On hatred - Abuse and scapegoats: mutual violence

Journal title GRUPPI
Author/s Robi Friedman
Publishing Year 2014 Issue 2014/1 Language Italian
Pages 12 P. 19-30 File size 95 KB
DOI 10.3280/GRU2014-001003
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

Below, you can see the article first page

If you want to buy this article in PDF format, you can do it, following the instructions to buy download credits

Article preview

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The question of violence should be considered both on a personal and on a group level. When the individual is under the total influence of his society, it is extremely difficult to separate between his feelings and attitudes from his Matrix attitudes. Defining a "Soldiers- Matrix" in which all members of a Society are enlisted physically and mentally in their struggle helps to understand everyone’s position and identification. In the article we will question the topic of "regression" in Large Groups or Masses. It may be closer to psychic reality to say that the individual switches to a different State of Mind when he/she is under the influence of the Soldiers’ Matrix, entering a culture in which there is no place for guilt, shame nor empathy for others (and sometimes oneself and one’s close ones). It would be ‘regressive’ not to become identified with the Large Group, which is enormously influential on the individual. Violence is especially common when a group or society goes through a relational disorder of scapegoating. What can be done to change this situation and re-introduce guilt, shame and empathy in order to transform the LG back into a co-existing entity? How do we address unconscious feelings of annihilation anxiety and the fundamental collective unconscious of fear of rejection?

Keywords: Group analysis, violence, soldiers’ matrix, scapegoating, relation disorders, large group.

  1. Agazarian Y.M. (1994). The Phases of Development and the Systems-Centered Group. In: Pines M., Schermer V. (eds.), Ring of Fire: Primitive Object Relations and Affect in Group Psychotherapy. Routledge, Chapman & Hall: London.
  2. Bion W.R. (1961). Esperienze nei gruppi. Roma: Armando, 1971.
  3. De Amicis E. (1886). Cuore. Milano: Mondadori, 1982.
  4. Dicks H.V. (1972). Licensed Mass Murder: A Socio-Psychological Study of some SS Killers. London: Heinemann.
  5. Elias N. (1939). Il processo di civilizzazione. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1988.
  6. Elias N. (1989). I Tedeschi: lotte di potere ed evoluzione dei costumi nei secoli XIX e XX. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1991. Elias N., Dunning E. (1986). Quest for Excitement. Sport and Leisure in the Civilising Process. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
  7. Engels E. (2001). Ego Training in Action in Culture and History. Group Analysis, 34, 1: 55-64.
  8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/05333160122077712
  9. Foulkes S.H. (1948). Introduzione alla psicoterapia gruppoanalitica. Roma: EUR, 1991.
  10. Foulkes S.H. (1964). Therapeutic Group Analysis. London: Karnac (trad. it.: Analisi terapeutica di gruppo. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri, 1978).
  11. Foulkes S.H. (1975). Group Analytic Psychotherapy: Method and Principles. London: Gordon and Breach, Reissued Karnac, 1986 & 1991.
  12. Freud S. (1922). Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. S.E., 18. London: Hogarth, 1955.
  13. Harari Y.N. (2011). A Letter History of One Child. In: A Brief History of Mankind. Tel Aviv: Dvir.
  14. Kernberg O.F. (2003). Sanctioned Social Violence: A Psychoanalytic View. Part I. Int. J. Psychoanal. 84: 683-698.
  15. http://dx.doi.org/10.1516/XFVQ-LYCB-E40K-CXRF
  16. Levi P. (1947). Se questo è un uomo. Torino: Einaudi, 1976.
  17. Moscovici S. (1981). L’Age des foules. Paris: Fayard.
  18. Platta H. (2004). Zwischen zwei Fronten – immer noch? Anmerkungen zur “Kriegskinder” – Debatter und zur Rolle der 68 Generation in ihr. In: Radebold H. (Hg.), Kindheiten im Zweiten Weltkrieg und ihre Folgen. Giessen: Psychosozial-Verlag.
  19. Reicher S.D. (1987). Crowd Behaviour as Social Action. In: Turner J.C., Hogg M.A., Oakes P.J., Reicher S.D., Wetherell M.S. (eds.), Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-Categorization Theory. Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell.
  20. The Act of Killing (2003). Documentario di Oppenheimer J.
  21. Volkan V.D. (2013). Enemies on the Couch: A Psychopolitical Journey Through War and Peace. Durham, North Carolina: Pitchstone Publishing.

Robi Friedman, Sull’odio - Prevaricazione e capro espiatorio: la violenza reciproca in "GRUPPI" 1/2014, pp 19-30, DOI: 10.3280/GRU2014-001003