ABSTRACT
An adequate psychology of life choices must struggle to integrate the two perspectives afforded by questioning about the life-historical and life-structural contexts in which dilemmas are embedded. This chapter refers to a dimension of analysis that would account for the ways in which the deciding consciousness is subjected to relations of power, force, and authority. Such analysis may be termed ideology criticism. In connection with decisionmaking, ideology criticism entails an examination of the psychological force of the social order as it operates very subtly, but very powerfully, in life choices. Psychoanalytic studies show that a sadomasochistic structure underlies the personality disorder known as narcissism. This is particularly significant because contemporary sociocultural analyses indicate that narcissism pervades the culture of advanced industrial and information society. At the core of narcissism is an intense childhood rage at parents and other socializing agents.
