Fascism and Democracy in the Human Mind: A Bridge Between Mind and Society

Front Cover
U of Nebraska Press, Jan 1, 2006 - Psychology - 471 pages
What might you have done if you had been caught up in the Holocaust? In My Lai? In Rwanda? Confronted with acts of violence and evil on scales grand and small, we ask ourselves, baffled, how such horrors can happen?how human beings seemingly like ourselves can commit such atrocities. The answer, I. W. Charny suggests in this important new work, may be found in each one of us, in the different and distinct ways in which we organize our minds.

An internationally recognized scholar of the psychology of violence, Charny defines two paradigms of mental organization, the democratic and the fascist, and shows how these systems can determine behavior in intimate relationships, social situations, and events of global significance. With its novel conception of mental health and illness, this book develops new directions for diagnosis and treatment of emotional disorders that are played out in everyday acts of violence against ourselves and others. Fascism and Democracy in the Human Mind also offers much-needed insight into the sources and workings of terrorism and genocide. A sane, radical statement about the guiding principles underlying acts of violence and evil, this book sounds a passionate call for the democratic way of thinking, which recognizes complexity, embraces responsibility, and affirms life.

From inside the book

Contents

A New Bridge between Mind and Society
1
The Choice between Fascism and Democracy in Everyday Life in the Individual Mind the Family and Society
11
Overcoming and Growing beyond the Seductions of Fascism in Mind and Society
155
Notes
379
Bibliography
431
Index
457
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About the author (2006)

I. W. Charny is the editor in chief of the Encyclopedia of Genocide and the executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem. A practicing clinical psychologist and family therapist, he is a professor of psychology and family therapy at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.רר

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