Download or read book Masochism and the Emergent Ego written by Esther Menaker and published by Jason Aronson, Incorporated. This book was released on 1996-05-01 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Esther Menaker sees the ego as an evolutionary achievement emerging from the relational matrix of mother and child and the product of numerous psychosocial forces. She places particular emphasis on the individual's self-esteem as reflected in both the developing ego-ideal and the sense of identity. The full depth and originality of her thought is clearly illustrated in these papers, which center on three vital issues: masochism, identification and the social process, and creativity. For example, in a unique contribution, she shows how masochism, which she sees as stemming from the child's original dependence on its mother, is a major modality of character formation that precipitates the child's fear of separation and his struggle for individuation. Dr. Menaker delineates a holistic and developmental conception of personality that stresses the individual's integrative capacities to bring forth a new synthesis of the self.