Overview
- Focuses on a little researched area - certainty, rather than uncertainty
- Has implications for research on identity formation, political commitment, racism and prejudice
- Brings the work of Karl Figlio together in one place
- Includes a variety of empirical data ranging from clinical case studies to ethnographic and historical evidence
Part of the book series: Studies in the Psychosocial (STIP)
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Table of contents (10 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book explores the concept of certainty, a term which is widely used in everyday language to designate a psychological experience or feeling but is rarely considered controversial or politically charged. The Feeling of Certainty argues that conversely this most ordinary of feelings plays a key role in shaping identity formation, social exclusion, prejudice, and commitment to political causes. The authors question what it means for the subject to feel certainty about her or his relationships to self and others. From where does the feeling of certainty originate, and how does it differ from modes of thought that are open to scepticism about the order of things? They draw on a wide range of theories, including those of Freud, Klein, Lacan, Wittgenstein, Bion, and Jung, challenging readers to consider the world of ideologies, symbols, and stereotypes in which certainty is entrenched, as well as the inter- and intra-psychic processes and defence mechanisms which form the unconsciousfoundation of the experience of certainty. This collection will offer valuable insight to scholars of psychology, politics, social science and history.
Reviews
Editors and Affiliations
About the editors
Nikolay Mintchev is a research associate at the Institute for Global Prosperity, University College London, UK and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, UK, where he was previously a lecturer. He specialises in ethnic diversity, social transformation and psychosocial approaches to identity and difference.
R. D. Hinshelwood is a professor in the Centre for Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex, and previously Clinical Director at The Cassel Hospital, London, UK. He is a Fellow of the British Psychoanalytical Society, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He authored A Dictionary of Kleinian Thought (1989) and other books and articles on Kleinian psychoanalysis. He has an interest in how psychoanalysis may contribute to social and political science.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Feeling of Certainty
Book Subtitle: Psychosocial Perspectives on Identity and Difference
Editors: Nikolay Mintchev, R. D. Hinshelwood
Series Title: Studies in the Psychosocial
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57717-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and Psychology, Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-57716-6Published: 20 November 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-86231-6Published: 23 August 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-57717-3Published: 09 November 2017
Series ISSN: 2662-2629
Series E-ISSN: 2662-2637
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 194
Topics: Personality and Social Psychology, Self and Identity, Political Sociology, Sociology of Racism