R.D. Laing: His Work and its Relevance for Sociology (RLE Social Theory)

Martin Howarth-Williams

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9781138784079
• eBook ISBN: 9781317651239
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

This study, by a sociologist, provides the most rigorous and comprehensive review to appear so far of R. D. Laing's work and theoretical development. Martin Howarth-Williams considers that Laing's insights into such controversial issues as the divided self and the politics of the family are of an importance that transcends their basis in clinical psychiatry and that they have a special significance for sociology. Using the Progressive/Regressive Method of Jean-Paul Sartre, the author illuminates the internal coherence of Laing's aims through the various stages of his work and shows how his ideas are shaped by consistent philosophic presuppositions and influences underlying his work.

To give as complete an account as possible of Laing's interests and to relate them to the broad stream of his thought, the author explores Laing's involvement in other non-psychiatric realms – especially politics, religion and eastern mysticism. Material has been secured from a wide variety of recent sources which include interviews, films, TV appearances and the author's own personal recollections of informal talks given by Laing.

In the final section of the book Martin Howarth-Williams isolates the concept of 'Intelligibility', which he demonstrates to be the unifying theme central to Laing's theory and shows how this can be used as the basis for a critique of recent developments in sociological theory as well as a starting point towards a genuinely dialectical sociology.

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

You will not find on this planet a more fascinating man than Ronald Laing (Leary, 1970).

This book attempts to be an exercise in dialectical intelligibility. Naturally, then, the important terms cannot be defined in advance, but must be apprehended in the activity of reading. Nevertheless, it is in order to give the reader some idea of what is in store.

The bulk of the book (which was written as a thesis for Keele University Sociology Dept, and financed by the Social Science Research Council, to whom I am deeply indebted) consists of a ‘review’ of the ‘work’ of R.D. Laing. I have taken the term ‘work’ in its broadest possible sense; that is, I have included, where relevant, any source of statements that are unquestionably from Laing himself. These involve a number of media: in addition to one or two unpublished texts and interviews, I have used long–playing records, tapes of lectures, transcripts of television appearances, films, and even, on occasion, my own personal recollections of hearing Laing talk under informal conditions.

The structure of the review calls for some preliminary comment. The over–riding theoretical orientation employed in the review is that of Sartre, as expounded in ‘La Critique de la raison dialect–ique’ (1960). Indeed, the aim here is much the same as Sartre’s stated aim for his proposed second volume of the ‘Critique’: ‘I will simply try to show the dialectical intelligibility of a movement of historical temporalization’ (Sartre, 1974b). In our case, the ‘historical temporalization’ is the span of Laing’s career.

Following the Progressive–Regressive Method of Sartre, the review is presented in three moments. First, an analytic moment, in which all the sources are apprehended, in approximate chronological order, and, by a comparative reading of one source against another, breaks down this unstructured serialized collectivity – ‘Laing’s work’ – into discrete ‘stages’. A ‘stage’ is determined by two factors: chronological order and, more important, the mutual coherence of its contents.

Each stage – seven are isolated – is presented, in this analytic moment of review, as a period of theoretical stasis. A multiplicity of texts is unified, non–dialectically, and an ‘essence’ extracted: this essence comprises the characteristic theoretical feature of that stage.

Recognizing, however, that progress in theoretical practice, as in any other form of practice, comes about through the transcendence of contradiction, the second moment of the review goes back, regressively, to discover contradictions inherent in each stage, and attempts to illuminate the historical development, so far only given metaphorically as successive stages, as a flow of transcendences. This second, synthetic, moment of review thus negates the negating stasis of the first moment, and reaffirms, at a higher level of inner clarity, the living flux of the totalization–in–process which is Laing’s work. It is recognized, of course, that this development is ‘uneven’, and not linear, nor is it purely theoretical. A certain structuration of the stages is attempted, and certain biographical, historical and other overdeterminations are explored.

The analytic and synthetic moments thus comprise Chapters 2 and 3, respectively.

Chapter 4 attempts to grasp Lainq’s work as a totality. But this is not to be thought of as an inert summary. For we have taken advantage of the totalizing perspective of this chapter to look back, once more, and to examine some of the more prominent philosophical influences upon Laing’s work, as well as the extraction of certain recurrent yet developing themes across the span of his work. These thematic considerations notwithstanding, this book concentrates on Laing as a theorist of the human scene? it is his theoretical methodology that is focused upon here, more than the substantive empirical side of his work. In particular, little attempt is here made to relate Laing’s work as a therapist to either the theory or practice of orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis. This is partly because I felt I did not have sufficient familiarity with the latter to be worthy of the task, and partly because Laing never, ever, writes about how he conducts therapy. This, however, has not prevented some writers from attempting the task.

