The Psychopolitics of Liberation: Political Consciousness From a Jungian Perspective [Hardcover]

Explaining changes in the political consciousness of the oppressed using the ideas of Paulo Freire, Albert Memmi, and Jungian psychology, this original book explores how psychological bonds of oppression are broken and offers a psychopolitical theory for the analysis of the autobiographies of four Native people in Guatemala and Canada.Foreword by Andrew Samuels Introduction PART I: THEORIES OF POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS Conscientization and Individuation Humanization and the Complexes Decolonization and Narcissism Liberated Consciousness and the Tension of Opposites PART II: CASES OF LIBERATED CONSCIOUSNESS The Study of Liberated Consciousness in Ethnically Divided Societies Atanasio James Sewid Lee Maracle Rigoberta Menchu Psychopolitical Healing

With the help of Paulo Freire and C.G. Jung, Lawrence R. Alschuler explores the social and psychological nature of oppression. He shows how liberation is an inner and outer process. This is not just a theoretical book on the politics of psychology or the psychology of politics. Rather, The Psychopolitics of Liberation is about how real people,suffering from social wounds,achieved liberation. This book is about the future of psychology and politics.

- Arnold Mindell, author of Sitting in the Fire and The Deep Democracy of Open Forums

Lawrence R. Alschuler understands both psychology and political science well and applies the disciplines to each other, backwards and forwards, creatively. Alschuler's project of bringing together the liberation theory, Jungian psychology, and political economy is unique and uniquely important. The book contains an original synthesis of existing authors from disparate, and often conflicting, fields; bringing them together is brilliant.

- Demaris Wehr, Ph.D., psychotherapist in private practice, and author of Jung and Feminism: Liberating Archetypes

LAWRENCE R. ALSCHULER is retired Professor of Political Science, UniversitlØ