Psychoanalysis and the Family in Twentieth-Century France - Francoise Dolto and Her Legacy

In the last quarter of the twentieth century, if French people had a parenting problem or dilemma there was one person they consulted above all: Francoise Dolto (1908-88). But who was Dolto? How did she achieve a position of such influence? What ideas did she communicate to the French public? This book connects the story of Dolto's rise to two broader histories: the dramatic growth of psychoanalysis in postwar France and the long-running debate over the family and the proper role of women in society. It shows that Dolto's continued reputation in France as a liberal and enlightened educational thinker is at best only partially deserved and that conservative and anti-feminist ideas often underpinned her prominent public interventions. While Dolto retains the status of a national treasure, her career has had far-reaching and sometimes harmful repercussions for French society, particularly in the treatment of autism.

Product details

• Authors: Richard Bates
• Assisted by: Maire Cross (Editor), David Hopkin (Editor)
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.02.2022
• EAN: 9781526159625
• ISBN: 978-1-5261-5962-5
• No. of pages: 280
• Dimensions: 150 mm x 225 mm x 20 mm
• Series: Studies in Modern French and Francophone History; Studies in Modern French and F
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Regional and national histories; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Medicine