Richard Koenigsberg’s The Psychoanalysis of Racism, Revolution and Nationalism provides profound insight into the nature and meaning of nationalism, an ideology we often take for granted—so completely does it permeate our lives.

A limited number of copies remain in our Amazon warehouse, on sale at the special rate of $7.95 for the paperbound version (list $24.95), and $11.95 for the hardcover (list $34.95). Please click through to Amazon now to take advantage of this opportunity

Koenigsberg’s book deconstructs this “dominant discourse”—by uncovering the fantasies and desires that compel us to fall under this ideology’s spell.

Please order immediately to make certain you obtain your copy.

IF YOU DO NOT LOCATE A COPY OF PSYCHOANALYSIS OF RACISM WHEN YOU CLICK THROUGH TO AMAZON, WE APOLOGIZE. This is because we have sold out.

Introduction to Chapter I:
“THE COUNTRY, THE MOTHER, AND INFANTILE NARCISSISM”

One may view the idea of the nation as a fundamental "assumption" defining how modern man perceives and experiences social reality. As people once possessed absolute faith in the reality of God, so people in contemporary societies possess absolute faith in the reality of the nation.

People differ regarding the stance taken in relation to the nation: the country may be "loved" or hated; perceived to be "healthy" or sick; "strong" or weak. Whatever stance is adopted, people are united—within the culture of nationalism—by their absolute faith in the reality of this entity, and by their belief that this entity constitutes a fundamental determinant of the nature of their daily lives.

In our view, an ideology is embraced and perpetuated—attains a degree of "power" as an element of culture—insofar as it provides a "modus operandi" for the expression and discharge of phantasies shared by human beings. The central tasks of the present work, therefore, shall be to uncover the nature of the unconscious phantasies that define and sustain the ideology of nationalism.

In this Chapter, we focus upon three core phantasies: the phantasy of the nation as a suffering mother; the phantasy of the nation as an omnipotent mother; and the nation as a projection of infantile narcissism.

Praise

“A truly bold and provocative treatise: The nation is seen as the symbolic embodiment of a communal narcissistic ego, cleansed of the 'badness' introduced by a particular class of people within a nation's boundaries whose 'removal' by whatever means is easily rationalized if goodness is to be restored. The interpretations are intriguing and illuminating, the scholarship creative and careful.”
    —Dan B. Thomas, Political Psychology (Journal).

“Koenigsberg identifies core phantasies underlying modern man's 'absolute faith in the reality of the nation.' According to nationalists' phantasy, one’s country is susceptible to disease, the source of which often is identified an alien class of people within the national body. The nationalist cure to restore the narcissistic ego consists of an 'exorcism' that removes this group from within the sickly, decaying national body. Koenigsberg's argument possesses a relentlessly propositionally Euclidean quality. A remarkably sinewy work lays a secure foundation for future work.”
    —Howard F. Stein, Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism

The Psychoanalysis of Racism, Revolution and Nationalism

Richard A. Koenigsberg

Table of Contents

I. The Country, the Mother and Infantile Narcissism

1. Introduction
2. The Country as Suffering Mother
3. The Country as Omnipotent Mother
4. The Country as a Projection of Infantile Narcissism

II. The Country as a Living Organism

1. Racism and Revolution as a Wish to Eliminate the "Disease" from Within the
   Body of the Nation
2. The Disease Within the Nation as a Projection of Malignant Internal Objects

III. Revolution as a Struggle against Passivity

1. The Struggle Against Passivity: Hitler
2. The Struggle Against Passivity: Lenin
3. The Struggle Against Passivity: Aurobindo

IV. The Social Psychology of Nationalism

1. The "National Community"
2. Totalitarianism