The Unconscious in Social and Political Life

A fascinating collection that casts a psychoanalytic lens over what is happening in today’s world with the rise of fundamentalism, prejudice, fascism, and neoliberalism.

Traumatic events happen in every age, yet there is a particularly cataclysmic feeling to our own epoch that is so attractive to some and so terrifying to others. The terrible events of September 11th 2001 still resonate and the repercussions continue to this day: the desperation of immigrants fleeing terror, the uncertainty of Brexit, Donald Trump in the White House, the rise of the alt-right and hard left, increasing fundamentalism, and terror groups intent on causing destruction to the Western way of life. If that were not enough, we also have to grapple with the enormity of climate change and the charge that if we do not act now, it will be too late. Is it any wonder many are left overwhelmed by the events they see on the news? Galvanised by the events outside of his consulting room, in 2015, David Morgan began The Political Mind seminars at the British Psychoanalytical Society and their successful run continues today. A series of superlative seminars, mostly presented by colleagues from the British Society plus a few select external experts, that examine a dazzling array of relevant topics to provide a psychoanalytic understanding of just what is going on in our world. This book is the first in The Political Mind series to bring these seminars to a wider audience. The Unconscious in Political and Social Life contains compelling contributions from Christopher Bollas, Michael Rustin, Jonathan Sklar, David Bell, Philip Stokoe, Roger Kennedy, David Morgan, M. Fakhry Davids, Ruth McCall, R. D. Hinshelwood, Renee Danziger, Josh Cohen, Sally Weintrobe, and Margot Waddell. They investigate so many vital issues affecting us today: the evolution of democracy, right-wing populism, prejudice, the rise of the far right, attitudes to refugees and migrants, neoliberalism, fundamentalism, terrorism, the Palestine-Israel situation, political change, feminism, austerity in the UK, financial globalisation, and climate change. This book needs to be read by all who are concerned by the state of the world today. Psychoanalysis and psychoanalysts with their awareness of what motivates human beings bring clarity and fresh insight to these matters. A deeper understanding of humanity awaits the reader of The Unconscious in Political and Social Life.

FOREWORD Virginia Ungar INTRODUCTION David Morgan CHAPTER ONE Where have all the adults gone? Philip Stokoe CHAPTER TWO The democratic state of mind Christopher Bollas CHAPTER THREE Understanding right-wing populism Michael Rustin CHAPTER FOUR Europe in dark times: some dynamics in alterity and prejudice Jonathan Sklar CHAPTER FIVE Neoliberalism is bad for your mental health David Bell CHAPTER SIX Toleration of Strangers Roger Kennedy CHAPTER SEVEN Inflammatory projective identification in fundamentalist religious and economic terrorism David Morgan CHAPTER EIGHT Psychoanalysis and Palestine-Israel: a personal angle M. Fakhry Davids CHAPTER NINE Psychoanalysis and feminism: a modern perspective Ruth McCall CHAPTER TEN Reflection or action: and never the twain shall meet R. D. Hinshelwood CHAPTER ELEVEN "We're all in it together": austerity's myth Renee Danziger CHAPTER TWELVE A psycho-politics of the slacker Josh Cohen CHAPTER THIRTEEN Climate change: the moral dimension Sally Weintrobe CHAPTER FOURTEEN Managing difficult children: psychoanalysis, welfare policy, and the 'social sector' Steven Groarke INDEX,

FOREWORD
Virginia Ungar

INTRODUCTION
David Morgan

CHAPTER ONE
Where have all the adults gone?
Philip Stokoe

CHAPTER TWO
The democratic state of mind
Christopher Bollas

CHAPTER THREE
Understanding right-wing populism
Michael Rustin

CHAPTER FOUR
Europe in dark times: some dynamics in alterity and prejudice
Jonathan Sklar

CHAPTER FIVE
Neoliberalism is bad for your mental health
David Bell

CHAPTER SIX
Toleration of Strangers
Roger Kennedy

CHAPTER SEVEN
Inflammatory projective identification in fundamentalist religious and economic terrorism
David Morgan

