Erosion von Struktur und Gewissheit – zur politischen Psychologie des gesellschaftlichen Klimawandels

Abstract

Summary Erosion of Structure and Common Ground – the Political Psychology of the Social Climate Change Recent successes of radical nationalist movements have lead to a shift within the political culture. Aggression, malice and devaluation pose a threat to the political discourse. With the support of well-known intellectuals and politicians the issues of the new-right could win the water: namely fear of foreign infiltration, concern about security and a „Germany first“-attitude. Moral outrage and devaluation obstruct epistemic insight into this development. The right-wing populist self-victimizing must be taken seriously. Findings in social sciences regarding the erosion of structures in the working environment, of social attachment and common ground give insight in the new-right’s focus on people’s anxieties and disappointment. The new right answers with the double promise of security and attachment and a licence to live their resentments and revenge impulses. Who tries to connect in his theoretical thinking actual social problems with people’s mental processing and the political shift to he right moves himself in a difficult territory with some risk of trivializing. But an interdisciplinary understanding of this dangerous situation is urgently needed. Psychoanalysis can contribute its experience in dealing with destructive phantasies and counter-transference processes influencing our concepts about this development.