Mass psychology and psychosocial assemblies

Abstract

In the 100 years since Freud’s Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921) was published, much has changed and much has stayed the same. This article explores the resonance of Freud’s book with contemporary issues around inclusion and exclusion, masses and assemblies, and the question of how a practice of ethical relationality can emerge across a shared social terrain. Drawing on concepts from psychosocial studies and leaning especially on Judith Butler’s recent work on assemblies and on grievability, I argue that patterns of division and exclusion, notably along racialized lines, emerge from insistently violent responses to vulnerability. Understanding the intricate intersection between what are usually differentiated as ‘personal’ and ‘social’ domains in ways recognizable within group analysis, is an important move towards contesting this violence and towards a situation in which all lives become grievable.