Download Yael Doron The Social Unconscious GAD June 2016

The Social Unconscious for GAD
Yael Doron
The concept of the 'unconscious' constitutes one of the cornerstones of psychoanalytic
theory. According to the Language of Psychoanalysis by Laplanche and Pontalis (2011:
381):
“If one
wished
to summarize the
Freudian
discovery in one
word,
it would undoubtedly be that of the unconscious”. Although Foulkes (1948), the
founder of Group Analysis, was a Freudian psychoanalyst, he introduced the concept
of the Social Unconscious in order to stress the importance of sociality and
socialization in the life of persons and groups. In the context of field theory (Lewin,
1951), the social unconscious came to include notions of relationality, transpersonality,
transgenerationality, and collectivity (Hopper & Weinberg, 2015). Moreover, as
Foulkes shifted from the “collective mind” to the “foundation matrix” and the “dynamic
matrix”, the theory of group analysis began to function as a bridge between sociology
and contemporary psychoanalysis (Hopper, 2009), and the conceptualization of the
social unconscious became central to the basic theory of group analysis (Hopper, 2011).
Historically the theory and concept of the social unconscious can be traced to
the work of Marx, Weber and Durkheim, as well as to many other sociologists and
social psychologists in Europe and the United States. The Foulkesian concept of the
social unconscious is both similar to and different from Jung's concept of "collective
unconscious", Pichon-Riviere "co-unconscious" and also to Moreno's "inter-personal
unconscious" (Hopper and Weinberg, 2011). Foulkes used the concept of the social
unconscious in reference both to the internalized social world of which people were
unaware and to the properties of the external social world of which people were
unaware. Unfortunately, he did not elaborate his conceptualization of the social
unconscious, define it systematically, or explain how he used the concept in clinical
work (Hopper and Weinberg, 2011; Doron, 2014).
As a sociologist and psychoanalyst as well as a group analyst, Hopper often
discussed the concept in detail with Foulkes. On the basis of these discussions Hopper
(1996) eventually defined the concept of the social unconscious in terms of "... the
existence and constraints of social, cultural and communicational arrangements of
which people are unaware; unaware, in so far as these arrangements are not perceived
(not known), and if perceived not acknowledged (denied), and if acknowledged, not
taken as problematic (“given”), and if taken as problematic, not considered with an
optimal degree of detachment and objectivity" (Hopper, 2001: 10).
Based on Foulkes' writings, Dalal (1998) described two possible views
regarding the social unconscious: according to the orthodox view, the social
unconscious is not conscious, because it is automatic, just like walking or driving; A
more radical view is that the social unconscious is part of our personal matrix, created
when the social penetrates into the individual. According to this view, the social
unconscious is the structure, the container, or the very ‘bones’ of the psyche.
The concept of the social unconscious has been defined as a part of the
individual unconscious, located inside it, but has also been defined as a property of
society itself (Hopper, 2001). Weinberg offered an intersubjective definition that
positions the social unconscious in a transitional space: ‘The Social Unconscious is the
co-constructed shared unconscious of members of a particular social system such as
community, society, nation or culture’ (Weinberg, 2008: 150).
For various reasons, social trauma is of particular importance in the formation
of the social unconscious of societies and other social systems such as organizations
(Hopper, 2012). This is extremely visible in societies which we call Soldiers Matrix
(Friedman, 2015). It is important to consider collective defenses against shared
anxieties that have been caused by social trauma, such as secrecy and normative
taciturnity (Hopper, 2003). I wish to consider another collective defense.
Weinberg (2009) emphasizes that when aiming to reveal the social unconscious
of a particular social system it is especially important to consider the anxieties,
fantasies, myths and collective memories, as well as chosen traumas and chosen glories
(Volkan, 2001) that are typical of it. I would like to argue that in addition to that, the
contents of the Social Unconscious are composed of at least one other building block:
"Mental Black Holes" (Doron, 2016).
In astronomy, a "Black Hole" is a region of space-time exhibiting such a strong
gravitational pull that no particle can escape from it, not even light. Since black holes
do not emit light, they cannot be observed and their existence can only be deduced from
phenomena caused by their presence. In a similar way, the Mental Black Holes can't be
seen directly, but we could learn about them through their effect of distorted
relationships patterns between the members of the group (Friedman, 2013). The Mental
Black Holes represent materials that we reject and deny as a society, in processes that
involve guilt and shame.
They raise intense, existential emotions related to
annihilation, separation and death anxieties (Hopper, 2005), unconscious needs to
excel, the fear of being expelled from society or being ridiculed and so on. The attitude
of Israeli government and people towards the Nakba is an example to Mental Black
Holes in the Israeli Social Unconscious.
References
Dalal, F. (1998). Taking the Group Seriously: Towards a Post-Foulkesian Group
Analytic Theory. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Doron, Y. (2014). The Israeli social unconscious as revealed to me during the GASI
International Summer School in Serbia. Group Analysis, 47: 128-141.
Doron, Y. (2016) The 'Black Hole' in the Social Unconscious: A Collective Defense
against Shared Fears of Annihilation. In: R. Friedman and Y. Doron (Eds.)
Group Analysis in the Land of Milk and Honey. London: Karnac (in press).
Foulkes, S.H. (1948). Introduction to Group Analytic Psychotherapy. London: Karnac.
Friedman, R. (2013). Overcoming shame through dreamtelling. International Journal
of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 10-11: 39-44.
Friedman, R. (2015). Soldiers matrix. Group Analysis, 48: 239-257.
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Hebrew).
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(In Hebrew).