Thoughts for the Times on Groups and Masses

A timely contribution in this era of authoritarianism, right-wing populist movements, identity formation, and political correctness.

“In groups the most contradictory ideas can exist side by side and tolerate each other, without any conflict arising from the logical contradiction between them”, wrote Freud in his 1921 book Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. One hundred years later, in an age of war, social networks, and ubiquitous threats to democracy, the questions raised by Freud are as relevant as ever. In today’s mass and group formations, psychological processes and mechanisms can be recognized as they were described by Freud a century ago: compliance, hypnotization, regression, idealization, identification, and fusion with the Other. This anthology is the result of an interdisciplinary symposium organized by the Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna. In their contributions, scholars from psychoanalysis, philosophy, sociology and literary studies present critical re-readings of the text and focus on current issues such as the rise of right-wing populist movements, the role of the narcissistic leader, and mass phenomena in the digital age.

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Preface
Monika Pessler

Introduction
Daniela Finzi and Jeanne Wolff Bernstein

Sexual Drives, Eros, and Identification – A Re-reading of Freud’s Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego
Ulrike May

Freud’s “Mass Psychology”
Helmut Dahmer

The Social Unconscious, Trauma and Groups: A Constellation
Earl Hopper

The In-Between of Us: The Inter-Subject and Interstitial Belonging
Francisco J. González

Mass Death / Tobacco and Salt
Ranjana Khanna

Art, Identity, and Group Psychology in Digital Modernity
Sama Maani

The Truths of Psychoanalysis: Defying the Lies of Psychology that Fuel the Digital Amassing of Individuals
Jan De Vos

Representing the Crisis of Representation
Giuseppina Antinucci

Ideology, Leaders, and Group Action in the January 6 Insurrection
Ricardo Ainslie

Massenpsychologie and MAGA
Gail Newman

Notes on the Contributors

Daniela Finzi

Daniela Finzi is the head of the research department of the Sigmund Freud Museum in Vienna and member of the board of the Sigmund Freud Foundation.

Jeanne Wolff Bernstein

Jeanne Wolff Bernstein is a psychoanalyst in Vienna and the chair of the Advisory Board of the Sigmund Freud Foundation.

Jan De Vos

Gail Newman

Francisco J. González

Ranjana Khanna

Ricardo Ainslie

Sama Maani

Ulrike May

Helmut Dahmer

Giuseppina Antinucci

Earl Hopper