Eugene Victor Wolfenstein (July 9, 1940–December 15, 2010) was an American
social theorist
Social theories are analytical frameworks, or paradigms, that are used to study and interpret social phenomena.Seidman, S., 2016. Contested knowledge: Social theory today. John Wiley & Sons. A tool used by social scientists, social theories relat ...
, practicing
psychoanalyst, and a professor of
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
at
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California S ...
.
Early life and education
Wolfenstein graduated with his
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
''
magna cum laude'' from
Columbia College in 1962. He was a member of
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
.
Wolfenstein received his
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...
in
political science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
in 1964 and his
Ph.D.
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...
in political science in 1965 from
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...
. Wolfenstein became a professor of political science at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
.
He also completed a Ph.D. in psychoanalysis from the
Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute in 1984. He was the member of the faculty of the institute from 1988 to 2004. Moreover, he was in private practice from the time he received his degree up to the time of his death.
Work
Wolfenstein worked in the
critical theory tradition, with a focus on
African American culture
African-American culture refers to the contributions of African Americans to the culture of the United States, either as part of or distinct from mainstream American culture. The culture is both distinct and enormously influential on Ame ...
and
social movements. In his book ''The Victims of Democracy: Malcolm X and the Black Revolution'', he used a theory of the interaction between social classes and psychological groups to analyze white racism and the black liberation struggle. He developed a more general version of this theory in ''Psychoanalytic-Marxism: Groundwork'' (1993) and refined it further through engagement with Nietzsche’s philosophy in ''Inside/Outside Nietzsche: Psychoanalytic Explorations'' (2000). These later works add a concern with gender identity to the earlier agenda. His research is in the area of African-American narrative. ''A Gift of the Spirit: Reading THE SOULS OF BLACK FOLK'' (2007) offered a sustained reconstruction of
W. E. B. Du Bois’s canonical text. A further study entitled “Talking Books: Toni Morrison Among the Ancestors” was published right before his death.
He was a professor at UCLA. At the
undergraduate
Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...
level, he taught the lower division Introduction to Political Theory, along with Ancient Political Theory, African-American Freedom Narratives, Malcolm X and Black Liberation, Marxist Political Theory, and an occasional seminar on Platonic Dialectic and Spiritual Liberation. At the graduate level, he focused on major works of Du Bois, Foucault, Freud, Hegel, Marx, and Nietzsche, along with the related critical literatures.
His main interests were History of Political Theory, Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice, Critical Theory, Critical Race Theory and Feminist Theory.
Bibliography
*''The Revolutionary Personality''. Princeton, New Jersey:
Princeton University Press
Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large.
The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financia ...
, 1967.
ortuguese edition, 1968: Paedos Press, Buenos Aires, Argentina.*''Personality and Politics''. Los Angeles: Dickenson Press, 1969.
*''The Victims of Democracy: Malcolm X and the Black Revolution''. Berkeley:
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facult ...
, 1981
aperback_editions:_Free_Association_Books,_1990;_Guilford_Publications,_1993.html" ;"title="Free_Association_Books.html" ;"title="aperback editions: Free Association Books">aperback editions: Free Association Books, 1990; Guilford Publications, 1993">Free_Association_Books.html" ;"title="aperback editions: Free Association Books">aperback editions: Free Association Books, 1990; Guilford Publications, 1993
*''Psychoanalytic-Marxism: Groundwork''. London & New York: Free Association Books and Guilford Publications, 1993.
*''Inside/Outside Nietzsche: Psychoanalytic Explorations''. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000.
*''A Gift of the Spirit: Reading the Souls of Black Folk''. NY: Cornell University Press, 2007.
References
External links
Eugene Victor WolfensteinEugene Victor Wolfenstein, Professor of Political Science at UCLA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfenstein, Eugene Victor
1940 births
American political scientists
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Princeton University alumni
University of California, Los Angeles faculty
2010 deaths
Deaths from cancer in California