Group Helplessness and Rage
by Ernest S. Wolf, MD (This paper originally was delivered at the International Self-Psychology Symposium in Dreieich, Germany, May, 2001.) Our topic for tonight, the problem of group violence, is one of the most important issues facing society. Not only is this a most crucial topic for our American society but we are confronted with events that are occurring all over the globe, on all continents and in all countries. While it is obvious that the daily news pin-point the current hottest areas of conflict, such as the Middle East, the Balkans, and certain regions of Africa, there seems to be no spot on this earth that is safe from unreasoning violence. Individuals as well as groups are in danger of being destroyed. How are we to understand these phenomena? I will attempt to bring two psychoanalytic perspectives to bear on these questions. A classic Freudian view derives the anger that is being expressed in hostile actions to an instinctual drive of aggression which is mo...