State, community, individual - Societal and Political Psychology ...

The psycho-political sense
of the present social dynamics
The individual-society dynamics has been for
a long time the axis of the psychosocial and
political approach. Especially as the socioaffective
connections are scrambled by both
the process of economic globalization and by
the global political crisis that cross the nations
worldwide. A feeling of anxiety enters the
heart and disrupts thought.
We are in the middle of a transition period
between an agonizing modernity and a new era
in search of itself through a variety of disturbing
facts and contradictory signs.
The crisis of public debt in Western countries
(predictable but sudden) hit Europe like a
plague. This stunning repeat of the infamous
crash of 1929 shows that the free market without
regulation of the sovereign states can only
lead to the excesses of fi nancial capital and to
the “electoral” ruin of democracy. It means deliberately
introducing the law of the jungle and
the stampede (every man for himself).
The lesson of the thirties was not enough
for us. The political psychology of crises is
repeating itself. We are once again victims of
the voracity of economic oligarchies and the
cowardice of the political elites. In short, the
irrationality of the system can only lead to the
destruction of regimes, starting with the weak-
est links. It is not surprising that the Arab revolts,
which took place in 2011, have occurred
without an alternative political project, or a
democratic elite alternative. No wonder the
crowds of “outraged” people from New York
to Madrid are brandishing their anger without
being able to create the conditions for genuine
political change.
The key to understanding the present moment
is the analysis of the expectation of the
people: there is no doubt that a transformation
of economic conditions has become necessary,
but also a new life and work project. Certainly,
the crisis of moral conscience always precedes
the storming of the “Bastilles” by the masses
who must serve their political apprenticeship.
Needless to appeal to somebody’s fi ner
feelings for want of undertaking courageous
actions. Hence the importance of a burst of the
common good in the republican sense of the
word. Reconsidering our political views is a
task not only intellectual, but essentially meaningful.
For it is the whole system of beliefs and
social representations that decomposes under
our feet and before our eyes. Lucid ardor is
needed.
Lavinia Betea and Alexandre Dorna
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