Throughout the review, we have attempted to show that there is so to speak a ‘guiding light’, the grasping of which illuminates the whole enterprise of Laing’s work. This can be identified by the concept of Intelligibility. There is found to be a thread running through all the stages, concerned with this notion of Intelligibility. At certain points in his career, Laing’s use of the term corresponds with Sartre’s, and thus also with the present writer’s. This book, or at least the review portion of it, consists of dialectical intelligibility as it were applied to itself and its precursors, as manifest over the span of Laing’s career. Laing appears to have stopped using the term; a critique is included of Laing’s most recent pronouncements, particularly in respect of politics and religious experience.

The last chapter establishes the relevance of our orientation on Laing as a theoretical social ‘scientist’. Having established the centrality of the concept of intelligibility in Laing’s work, we then examine this concept in relation to the broader problematic of interpretive sociology.

Laing called his theoretical orientation ‘social phenomenology’. We begin our exploration of Laing’s relevance to sociology by considering the work of Alfred Schutz, whose orientation could also have been described as a social phenomenology. In particular, Laingian insights are used in a critique of Schutz’s assumptions and methodology.

Such a critique would seem timely in view of the recent resurgence of interest in Schutz, particularly from ethnomethodology. A critique of ethnomethodology follows, again using Laingian insights, which is itself followed by a brief consideration of structuralism.

The above mentioned critiques of existing sociologies all centre on the notion of dialectic. Lévi–Strauss’s use of the term is severely criticized. In the case of Schutzand the ethnomethodo–logists, it is the tension between the implicit presence but actual absence of dialectical reason that is focused upon.

The book concludes with a view of the possibility of sociology. The prerequisites for a dialectical sociology are examined, as is the sociological usefulness of the concept of intelligibility. In doing so, the usefulness of sociology is brought into question.

Finally, we present a more or less exhaustive bibliography appertaining to Laing. In the first place, a thorough bibliography of Laing’s work itself; this alone was a very difficult task, though a much needed one, as many of Laing’s most important ideas do not, paradoxically, appear in his books but are tucked away in more or less obscure journals. Second, a reasonably comprehensive bibliography of articles and books pertaining to Laing; finally, of course, a conventional bibliography of works cited in the text.

There has never been a biography written of Laing, and he is known to be hostile to the idea. I certainly have no intention of attempting such a task; nevertheless, it will hopefully render what follows a bit more personally meaningful if at least an outline of biographical information is supplied at this juncture. It is to this task, then, that we turn, before embarking upon the review. (The main biographical sources are Laing, 1971, 1972a; Barnes and Berke, 1971; and Nuttall, 1970.)

LAING: AN OUTLINE BIOGRAPHY

1927	Born 7 October, the only child of lower middle class parents, at the edge of the Gorbals district of Glasgow. His parents were Lowland Presbyterian, his father apparently being the more religious partner.
1932	Very little is known of his childhood, except that it must have been an unpleasant environment for a child with his sensitivity and intelligence. According to Mezan (1972a) Laing decided quite self–consciously at an early age to be an intellectual, and worked hard at ‘getting out’ of his background. Reading, athletics and playing the piano appear to have been his main hobbies at school. He cites Darwin, Huxley, Mill and Voltaire – plus of course the Bible – as early influences, and says that ‘by the time I was fourteen I knew that I was really only interested in psychology, philosophy and theology’. He went to a grammar school in Glasgow, where he had a ‘Classical’ education. He says elsewhere (Laing, 1973b) that ‘I could read “Oedipus” in the original from the age of 14. I was also very impressed with Shakespeare’s sonnets.’
1945	Went to Glasgow University to study medicine. Judging from autobiographical fragments, such as The Bird of Paradise, medical school was an equally unpleasant experience. He described university as ‘largely a waste of time.…I never felt completely comfortable as a doctor.’ He reports that at the age of 22–23, he used to exercise himself ‘by trying on the different psychoses to see how they worked and felt. Like intense paranoid schizophrenia, for example.’ On another occasion he buried himself, naked, in snow on a freezing cold night, to test how far he could push...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Introduction
• 2 The Review, Part One: Analytic
• 3 The Review, Part Two: Synthetic
• 4 Laing's Work as a Totality
• 5 The Sociological Usefulness of the Concept of Intelligibility
• Bibliographies
• Index