Lecture: The Cultural Complex: A Jungian
Approach to the Relationships between the
Individual and Collective Psyche
Thomas Singer, M.D.
Jung's theory of archetypes has been used to understand many phenomena, including political and social movements. Wotan is perhaps the most famous example of Jung's theory of archetypal possession being offered as an explanatory principle of the underlying driving forces from the collective unconscious in the social upheaval of Nazi Germany. This approach can easily become reductive and fails to set group conflict in context. The theory of cultural complexes offers a new way of understanding ethnic, religious, gender and racial conflicts as they keep the "outer world" in constant turmoil and divide the inner world of many individuals. This lecture will outline the emerging theory of cultural complexes and illustrate its application in several contemporary examples.
Workshop: Analyzing & Exploring Cultural
Complexes In Films & Current Political Issues
In this workshop we will explore the theory of cultural complexes through several contemporary examples. The goal of the workshop will be to lay out the fundamentals of the theory itself and then see how one can use it to understand the psychology of individuals and groups. We will examine "case studies" from film, literature, politics, and international relations. Examples will include Steven Spielberg's "Munich," Toni Morrison's "Beloved," how the "race card" was played in the 2008
Democratic Presidential primaries, "us vs. them" phenomena in group relations, and reflections on several of the major political and social issues that divide the United States and the world, including
abortion, race, the environment, and tribal rivalries. Participants will be encouraged to develop their own application of the theory of cultural
complexes in a personally relevant example that demonstrates how the complex affects the psyche of both individuals and groups.
