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manipulation of strokes rather than which he saw as "a factory for authori-
through physical punishment. tarian ideologies and conservative struc-
Previous writers have linked the con- tures." 5 Reich felt that the authoritar-
trol of vital human processes and ian government and economic exploita-
broader economical and political points tion of the people were being main-
of view. Two will be reviewed here: tained by the family and that the fam-
Wilhelm Reich and Herbert Marcuse. ily was an indispensable part of it,
Reich, as Berne, saw man at his deepest which fulfilled its function as a sup-
level to be of "natural sociality and sexu- porter of exploitation by the oppression
ality, spontaneous enjoyment of work of sexuality in the young. Herbert Mar-
and capacity for love," He felt that cuse is another writer who ties an eco-
the repression of this deepest and be- nomic point of view to the difficulties
nign layer of the human being brought of mankind. According to him, human
forth the "Freudian unconscious" in beings are suffering alienation from
which sadism, greediness, lascivious- themselves, their fellow human beings
ness, envy and perversion of all kinds and nature. This alienation is the result
were regnant. Wilhelm Reich invented of a surplus repression superimposed on
the term "sex economy" since he was the repression that Freud postulated as
interested in the eoonomic analysis of necessary for the development of civili-
the neuroses; according to this theory, zation. This surplus repression forces
sexual energy is manipulated for po- human beings to live according to the
litical reasons. The orgasm, the release performance principle.
of sexual energy, liberates a human sys- The performance principle is a way
tem whose sexuality has been oppressed. of life imposed on human beings which
"The connection between sexual re- causes the desexualization of the body
pression and the authoritarian social and the concentration of eroticism in
order was simple and direct: the child certain bodily organs such as the mouth,
who experienced the suppression of his the anus and the genitals. This progres-
natural sexuality was permanently sion is not a healthy, biologically logical
maimed in his character development; sequence, as Freudian theory sees it,
he inevitably became submissive, appre- but one that results in a reduction of
hensive of all authority and completely human potential for pleasure. Concen-
incapable of rebellion." In other words trating pleasure into narrow erogenous
he developed exactly that character zones leads to the production of a shal-
structure which would prevent him from low, dehumanized, one-dimensional per-
seeking liberation. The first act of sup- son. Marcuse feels that the concentra-
pression prepared the way for every tion of sexual pleasure in the genitals is
subsequent tyranny. Reich concluded accomplished in order to free the rest
that repression existed not for the sake of the body for the use of an oppressive
of moral edification (as traditional reli- establishment as an instrument of labor
gions would have it), nor for the sake which can be exploited. "The normal
of cultural development ( as Freud progress to genitality has been organ-
claimed) but simply in order to create ized in such a way that the partial im-
the character structure necessary for the pulses and their 'zones' were all but
preservation of a repressive society. desexualized in order to conform to the
A great deal of Reich's writings were requirements of a specific social organi-
an attack against the patriarchal family zation of the human existence." 3
10 Transactional Anal. J. 1:3, July 1971
CLAUDE M. STEINER
Thus Marcuse and Wilhelm Reich people would not remove their masks
connect the social and psychological even though the mask was quite easily
manipulation of human beings by hu- removable, but would instead follow
man beings surrounding them - includ- the prescriptions that regulated breath-
ing the family - with an oppresive so- ing of air.
cial order. The following theory about Occasionally some people would
the stroke economy is a similar effort grow tired of their mask and take it off
in which it will be proposed that the but these people would be considered
free exchange of strokes which is both character disorder criminals, foolish or
a human capacity, a human propensity reckless. People would be quite willing
and a human right has been artificially to do considerable work and expend
controlled for the purpose of rearing much effort to guarantee a continuous
human beings who will behave in a way flow of air. Those who did not work
which is desirable to a larger social and expend such effort would be cut
order. This manipulation of the stroke off, would not be permitted to breathe
economy, unwittingly engaged in by the freely and would not be given enough
largest proportion of human beings, has air to live in an adequate way.
