Group Psychology and The Analysis of The EgoFreud, Sigmund
Science
Group Psychology and The Analysis of The Ego
Freud, Sigmund
Ego (Psychology); Psychoanalysis; Social psychology
But the whole of this intolerance vanishes, temporarily or permanently,
as the result of the formation of a group, and in a group. So long as a
group formation persists or so far as it extends, individuals behave as
though they were uniform, tolerate other people's peculiarities, put
themselves on an equal level with them, and have no feeling of aversion
towards them. Such a limitation of narcissism can, according to our
theoretical views, only be produced by one factor, a libidinal tie with
other people. Love for oneself knows only one barrier--love for others,
love for objects.[37] The question will at once be raised whether
community of interest in itself, without any addition of libido, must
not necessarily lead to the toleration of other people and to
considerateness for them. This objection may be met by the reply that
nevertheless no lasting limitation of narcissism is effected in this
way, since this tolerance does not persist longer than the immediate
advantage gained from the other people's collaboration. But the
practical importance of the discussion is less than might be supposed,
for experience has shown that in cases of collaboration libidinal ties
are regularly formed between the fellow-workers which prolong and
solidify the relation between them to a point beyond what is merely
profitable. The same thing occurs in men's social relations as has
become familiar to psycho-analytic research in the course of the
development of the individual libido. The libido props itself upon the
satisfaction of the great vital needs, and chooses as its first objects
the people who have a share in that process. And in the development of
mankind as a whole, just as in individuals, love alone acts as the
civilizing factor in the sense that it brings a change from egoism to
altruism. And this is true both of the sexual love for women, with all
the obligations which it involves of sparing what women are fond of, and
also of the desexualised, sublimated homosexual love for other men,
which springs from work in common. If therefore in groups narcissistic
self-love is subject to limitations which do not operate outside them,
that is cogent evidence that the essence of a group formation consists
in a new kind of libidinal ties among the members of the group.
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