Routledge Political Passions and Jungian Psychology: Social and Political Activism in Analysis

In this book, a multidisciplinary and international selection of Jungian clinicians and academics discuss some of the most compelling issues in contemporary politics. Presented in five parts, each chapter offers an in-depth and timely discussion on themes including migration, climate change, walls and boundaries, future developments, and the psyche. Taken together, the book presents an account of current thinking in their psychotherapeutic community as well as the role of practitioners in working with the results of racism, forced relocation, colonialism, and ecological damage. Ultimately, this book encourages analysts, scholars, psychotherapists, sociologists, and students to actively engage in shaping current and future political, socio-economic, and cultural developments in this increasingly complex and challenging time. Review "This book is a record of a various significant and stimulating contributions of Analytical Psychology to possible solutions for the social, political and cultural problems that have been affecting our world for centuries, such as immigration and suffering caused by war, poverty, racial, social and gender prejudices, environmental catastrophes, etc. Each chapter presents the psychotherapeutic point of view applied in areas of work outside the consulting room, thus overcoming the split between the inner and outer, personal and social aspects of life. It is a highly recommendable book not only for psychologists, who will see new ways of applying their work, but also those involved in other fields of knowledge, as well as general readers. All will find that psychology can bring new light to the understanding of social problems." Toshio Kawai President, International Association for Analytical Psychology "This compilation of a selection of presentations from the third Analysis and Activism Conference held in Prague in December 2017, builds on and furthers the exploration of the vibrant, yet also very difficult and at times imperceptible, link between the psychological, the cultural, the social, the political and the ecological. Framed within a post-modern and archetypal perspective, the authors explore the often murky and less-than-obvious, yet crucial, link between the psychological and such diverse areas as migration and refugees, the environment, our perspective on history, and the political. Each presenter, in their own unique manner, seeks to break down walls of resistance and to build bridges to a wider and more inclusive perspective. What at first may seem like disparate and unrelated perspectives on this topic, in the end contribute to providing the reader with a kaleidoscopic perspective on the intricate, yet not so obvious, intimate relationship between these diverse topics and how the psychological is irrefutably embedded within and part of a wider matrix that necessarily includes the social and the political. The last article offers an example of how this can then be incorporated into the training of young analysts. As Jung succinctly stated, individuation does not take place in a bubble or in isolation, it is a process very much connected to the collective. The publication of this book could not be more timely as the world finds itself in the midst of the current Covid-19 pandemic, a dramatic example of the interconnectedness these authors aim to bring to light and of the impact of social policy on the collective and on the psychological state of its citizens. I highly recommend this book and am confident that readers will be nourished by the multiple perspectives provided and inspired to consider analysis and activism as allies and not as mutually exclusive fields of interest." Tom Kelly Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Analytical Psychology "This book is a record of a various significant and stimulating contributions of Analytical Psychology to possible solutions for the social, political and cultural problems that have been affecting our world f