ABSTRACT
Drawing on sociological theories of modernity and subjectivity, this chapter argues that relational theory in the U.S. has attained widespread recognition as “true” in part because of contemporary historical conditions that disembed individuals from tradition, that foster individual rather than collective solutions to social problems, and that place great social significance on what Giddens calls the “pure relationship.” The latter part of the chapter offers thoughts about what psychoanalytic technique might look like when interpretations and actions in the clinic are based on understanding subjectivity as social rather than as individualistic.
