Endorsements

'Richard Bates's establishes Dolto's rightful place at the centre of the psychoanalytic revolution in twentieth-century France, stressing her influence on the broader popularity of psychoanalysis and the manner that parents navigated social transformations after the Second World War. A must-read to understand the intersection of gender, family and disability in French psychoanalysis.' Jonathyne Briggs, Professor of History, Indiana University Northwest Psychoanalysis and the family in twentieth-century France explores the remarkable career and legacy of Françoise Dolto (1908-88), France's most prominent authority on parenting and child psychology from the 1970s onwards. The book investigates the links between family politics and the rise of psychoanalysis as a key cultural influence. It shows how Dolto emerged as a new, reassuring presence against a backdrop of rapid social change, and how her views proved influential on a range of issues linked to parenting, education, gender, bioethics and children's culture and rights. While Dolto's reputation is largely that of a progressive figure, her ideas were in fact rooted in right-wing, anti-feminist thought. Her success in diffusing this orientation to a popular audience had lasting repercussions on family and education policy, notably regarding the treatment of children with autism. It was Dolto, not Jacques Lacan, whose psychoanalytic vision most shaped the ideas and behaviours of ordinary French parents. In demonstrating Dolto's importance, this book makes a major contribution to historical understanding of twentieth-century French society. It forces a reassessment of the place of psychoanalysis in French history, showing that its true significance lay well beyond the academic seminar or the consulting room.