Lloyd deMause (born September 19, 1931) is a psychologist who claims to have created the academic field of psychohistory. He also created The Journal of Psychohistory, which he still edits, and the Institute for Psychohistory, which he still directs. He remains an influential figure within the field. But he has many detractors in the academic community, including psychologists and anthropologists who claim his theories are unfounded and unsupported by credible research.
He has written many books about the evolution of the human psyche as a result of advances in child rearing practices throughout history, including Childhood History and Foundations of Psychohistory.
Lloyd deMause authored a paper, "The Universality of Incest", in which he argued that the incest taboo was a myth, and that until recent times most societies encouraged incest. He argues that his opponents (mainstream anthropologists) are advocates of pedophilia, and developed the theory of the incest taboo in an attempt to justify pedophilia. [DeMause replies on a later page how inaccurate all these statements are.]
See also: psychogenic mode
Quotations
"Much of what appears in these pages [wikipedia] on psychohistory and on myself is inaccurate. I have nowhere said I "created the academic field of psychohistory," and would not say so, since Freud and Fromm and many other early psychoanalysts wrote psychohistorical studies ("psychohistory" being the study of historical motivations). I nowhere argue that "mainstream anthropologists are advocates of pedophilia," only that they often claim the widespread sexual use of children by the groups they study is merely a "cultural practice" that cannot be called pedophilia because the society itself does not label it pedophilia. I nowhere claim footbinding in China is universal. To call my writing "less than scholarly" because I have "an unwillingness to be open to other psychohistorical interpretations" is certainly inaccurate because I have spent four decades publishing hundreds of scholars who disagree with me in both my Journal of Psychohistory and Journal of Psychoanalytic Anthropology. Nor am I accurately described as "a psychologist," since I majored at Columbia University for seven years in political science and was further trained at a psychoanalytic institute. Interested readers who are interested in learning accurately about myself and psychohistory are directed to the dozen articles and three full books (with thousands of scholarly references) on www.psychohistory.com." --Lloyd deMause
External links
Last updated: 08-25-2005 19:03:10
