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The changing character of man in mid-twentieth century America, the loss of his old identity, and his search for a new one or examined in this influential work. Concerned about the relevance of psychoanalysis to the malaise of our age, Dr. Wheelis looks at the implications and consequences of accelerating social change and shows how the decline of the superego, the diminished unconscious, and the undermining of traditional values have caused new patterns of personal unrest. He believes that man's old identity was not lost, but outgrown, and that, therefore, identity is not to be found; it is to be created and achieved in order to to endure in our time. --- from book's back cover

How people change [hardcover] Wheelis, Allen [Jan 01, 1973]

This brief book, containing a lifetime of wisdom and experience, challenges our cherished assumptions about human nature. Allen Wheelis starts from the premise that human beings do not know themselves because deception―including self-deception―is not only a strategy for survival, it is the basis of the social contract whereby man trades his individual freedom for the security of a tribe or state. Are we really motivated by ideals such as freedom, equality, and justice? In fact these are only distractions useful to the state, which demands conscience of us but is itself above all moral constraints, seeking only power. Were we to understand or dwell on our individual mortality, we would not be willing to make the necessary sacrifices or participate in the bloody business of the group. This unsparing map of the human condition is presented in hypnotic prose and illustrated by vivid fictional narratives. Unsparing as it is, the book finds its way to an episode of transcendent love, for this too is part of the way we are.

Crafted from slivers of reminiscence and reflection, Joan Wheelis’s beautifully written memoir explores the intricacies of attachment and the perils of love and inevitable loss.We glimpse the author’s childhood in San Francisco and her relationship with her distinguished psychoanalyst parents through a series of jewel-like vignettes. She explores her past through her questions about life and the lessons her parents taught her about the existence of God, how to cut a napoleon and build a fire, and the hazards of self-deception.Into this tapestry of memory Wheelis, also a psychoanalyst, weaves profound reflections from adulthood. Wrestling with the loss of her parents, the author faces the questions of what matters and what remains of their lives. She reckons with their histories and legacies, tracing the heritage of love and conflict through the generations. As she revisits the rooms and landscapes of her past, her prose takes on the poetic logic of memory itself.