never been understood as being a serv- People who openly advocated taking
ice to the established order, so that hu- off the masks would justifiably be ac-
man beings have not had an opportunity cused of undennining the very fiber of
to evaluate the extent to which such the society which constructed these
control of the stroke economy is to their masks, for it would be very clear that
own advantage and to what extent it is as people removed them they would no
not. longer work or be responsive to many
In order to make this point more vivid, of the demands that were placed upon
allow me to ask you to imagine that them. Instead these people would seek
every human being was at birth fitted self-satisfying modes of life and relation-
with a mask which controlled the ships which could easily exclude a great
amount of air that was available to him. deal of activity previously valued by a
This mask would at first be left wide society based on the wearing of such
open; the child could breathe freely; masks. "Mask removers" would be seen
but at the point at which the child was as a threat to the society, and would
able to perform certain desired acts the probably be viciously dealt with. In an
mask w~uld be gradually closed down air-hungry society, air substitutes could
and only opened at such times at which be sold at high prices and individuals
the child did whatever the grownups could, for a fee, sell clever circumven-
around it wanted it to do. Imagine, for tions of the anti-breathing rules.
instance, that a child was prohibited
Absurd as this situation may seem, I
from manipulating his own air valve
believe that it is a close analogy to the
and that only other people would have
situation which exists presently among
control over it, and that the people
human beings in the area of strokes.
allowed to control it would be rigorously Instead of a mask that controls the air,
specified. A situation of this sort could we have very strict regulations as to
cause human beings to be quite respon- how strokes are exchanged. Children
sive to the wishes and desires of those are oontrolled by regulating their stroke
who had control over the air supply. If input, and grownups work and respond
sanctions were made severe enough, to societal demands to get strokes. The
Transactional Anal. J. 1:3, July 1971 11
STROKE ECONOMY
omy. If he does the latter, he will quick- the recipient of the strokes will system-
ly find that he has an inordinant and atically reject everything that is said
unwitting control over the flow of with a Parental discount.
strokes; he will be given strokes without If someone says, "You have beautiful
having to ask and he will be able to skin," the Parent says, internally, "They
give without being rejected. A therapist haven't seen you up close." If someone
who enters into the economy and is un- says, "You have a lovely smile," the
aware of this inordinate, monopolizing Parent says, "But they haven't seen you
control which he has over the flow of cry." If someone says, "You have beauti-
strokes can be a disruptive factor nulli- ful breasts," the Parent says, "That's all
fying his attempts at therapy. they think of you - you're just a sex
Therapists, especially group thera- object." If a person says, "You're very
pists, are in a position to become stroke intelligent," then the Parent says, "Yes,
monopolists. Wyckoff, in this issue, but you're ugly." Other devices to
points out how men monopolize wom- avoid the acceptance of strokes will be
en's strokes. Parents are often interested observed such as: giving token accep-
in monopolizing their children.'s strokes. tance of the stroke followed by a shrug
In every case the stroke monopolist so that the stroke will roll off the shoul-
profits by the monopoly and at ders instead of soaking in, or an imme-
the same time perpetuates the gen- diate reciprocation with a counter-stroke
eral rules of the controlled stroke- which essentially says, "I don't deserve
economy. the stroke so I must give one in return."
tend to form social sub-groupings (e.g. therapy. New York: Grove Press, 1961.
"Marcuse, H. Eros and Civilization. New York:
couples, families, communes, etc. ) Vintage Books, 1962.
which are unresponsive to the larger 'Reich, W. The Function of the Orgasm. New
societal stroke-economic demands. In York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, Inc., 1961.
these groupings, knowledge of the theory "Reich, W. The Sexual Revolution. New York:
Noonday Press, 1962.
of the stroke economy and the Fuzzy
'Robinson, P. A. The Freudian Left. New
Tale' are useful in understanding and York: Harper Colophon Books, 1969.
coping with the problems of maintain- 7 Steiner, C. M. "A Fairy Tale," Transactional
ing a free stroke economy, Analysis Bulletin. 9:36, October 1970.