Collapsing boundaries and the turmoil of the public sphere

Abstract

While psychoanalysis is usually associated with the individual level of analysis and the psychotherapeutic process, we should recall Freud’s deep interest in the public sphere to understand the sources of the deep feeling of discontent which characterizes the western society and constructively seeking for solutions. Indeed, a process of affectivation of the public sphere (Salvatore et al., 2021) can be recognised at the ground of the crisis, which brings us back to the difference between primary and secondary processes. Questioning how the adoption of psychoanalytic lens on a collective scale of analysis may be translate into constructive actions to face the socio-institutional turmoil represents a challenge for research and intervention that cannot be postponed.