Psychology of the masses in general and in politics

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A short time ago, I accepted to translate from English into German language parts of an upcoming book, it was a lot of work, but I like that sort of challenge, although I am not an examined translator. It happened that I left the introduction for last, because it was the much smaller part and written by another author. The main story was interesting, but I´d say it was “mainstream”. The introduction however was breathtaking. 

I did some research about that man of which I never heard of before and found him to be a triple nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize (2005, 2006 and 2007). His name is Vamik Volkan and he is an expert on ethno-psychoanalysis. On his own website you find his titles:  

Vamık Djemal Volkan, MD, DLFAPA, FACPsa.,  is an Emeritus Professor of  Psychiatry at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia;  an Emeritus Training and Supervising Analyst at the Washington Psychoanalytic Institute, Washington, DC. and the Senior Erik Erikson Scholar at the Institute of Education and Research of the Austen Riggs Center, Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He holds Honorary Doctoral Degrees from Kuopio University, Finland (2005) and from Ankara University, Turkey (2006).    

Let´s assume that this guy knows, what he is talking about, especially concerning the psychology of the masses. I digged deeper and found out that he was over decades involved in organizing an analyzing unofficial talks between the leaders of hostile groups especially those of Israelis and Arabs. In my following thoughts I relate strongly to some of the thesis of Vamik Volkan and if you are interested in these kind of matters I suggest strongly to read some of his books. 

I read some of his books, watched some interviews and came to some conclusions, which I want to share with you. My intention with this text is, to make the one or the other person start thinking for themselves. 

Why the understanding of the psychology of the masses is of such importance? 

In psychoanalysis there seems to be very little officially available about the helping and understanding part of mass psychology, but tons of books about exploiting these effects. Vamik Volkan used this kind of know how to make this world a better place, reinitiate peace talks, making people at least try to understand the motives and needs of their counterparts. Sadly every good thing has an opposite side. So this know how is also used by politicians and spin doctors to manipulate the masses into their own or their parties’ advantage. The politicians with the biggest bibliotheca about this topic were Hitler, Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung and some others. Even in the Sun Tzu (“The Art of War”) you´ll find a chapter about exploiting mass psychology. 

Today, manipulating the masses is called “nudging”. I suppose anybody with half a brain understands that being manipulated is not desirable. The more people understanding the basics of these psychological mass effects, the less manipulable we all will become.  

Let´s dive into trying to understand mass psychology 

Vamik Volkan uses a very understandable picture of a tent where a mass of people is gathered. The tent is oriented towards some kind of leader, or pole. Now imagine that each and every person in the tent is an individual, with his own problems, wishes, experiences and plans. But also everybody in the tent is wearing a part of the tent as a part of this clothing.
This part of the tent represents the group identity. It does not matter if this group identity is Christianity, being black, being a woman, being a white male or being a Muslim. For being understandable we have to ignore intersections in this image.
Volkan continues his image with what could represent a crisis and he states that a crisis occurs when either the leader or pole is weak or if someone (or some group) starts to throw filth on the tent. In this moment everybody in the tent is dropping their individuality and tries to “defend” or to restore the tent. 

It does not matter where you look these days, you will find this behavior everywhere on the world in almost every group. Americans, Russians, Europeans, Black Lives Matter, Muslims, Woman, Trump-Supporters, Sanders-Supporters, Clinton-Supporters, Men, actually in Germany Pegida, AfD and Leftists, Hooligans, Multi-Level-Marketing Selling Groups etc. etc.

The more someone tries, to “throw filth on the tent”, the more active, the more vehemently and also the more aggressively the group will defend their common core, "their tent". 

These in-group mass psychology effects are key to understand why people are doing what they do and also when what they are doing has little or even nothing to do with their individuality.  

Let´s have a short look at politics in this concern (no fear, this will only scratch the surface): 

Right wing politics will point out the effects of masses, but ignore for most part the individuals. Left wing politics will do as if they point out the individuality (while still adressing groups) but leave out the effects of mass psychology i their arguments for the most part and still ignoring the real individuality, even fighting it. Interestingly in doing so, both sides strengthen with their politics exactly the part, they are ignoring. Why this is so, seems to me only explainable looking at an example. 

A very actual example we can get observing the American POTUS election.
( I really will try to be objective here ). 

Looking at Trump, he discusses groups:  BLM, woman, Hispanics, Chinese, Muslims. His focus is on their group behavior, which differs supposedly strongly from their individual behavior. He is right pointing out that there is a group behavior, but also ignores  that each member of the group is an individual. Individuals will be offended by being put into a group, they don´t belong to, or they don´t want to belong to.  

Looking at Hillary, her point is mainly, how wrong Trump is by pointing out group behavior and tries to set on individuals. In her view, everybody should be treated as an individual, ignoring and in fact denying, that of course there is such a thing as group behavior. All the while she is addressing groups and is gaining votes from groups... Women will vote for her because she is a woman etc. 

Both do exactly one thing: They create groups subject to the laws of mass psychology. It is totally pointless trying to understand an individual without understanding how the group(s) will react, he is associated with. At the same time it is pointless to only look at the associated groups of an individual while ignoring that persons individuality. In fact, politics always ignore individuals, even if they say otherwise. The question for me at this point of understanding was, what can be done with this knowledge. As a "the people" we can try not to be manipulated by being associated to a certain group. But in reality this "we" is a very personal thing.

There are four conclusions I got personally out of this knowledge. 

1) I will try to see both, individuality and group behavior in others. When I talk to a person, this person is obviously an individual, but he is also part of a group. I  will try to separate his group-thinking from his individuality. Understanding the fact that there is a difference will have a big impact on my own thinking and reactions to this person. 

2)I will try to see both in myself. Separating my individual thoughts and my reactions due to a group association will hopefully help me understand myself much better. I am aware that group association is normal and probably important human behavior, but also it may be a big step for grasping SELF, to find out when the one or the other behavior locks in.   

3) When I am talked to (privately, or even through television), I will start checking which part of me is triggered by the heard message, my individuality or my group preference.

4). When I find out, that my group behaviour contradicts my individuality, then I am probably being manipulated, either from the group, or from someone who is manipulating the group. I probably should then hear closer to what my individuality is telling me. 

Thanks for reading!

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