Freud and Adler: two choices of reason and life in a culture

Abstract

The following article describes the historical and cultural context in which Freud and Adler's thinking took shape. With his determinism, Freud seems to align himself more with the pessimism of the bourgeois and conservative ideology of the early 20th century. Adler, on the other hand, contrasts Freud's gloomy determinism with an idea of man as a being oriented toward the future, a source of potential for planning.
Food for thought is provided by the fact that Adlerian theory has been largely unrecognized as a precursor to what has been valued over time: a femininity that is not subordinate to masculinity, the importance of interpersonal relationships in the formation of personality, the need for teacher training, and the power of community spirit