Summary & Quotes

Kellond (2019) interweaves Winnicott’s psychoanalytic theories with counter-cultural movements. Winnicott’s work and emphasis on social welfare fertilized the environment for the 1960s and 1970s counter-cultural movements. In addition, Kellond highlights the importance of Winnicott’s work in relation to mothering and interdependence. While the famous psychoanalytic didn’t challenge the division of labour, he helped pave the way for seeing the immense economic value in mothering. Ultimately, while Winnicott wasn’t directly a radical himself, his theories and advocacy paved the way for future generations of counter-cultural movements. Below I have included quotes that best captured Kellond’s main argument:  339 - “This article has offered a long view of the relationship between Winnicott’s ideas and the counter-cultural politics of the 1960s and 1970s. His ideas, born in the interwar climate of social solidarity, informed the architecture of the post-war welfare state, which was itself a condition of possibility for the counter- culture to develop. Whilst Winnicott’s attention to mothering did little to challenge the sexual division of labour in the post-war period, and was far from marginal in its influence, he foregrounded the importance of social reproduction and the fact of dependence.” 339-340 - “This has been only a brief snapshot of Winnicott’s contemporary relevance, but hopefully it has begun to identify what makes Winnicott today a ‘counter-cultural voice’ (Phillips, 2007, p. xii) with something to say about ‘present-day troubles’ (Winnicott, 1991a, p. 143), and gone some way to answering Maggie Nelson’s question: Why Winnicott now?”