by Stephen A. Mitchell & Margaret J. Black ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 11, 1995
Mitchell and Black bring clarity to the complex, confusing world of contemporary psychoanalysis. More specifically, they outline the development of what Mitchell, an analyst at the William Alanson White Institute in New York City, has elsewhere called ``relational concepts'' in psychoanalysis. That is, they trace the shift from Freud's drive- based theory, in which relationships with other people are secondary to one's internal wishes and needs, to more recent theories in which the impulse to relate to others is seen as primary. Ego is privileged over id and analysis is viewed as a joint, subjective effort by patient and analyst, rather than as objective interpretation by the analyst alone. Mitchell and Black (of the National Institute for Psychology) offer a lucid discussion of many major psychoanalytic thinkers, using case histories to illustrate the application of their ideas. Melanie Klein offers a dark view of life as an attempt to balance aggressive and libidinal impulses. Object-relations theorist D.W. Winnicott highlights the role of parenting in the development of an authentic sense of self. Erik Erikson considers the cultural context for ego development, and Heinz Kohut the need for the analyst to understand the patient's internal state of mind. Even the obscure work of French analyst Jacques Lacan becomes almost comprehensible in the authors' capable hands. Mitchell has covered much of this material elsewhere (most powerfully in Hope and Dread in Psychoanalysis, not reviewed). And one should be wary of the subtitle: Given the ``relational'' perspective here, much is omitted, such as Jungian thought, and as important a thinker as Karen Horney is mentioned only in passing in a brief overview of feminist critiques of psychoanalysis. So this volume is by no means comprehensive. But it is an excellent starting place for anyone unfamiliar with the radical shift psychoanalytic thinking has undergone since Freud.
Pub Date: Oct. 11, 1995
ISBN: 0-465-01404-6
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1995
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by Erin Meyer ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 27, 2014
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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by Robert Greene ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 2018
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.
A follow-on to the author’s garbled but popular 48 Laws of Power, promising that readers will learn how to win friends and influence people, to say nothing of outfoxing all those “toxic types” out in the world.
Greene (Mastery, 2012, etc.) begins with a big sell, averring that his book “is designed to immerse you in all aspects of human behavior and illuminate its root causes.” To gauge by this fat compendium, human behavior is mostly rotten, a presumption that fits with the author’s neo-Machiavellian program of self-validation and eventual strategic supremacy. The author works to formula: First, state a “law,” such as “confront your dark side” or “know your limits,” the latter of which seems pale compared to the Delphic oracle’s “nothing in excess.” Next, elaborate on that law with what might seem to be as plain as day: “Losing contact with reality, we make irrational decisions. That is why our success often does not last.” One imagines there might be other reasons for the evanescence of glory, but there you go. Finally, spin out a long tutelary yarn, seemingly the longer the better, to shore up the truism—in this case, the cometary rise and fall of one-time Disney CEO Michael Eisner, with the warning, “his fate could easily be yours, albeit most likely on a smaller scale,” which ranks right up there with the fortuneteller’s “I sense that someone you know has died" in orders of probability. It’s enough to inspire a new law: Beware of those who spend too much time telling you what you already know, even when it’s dressed up in fresh-sounding terms. “Continually mix the visceral with the analytic” is the language of a consultant’s report, more important-sounding than “go with your gut but use your head, too.”
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-42814-5
Page Count: 580
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
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