SOURCE: "Irrational Mass Behavior," in The Life and Work of Wilhelm Reich, translated by Ghislaine Boulanger, Horizon Press, 1971, pp. 114-37.

In the following excerpt, which was originally published in French in 1969, Cattier explains how Reich combined concepts from Marxism and psychoanalysis to create a "social psychology."

Marx and Engels formulated a principle of sociological definition which contemporary social scientists still use—the way of assessing a group of people is determined by their living conditions. For example, the political attitudes, moral values, and artistic tastes of a social class reflect its material situation.

A distinction can be drawn between the ruling classes and the oppressed by the way in which they conduct themselves in society. The ruling classes cannot picture the state of the world as it stands because this would require them to recognize that their supremacy is contingent upon the whole society. Their ideology has always...