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This collection of essays examines the way complexes and archetypes manifest in the particulars of our personal and social lives. Through theoretical chapters and practical case analyses, the book s authors provide key insights which address questions of personal identity, gender in the psyche, individuation in the unmarried, to have or not to have children, the mythical dimensions of university unrest, as well as the psychological significance of video games, pop culture icons, and declining rates of participation in organized religion. This important contribution to the emerging field of Jungian psycho-social studies shows how complexes and archetypes remain relevant to a society which is profoundly different from Jung s own.
List of contents
Chapter 1. Confronting Archetypes Through the Complex.- Part I The Nature and Importance of Complexes.- Chapter 2. The Importance of the Complex in Modern Psychology: Toppling Two Dominant Models of the Psyche.- Chapter 3. The Role of Complex Personification in Facilitating Self-Knowledge.- Chapter 4. Jung s Structure of the Psyche in Modern Perspective.- Part II Jungian Psycho-Social Case Analyses.- Chapter 5. Pop-Culture Pantheon: Cultural Figures as Archetypal Expressions.- Chapter 6. Archetypal Play: Contemporary Video Gaming as a Playground for Interactive Individuation.- Chapter 7. Seeking a Soulmate as a Path Toward Individuation.- Chapter 8. Anima and Animus in Jung s Time and Ours.- Chapter 9. The Child Within and the Child Without: Parenting, the Childfree, and Individuation.- Chapter 10. Encountering the Archetypes Through Sacred Practices.- Chapter 11. The Angry Gods of the Modern Academy: An Anatomy of Possession.- Chapter 12. Implications of the Work, Remaining Questions, and Directions for the Future.
About the author
James J. Dillon is Professor of Psychology at the University of West Georgia, USA. He has authored several books including Teaching Psychology and the Socratic Method (2016), Inside Today’s Elementary Schools (2019), The Joy of Duty: Human Happiness and Ethical Obligation (2022), as well as many professional research articles.
