ABSTRACT
The ideology of personalist intervention in the twentieth century is rooted as much in psychoanalysis as it has always been taken to be grounded in Christianity. The primary determination of personality is a fundamental principle of psychoanalytic theory and theories. The very existence of this counselling service within the framework of institutionalized agencies argues for the priority of the political: welfare policies must be proclaimed and implemented, and appropriations must be voted. The politicized view believes informal friendships and community supports are sure to be forthcoming in a social system which is by definition communitarian, comradely, fraternal, and necessarily socialist. According to the position there is no antithesis between the personal and the political: the latter comprises the former, and decisions on the 'micro-' as well as the 'macro-level' are political. In this view the personal is a function of and dependent on the political, and a rational attitude must recognize this priority of the political.
