Abstract
Although C.G. Jung’s interest in normality wavered throughout his career, it was one of the areas he identified in later life as worthy of further research. He began his career using a definition of normality which would have been the target of Foucault’s criticism, had Foucault chosen to review Jung’s work. However, Jung then evolved his thinking to a standpoint that was more aligned to Foucault’s own. Thereafter, the post Jungian concept of normality has remained relatively undeveloped by comparison with psychoanalysis and mainstream psychology. Jung’s disjecta membra on the subject suggest that, in contemporary analytical psychology, too much focus is placed on the process of individuation to the neglect of applications that consider collective processes. Also, there is potential for useful research and development into the nature of conflict between individuals and societies, and how normal people typically develop in relation to the spectrum between individuation and collectivity.
Highlights
Jung’s emphasis on the unconscious, he had some radical and important things to say about normality, the relationship between the ego and the persona, and the application of analytical psychology to the normal population
One of the common misperceptions about analytical psychology is that individuation is its central goal, e.g., the Wikipedia page on Jungian or analytical psychology explicitly states: “The overarching goal of Jungian psychology is the attainment of self through individuation” [57]
It is likely that people who seek Jungian analysis, or otherwise have a personal interest in analytical psychology, tend to be interested in their own individuation
Summary
In 1926, he introduced the word normal into the title of the first of his Two Essays [1], and in the 1930s he cited the lack of inclusion of normal psychology in Freud’s thinking as one of the main factors in their separation [2]. Jung continues by suggesting a broad range of further applications—including the humanities, religion, science, and other areas of psychology—this paper is going to focus on the “pressing problem” that he highlighted Both aspects of the problem—the individual-mass relationship and unconscious compensation—feature heavily in many of Jung’s writings about normality.
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