Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-163).
Contents:
Acknowledgments. Bibliographic essay -- What Is the super-ego? -- Did Freud discover the super-ego? -- Super-ego's public history 1 : Nietzsche -- Super-ego's public history 2 : Arendt -- Personal history of the super-ego -- Future of the super-ego -- Super-ego dreams -- Post-modern super-ego -- Death and the super-ego -- Two : Super-ego culture -- Politics and the Super-Ego 1 : Hypnotized! -- Politics and the Super-Ego 2 : Social justice -- Politics and the super-ego 3 : The blessed and the damned -- Are the kids alright? -- Identity! -- Super-ego drugs : Adderall and amphetamines -- Internet! -- Super-ego and the sense of time -- Beauty and the super-ego -- Patriarchy and the super-ego -- Super-ego and race -- Three : Fighting back -- Crack a joke -- Get lucky -- Get Drunk -- Take a Pill -- Get Religion -- Get a Shrink 1 -- Get a Shrink 2 -- Beyond the super-ego -- Four : Embrace the ideals -- Bibliographic essay -- Acknowledgments.
Summary:
"Cancellation, scapegoating, raving on Twitter. How did the Internet, which began as a place for open thought and exchange, become a forum for cruelty and judgment? Can a whole culture become mentally ill? How do we understand and respond to this problem? Mark Edmundson views contemporary culture and discourse through Freud's concept of the super-ego, the moralistic and frequently irrational inner judge. The poet William Blake was attuned to this 'dark pressure of self-condemnation,' and Nietzsche knew its power as well. One way to mitigate (temporarily) the self-judgment of the super-ego is to aim it outward instead, judging and even punishing others for supposed infractions. Naturally these targets fight back, resulting in a cascade of bitterness and even hatred. Edmundson traces the destructive passion of the super-ego on politics, race, gender, class, education, and more, drawing on psychological studies, classroom experience, and the work of Adam Phillips and Slavoj Zizek. Edmundson proposes ways to manage the super-ego and even to transform it into an affirmative power"-- Amazon.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.