement with Nietzsche’s philosophy in ''Inside/Outside Nietzsche: Psychoanalytic Explorations'' (2000). These later works add a concern with gender identity to the earlier agenda. His research is in the area of African-American narrative. ''A Gift of the Spirit: Reading THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK'' (2007) offered a sustained reconstruction of

W. E. B. Du Bois William Edward Burghardt Du Bois ( ; February 23, 1868 – August 27, 1963) was an American sociologist, socialist, historian, and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, Du Bois grew up in a relativel ...

’s canonical text. A further study entitled “Talking Books: Toni Morrison Among the Ancestors” was published right before his death. He was a professor at UCLA. At the

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

level, he taught the lower division Introduction to Political Theory, along with Ancient Political Theory, African-American Freedom Narratives, Malcolm X and Black Liberation, Marxist Political Theory, and an occasional seminar on Platonic Dialectic and Spiritual Liberation. At the graduate level, he focused on major works of Du Bois, Foucault, Freud, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche, along with the related critical literatures. His main interests were History of Political Theory, Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice, Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory and Feminist Theory.

Bibliography

*''The Revolutionary Personality''. Princeton, New Jersey:

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, 1967. ortuguese edition, 1968: Paedos Press, Buenos Aires, Argentina.*''Personality and Politics''. Los Angeles: Dickenson Press, 1969. *''The Victims of Democracy: Malcolm X and the Black Revolution''. Berkeley:

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...

, 1981 aperback editions: Free Association Books, 1990; Guilford Publications, 1993">Free Association Books">aperback editions: Free Association Books, 1990; Guilford Publications, 1993 *''Psychoanalytic-Marxism: Groundwork''. London & New York: Free Association Books and Guilford Publications, 1993. *''Inside/Outside Nietzsche: Psychoanalytic Explorations''. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. *''A Gift of the Spirit: Reading the Souls of Black Folk''. NY: Cornell University Press, 2007.

References

External links

Eugene Victor WolfensteinEugene Victor Wolfenstein, Professor of Political Science at UCLA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfenstein, Eugene Victor 1940 births American political scientists Columbia College (New York) alumni Princeton University alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty 2010 deaths Deaths from cancer in California