Module Six – Individuation – The Individual in Society

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Module Six
The Individual in Society

Presented by Johann Graaff

 

Description

Like the individual psyche, society too has an unconscious – a hidden dimension that shapes collective attitudes, emotions, and behaviour. This unconscious reveals itself in moments of collective upheaval or mass movement: in political shifts that appear self-defeating, in the sudden rise of conspiracy theories, in the targeting of scapegoated groups, or in the restless search for meaning in a disenchanted world. This module explores how a Jungian lens can help us understand such social phenomena. Drawing on examples from history and contemporary life – including armed conflicts, populist movements, and cultural trends – it invites us to see how the forces at work in the collective psyche mirror those within the individual.

Seminar Dates

  • 7 September – How to think about society in a Jungian mode
  • 14 September – The people who vote for authoritarian rulers
  • 21 September – Conspiracy theories: roots and dynamics
  • 28 September – Disenchantment and Re-enchantment at the societal level

Seminar Content

September 7 – How to think about society in a Jungian mode

Think how different it is watching a sports event on TV and being at the game with 50,000 other spectators; or saying prayers in the privacy of your bedroom versus attending a service in a cathedral with 200 other congregants; or inserting your voting ballot paper in a voting box and joining a protest march with 100,000 other people. The social context gives experiences a whole different energy. Emile Durkheim, founding father of Sociology, called it ‘collective effervescence’.

  • Required Reading: Graaff, Johann. ‘First Steps in Thinking About Society from a Jungian Perspective’
  • Required Viewing: Minsmere Murmuration; Mexican Wave – Millennium Stadium

September 14 – The people who vote for authoritarian rulers  

There is a fundamental paradox in many countries today, that is, the great numbers of people who vote for leaders and parties that undermine those very people’s civic rights and freedoms. Leaders cheat in elections, proclaim themselves president for life, jail journalists who dare to criticize them, and promote policies that aggravate pollution and unemployment. Such leaders seem to have charismatic personalities and promote social scapegoats that (supposedly) are responsible for social ills.

  • Required Reading: Jung, CG. 1936. ‘Wotan’ in Civilizations in Transition. Vol. 10. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Recommended Reading: Rich, Nathaniel. 2016. ‘Inside the Sacrifice Zone, Review of Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land.’ November 10.
  • Required viewing: Hitler’s Nuremberg Rally; and Trailer of ‘The Dark Knight;

September 21 – Conspiracy theories: roots and dynamics

Conspiracy theories often have three basic beliefs: that a secret cabal (the Illuminati, the Elders of Zion, Hillary and Bill Clinton) are secretly plotting to control the country/the world; that they engage in appalling acts of sexual perversion and cannibalism; and finally that there will be an apocalyptic day of reckoning when all these evil people will be arrested/executed and a new world will be born. But it seems that these beliefs grow especially among people who are in deep distress, who experience existential dread. It is a curious and unconscious strategy of collective self-defense.

    • Required Reading: Hofstadter, Richard. 1964. ‘The Paranoid Style in American Politics’. Harper’s Magazine, November 1.
    • Recommended Reading: Roose, Kevin. 2021. ‘What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory?’ The New York Times, September 3.

    September 28 – Discenchantment and Re-enchantment at the Societal Level

    Sociologist Max Weber coined the word ‘disenchantment’ for the way in which the Enlightenment emptied out social life of meaning and spirituality. ‘In modernity the world was leeched of mystery and richness.’ But philosopher, Charles Taylor, proposes that there are new shoots of meaning to be found in modernity, he calls these ‘cosmic connections’ to be found in New Age religions, in nature, poetry, music and art.

    • Required Reading: Brooks, David. 2025. ‘Why Do So Many People Think Trump Is Good?’ Atlantic.

    Module Reading/Viewing List

    Required Reading

      • Brooks, David. 2025. ‘Why Do So Many People Think Trump Is Good?’ Atlantic.
      • Graaff, Johann. ‘First Steps in Thinking About Society from a Jungian Perspective’
      • Hofstadter, Richard. 1964. ‘The Paranoid Style in American Politics’. Harper’s Magazine, November 1.
      • Jung, CG. 1936. ‘Wotan’ in Civilizations in Transition. Vol. 10. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

        Required Viewing:

        Required Further Reading:

        • Rich, Nathaniel. 2016. ‘Inside the Sacrifice Zone, Review of Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land.’ November 10.
        • Roose, Kevin. 2021. ‘What Is QAnon, the Viral Pro-Trump Conspiracy Theory?’ The New York Times, September 3.

          Module Presenter

          Johann Graaff is a retired sociologist from UCT. He is now interested in the cross over between Jungian psychology and sociology. He graduated from the CG Jung Institute in Zurich and has a practice as a Jungian analyst.  He is a member of SAAJA and coordinator of the Certificate Course in Foundational Concepts in Jungian Psychology.