Psychohistory
- Not to be confused with psychohistory (fiction by Isaac Asimov)
The psychohistory studied historical events of the distant and immediate past by the psychology and psychoanalysis . Their position in the systematics of the social sciences is controversial.
While conventional history is strongly descriptive oriented, psychohistory primarily deals with the motivational aspects of historical (and contemporary) processes. The reconstruction of conscious and unconscious motives of historical subjects is therefore important.
Origins
Sigmund Freud's student Ludwig Jekels published the first psychohistorical work in 1914 with the study The turning point in the life of Napoleon I. Freud himself already thought psychohistorically and wrote corresponding works, including z. B. The Future of an Illusion (1927), The Uneasiness in Culture (1930), and The Man Moses (1939). He also worked with William C. Bullitt on a psychobiographical study of American President Woodrow Wilson .
The first academic elaboration of psychohistory following Freud's theories can be found in Erik Erikson's book Young Man Luther: A Study in Psychoanalysis and History (1958), in which the author searches for a science with which one can examine the consequences of the life of individuals Can examine history. This was preceded by numerous biographically oriented studies by Freud himself and other psychoanalysts (e.g. Marie Bonaparte ). During the 1960s , Erikson, along with Robert Lifton and Bruce Mazlish, formed the Wellfleet Group , a project sponsored by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to define psychohistory as a field of research. Lifton later did significant work on the causes and effects of war crimes .
Lloyd deMause is a pioneer in psychohistory and still has great influence in the field. Psychohistorical aspects can be found in the works of Alice Miller , Julian Jaynes, and August Nitschke , although they are rarely referred to as psychohistorians.
Areas
Psychohistory is conceived differently by the various authors. Lloyd deMause highlights three central research areas that are interrelated:
- Childhood story
Description and explanation of the historical change of central childhood conditions and their effects on the historically specific psyches of children.
- Psychobiography
Investigation of motivations of historical (also contemporary) individuals, above all of political actors, but also of artists or other sources that can be identified.
- Group psychohistory
Investigation of the motivations of groups (or societies), whereby the emotional situation in particular becomes the object of the reconstruction.
All three areas deal with the conscious experience of historical persons as well as unconscious fantasies of historical subjects or the latent meaning structure of historical structures (religious, political and artistic).
See also
- Mentality history
- Ethnic Psychology
- Psychopathography of Adolf Hitler , Psychopathographie Caspar David Friedrich
- War children , war grandchildren
literature
- Lloyd deMause : What is psychohistory? A foundation. Edited by Artur R. Boelderl and Ludwig Janus . Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2000, ISBN 3-932133-64-1 .
- Sigmund Freud: Introduction to: Sigmund Freud, William C. Bullitt: Thomas Woodrow Wilson. Twenty-eighth President of the United States. A Psychological Study. Houghton Mifflin et al., Boston MA et al. 1967. ** Contained in: Sigmund Freud: Gesammelte Werke. Supplementary volume: Texts from the years 1885–1938. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1987, ISBN 3-10-022805-7 , pp. 686-692.
- Ralph Frenken, Martin Rheinheimer (Ed.): The Psychohistory of Experience (= Psychohistorische Forschungen. Vol. 2). Oetker-Voges, Kiel 2000, ISBN 3-9804322-8-9 .
- Friedhelm Nyssen, Peter Jüngst (Ed.): Critique of Psychohistory. Demands and Limits of a Psychologistic Paradigm. Psychosozial-Verlag, Giessen 2003, ISBN 3-89806-222-8 .
- Yearbook for psychohistorical research. ZDB ID 2096880-2 .
- Volume 5: Ludwig Janus, Florian Galler, Winfried Kurth (eds.): Symbolism, social irrationality and psychohistory. Mattes, Heidelberg 2005, ISBN 3-930978-73-3 .
- Henry W. Lawton: The Psychohistorian's Handbook. Psychohistory Press, New York 1989.
- Peter Loewenberg: Decoding the Past: The Psychohistorical Approach. Transaction Pub, 2002.
- Jacques Szaluta: Psychohistory: Theory and Practice. Peter Lang, New York 1999.
Web links
- Psychohistory.com The Association for Psychohistory, New York, USA
- German Society for Psychohistorical Research eV