CHAPTER EIGHT
Psychoanalysis and Palestine-Israel: a personal angle
M. Fakhry Davids

CHAPTER NINE
Psychoanalysis and feminism: a modern perspective
Ruth McCall

CHAPTER TEN
Reflection or action: and never the twain shall meet
R. D. Hinshelwood

CHAPTER ELEVEN
“We’re all in it together”: austerity’s myth
Renée Danziger

CHAPTER TWELVE
A psycho-politics of the slacker
Josh Cohen

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Climate change: the moral dimension
Sally Weintrobe

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Managing difficult children: psychoanalysis, welfare policy, and the ‘social sector’
Steven Groarke

INDEX

• Edited by David Morgan

This excellent book is a must for analysts and for readers interested in understanding our troubled world in a contemporary frame. […It] shows that psychoanalysis has to take an ethical stance when confronted with the dehumanisation tendency in our contemporary world.

— Virginia Ungar, MD, President of the International Psychoanalytical Association

This collection of articles on urgent contemporary topics reflects a growing awareness of the meaning of a psychoanalytic perspective for understanding political and social processes. […] I found ‘The Unconscious in Social and Political Life’ very useful in providing a deepened analysis of what I see as a contemporary regressed state of the culture, in which both phenomena take place: the activation of post-traumatic fragments and the challenges to our identities and psychological states of mind in liquid modernity. While in different branches of contemporary psychoanalysis the cultural and social is increasingly appreciated, we are also increasingly aware of the impossibility of neutrality when both analyst and patient are so strongly influenced by what is taking place in the world.

— Malgorzata Kalinowska

This book shows that the radical spirit of the British tradition in psychoanalysis is alive and well and haunts the social and political institutions that house it. The contributions illuminate the cultural contexts which make psychoanalysis possible, throwing a particular uncanny light on who we are now and what we do to each other.

— Professor Ian Parker, Emeritus Professor of Management, University of Leicester School of Business; President, The College of Psychoanalysts – UK

This wonderfully scintillating volume powerfully addresses the key questions of our troubled times, from the relation between polis and psyche, psychoanalysis and feminism, alterity and prejudice, to problems of resurgent authoritarian populism, neo-liberalism, market and religious forms of terror as well as the looming challenge of climate change. It shows beyond a shadow of a doubt the utter indispensability of psychoanalysis not just in a clinical setting—increasingly dominated in this age of austerity by quick pharmacological fixes and band-aid solutions such as CBT—but, relatedly, to thoughtful, sustained, and rigorous practices of critique and engagement within the wider public sphere.

— Samir Gandesha, Professor of Humanities and Director of the Institute for the Humanities at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver

This insightful anthology explores the effects of social and political turbulence on the individual and social unconscious with invigorating verve.
Based on a series of progressive “The Political Mind” seminars established by David Morgan of the British Psychoanalytical Society, this collection is underpinned by Morgan’s belief that psychoanalysis “makes a valuable contribution” to the “important endeavour” of redeveloping “a culture that preserves the importance of humanity”, as opposed to embracing neoliberalism “with its emphasis on market forces over human love and joy”. To this end, the fourteen essays contained herein offer measured discussions of a broad range of pertinent socio-political matters from a psychoanalytical perspective.
From exploring the rise of the far-right and the debilitating “we’re all in it together” myth of austerity, to examining the psychologies of prejudice and tolerance in relation to attitudes towards refugees and migrants, this provides those looking for fresh takes on today’s troubled – and troubling – political turmoil with stimulating sagacity from preeminent experts in their fields.

— Joanne Owen

‘intriguing […] a welcome book, demonstrating a commitment by members of the British Psychoanalytical Society to engage with critical politics and also a willingness to expose this not just in print, but also in the “Political Mind” seminar series from which the book derives.’

— Stephen Frosh, 'The International Journal of Psychoanalysis', 101:5, 2020