Digressions on the fascist state of mind. Psychoanalytic perspectives on narcissism and ‘social‐ism’

Abstract

This paper explores some features of the theoretical and clinical problem of narcissism in the light of Bion’s model of the mind, with particular reference to the distinction between narcissism and ‘social‐ism’. This model is compared and contrasted to Jung’s speculations on the relationship between adaptation and individuation as a process implying a sense of guilt. Jung’s highlighting of the element of guilt is directly connected to his subjective experience depicted in the Red Book in the episode of the ‘Murder of the hero’. Aspects of pathological narcissism are also explored in the paper, through briefly analysing some passages of Pasolini’s movie Salò or the 120 days of Sodom.