Starting with the Spring 2024 Issue of the Journal of Psycyhohistory, we began publishing Jay Gonen’s manuscript of his fifth and final book, written before he died in 2022 at the age of 88, titled The World and the Self in Early 20th Century Literature. We will be publishing all seven chapters of the book serially — in consecutive issues of the journal. In this issue, we will be publishing Chapter 5 (Part 1).
Articles
Reflecting on the Dark Triad Personalities in Management: Current versus Classical Narcissism, Clive Boddy
Abstract: This paper examines current conceptualizations of Narcissism in management research, finding that, as a personality type, it is associated with (among other things) exploitiveness, a desire to be admired, deceptiveness, grandiosity, vulnerability, power-seeking, and dishonesty. However, none of these are evident in the classical-historical myths of Narcissus. On the other hand, nearly all of these elements are implicated in psychopathy and, to some extent, Machiavellianism. At least three conclusions may be drawn from this. Firstly, a sizeable amount of conceptual drift has occurred in the conceptualization of Narcissism. Secondly, this movement has caused the concept to overlap with the two other dark triad personalities, and thirdly, it has led to confusion between the definitions and perceived characteristics of each of the three personalities. If many current conceptualizations of Narcissism are essentially psychopathic, then what is the point of identifying this as Narcissism? A call for a return to the classical conceptualization of Narcissism as primarily involving self-absorption, self-admiration, and self-love; pride, passive but nevertheless contemptuous indifference to the affections of others, and ultimately self-destructive behavior, is therefore made. This will enable further research to more clearly differentiate between the personalities within the dark triad and their likely life trajectories.
Key Words: Narcissus, Narcissism, dark triad, psychopaths, Machiavellians
The Psychodynamics of Applied Free Association: From Schindler’s List to Organizational Downsizing and Beyond, Howard F. Stein & Seth Allcorn
ABSTRACT: This paper continues the authors’ exploration of applied free association as a psychohistorical instrument for sense-making of the unconscious dynamics of groups ranging from workplace organizations to nations. Through a case study of the experiences of one of the co-authors, the authors illustrate how applied free associa- tion can help “connect the dots” of unconscious processes that link seemingly unrelated aspects of culture and history. The authors suggest that applied free association can become a valuable instrument to add to the field’s methodological repertory.
Good Jew/Bad Jew: Understanding Defensive Adaptation in Trump’s America, Talya Wintman
ABSTRACT: In this paper, I examine Jewish support for Donald Trump as a psychohistorical phenomenon that necessitates a defensive fusion with state power, enabling individuals to maintain psychic cohesion and the illusion of political capital. Here, I employ Vamik Volkan’s concept of “Chosen trauma,” as adopted by Howard Stein, to understand how the transmission of traumatic object images is maintained through ritual aspects of American Zionism that foreclose communal mourning processes. “Chosen trauma” creates a time collapse effect where the past merges with the present to create a sense of eternal recurrence. However, in this case, distancing devices and denial downplay right-wing antisemitism to preserve the phantasy of right-wing philosemitism—the good breast. In contrast, claims of antisemitism are displaced onto the left, including left-wing Jews. While major psychohistorical studies of Jewish history understand American Zionism through a distinctly oedipal frame, in this paper, I contend that the splitting into good Jews and bad Jews, Zionists, and Anti-Zionists is less a resolution of oedipal anxieties than it is a defensive paranoid-schizoid organization of the self along primitive axes of idealization and devaluation, which the Trump administration readily exploits to redefine the boundaries of Jewish-self-definition.
Two Psychohistorians Search for Earliest Psychohistorical Studies and the Word “Psychohistory”
Searching for Early Psychohistory Studies and Usages of the Word Psychohistory, Paul H. Elovitz
Notes on the Early Uses of the Words
“Psychohistory” and “Psychological History”, Juhani Ihanus
Book Excerpt
Virginia Woolf: Constructing the Identity of a Poet (Chapter 5, Part 1), Jay Y. Gonen
Virginia Woolf’s Orlando: A Biography, is a curious work of fiction because, even though it is a bona fide novel, it was written under the guise of a different literary form—a biography, including portrait paint- ings and an index. This format evoked some confusion among readers and critics concerning the degree to which the work was meant to be a biography of Woolf’s lesbian lover, Vita Sackville-West, or an autobiography of Virginia Woolf herself, or a work of fiction, which like most novels draws from the author’s imagination as well as real-life experiences. The last option seems the most plausible to me since, in the novel, Woolf never tired of putting the spotlight on the shortcomings of biographies. Throughout the work, she alluded to the inadequacy of the historical and biographical approach to flesh out the truly important events in the inner life of the protagonist
Psychohistorical Perspectives: Review Essay
Anthropologists on Acid, Robert M Kaplan. Tripping on Utopia: Margaret Mead, the Cold War, and the Troubled Birth of Psychedelic Science. Copyright © 2024 by Benjamin Breen
Alteration of consciousness to produce trance states goes back to the earliest hunter gatherers. The shaman needed to do this to engage in healing, prediction of weather and hunting, and to ensure the group well-being. Trance states were induced in a variety of ways, such as sensory deprivation, hyperventilation, drumming, and use of chemicals—the latter was especially prevalent in Central and South America.
By the 19th century, interest in trance states arose in scientific circles while artists and writers used opium and hashish to enhance their creativity. William James wrote of its use for the provocation of transcendent experiences in The Varieties of Religious Experience. Neurologist, Weir Mitchell described the mescaline visions he experienced: ‘. . . a rush of countless points of white light swept across (my) field of view, as if the unseen millions of the milky way were to flow a sparkling river before the eye,’
Psychohistorical Perspectives: Poetry
Blame, Donald Mender
Prairie Camp Meeting, Howard F. Stein
Old Folks Daily Living Center, 2024, Howard F. Stein