In conclusion, Freudian Theory goes a long way in helping us understand social formation. It is interesting to note that many sociologists from the generation succeeding Freud either embellished or added interpretation and comment to the theories set out by Freud. Louis Althusser is one of them and in his influential work Lenin and Philosophy expounds on the ideology of social formation as a conflation of Marx and Freud. He says ideology had no history or, in other words, it was ‘external’. This stance was later seconded by Michel Foucault, who noted that “on the Marxist side, power was posed only in terms of the state apparatus.” (Godiwala, 2003, p. 186) Hence Freudian Theory has far reaching impact and implications well beyond the discipline of psychology. Addendums to Freud’s work in the form of Althusser and Foucault underscore how Freud’s views on social formation have relevance to political science, sociology and even the study of history and anthropology.
References
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• Godiwala, D. (2003). Breaking the Bounds: British Feminist Dramatists Writing in the Mainstream since C. 1980. New York: Peter Lang.
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• Wexler, P. (Ed.). (1991). Critical Theory Now. London: Falmer Press.