{"product_id":"2940015524611","title":"Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego","description":"Sigmund Freud's Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, (1922) based on a critique of Le Bon's work, led to further development in theories of group behavior in the latter half of the twentieth century. Theodor Adorno reprised Freud's essay in 1951 with his Freudian Theory and the Pattern of Fascist Propaganda, and said that \"It is not an overstatement if we say that Freud, though he was hardly interested in the political phase of the problem, clearly foresaw the rise and nature of fascist mass movements in purely psychological categories.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSigmund Freud's second essay on collective psychology \"Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego\" is perhaps his fundamental work on that topic. The brief and magisterial introductory chapter makes the claim that group psychology is part of psychoanalysis. He tackles a fundamental problem: What is the mental dynamic that holds together the individuals in a group, creates the group's forms, ensures its continuity and stability, or causes its disappearance? In other words, what is the morphodynamics of groups? Repeating a significant move in psychoanalysis, his abandonment of hypnosis, Freud proposed that the libido accounts for group morphodynamics. He accomplished this epistemological operation in three chapters, borrowing from Gustave Le Bon and William McDougall to describe the prevalence of the primary processes in ephemeral groups.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFreud refined his proposal by showing how two groups, the church and the army, can come apart—in their different ways—through the loss of libidinal bonds to the leader or among members, and how, in keeping with psychoanalytic dynamics, only the power of love is capable of overcoming the narcissism and hatred that distance us from one another.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt remained to identify the psychic formations that ensure group cohesion. This is the topic is addressed in the next three chapters, where, for the first time, Freud studied in detail the various known identificatory processes and distinguished the ego's identifications from those of the ego ideal. Hence his statement: \"A primary group . . . is a number of individuals who have put one and the same object in the place of their ego ideal and have consequently identified themselves with one another in their ego\" (p. 116). This statement holds true for passionate love and the hypnotic state, which he had used to shed light on the identificatory processes. Freud then verified its validity in the case of the primitive horde, as a structure. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the course of his discussion, the generic quality of alienation and submission inherent in group membership is brought to light. A final chapter sharpens the distinction between ego and ego ideal, a distinction that provides an opening for psychoanalytic investigation of the narcissistic psychoses.\u003cbr\u003eIn important supplements to this work Freud distinguished three paradigmatic forms and dynamics of groups.","brand":"Balefire Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47166096048368,"sku":"2940015524611","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940015524611_p0.jpg?v=1763629586","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940015524611","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}