Clio’s Psyche Understanding the "Why" of Culture, Current Events, History, and Society Volume 6, Number 4 March, 2000 The Future of Psychohistory Psychohistory's False Start The Partial Success and Bright Rudolph Binion Prospects of Psychohistory Brandeis University Paul H. Elovitz Two premises together define psychohis- Ramapo College and the Psychohistory Forum tory: that human history all reduces to human do- As a historian, I find depictions of the fu- ings and that the reasons for human doings are ture tell me more about the past and their prognos- largely unconscious. Because it was psychoanaly- ticators, than about the future. What lies before us sis that first accessed the unconscious underside of will be built from the raw materials of the past and human doings, psychohistory began as applied psy- assembled in the cauldron of the human imagina- choanalysis. This was a false start. For one thing, tion. Thus, when I saw Star Wars in the 1970s, I it discouraged aspirant psychohistorians from thoroughly enjoyed identifying the historical raw learning the why of historic behavior from the his- materials combined with technology that made up toric record itself and encouraged them instead to the film which soon became a cultural sensation. (Continued on page 138) In publishing the political predictions of talented Twenty-First-Century Psychohistory .................... 153 IN THIS ISSUE David Lee The Future of Psychohistory Empathy, Kohut, and Intellectual History............. 154 Psychohistory's False Start ...................................................133 Vivian Rosenberg Rudolph Binion Resistance and Reconciliation............................... 156 Partial Success and Bright Prospects..................... 133 Howard F. Stein with Responses by Charles Strozier and Paul H. Elovitz Paul H. Elovitz Psychohistory 2000 and Beyond................................ 160 Freud's Understanding of Repression .................... 139 Daniel Dervin Thomas J. Scheff Interdisciplinary Futures........................................ 161 The Civilizing Process........................................... 142 Juhani Ihanus Daniel Klenbort Howard Stein: An Intellectual Odyssey ................ 162 A Psychosocial Approach to Racism..................... 143 Peter W. Petschauer Simon Clarke Holocaust Poems................................................... 172 Fathoming the Weirdness of History.....................144 Howard F. Stein Jerry S. Piven Holocaust Denial in New Zealand......................... 173 A Historiometric Perspective.................................146 Norman Simms Playing God: Roosevelt and Pearl Harbor............. 175 Keeping the Psychohistorical Flame Burning................ 148 George Victor Dreams of Infanticide I: Dancing for Dionysus .... 177 The Electronic Future of Psychohistory ................150 Robert J. Rousselle The Virtual Reality of the Web Landscape ........... 178 Reflections on the Future of Psychohistory .............. 151 Peter W. Petschauer Henry Lawton The Family Origins of Creativity .......................... 181 What Brought Me to Psychohistory ...................... 152 Book Review by Daniel Dervin Anne Dietrich Bulletin Board ....................................................... 183 Page 134 Clio’s Psyche March, 2000 colleagues, I am intrigued at how their own person- Robert Coles, and a variety of other scholars. alities, values, and voting patterns are reflected in Many early studies in the field of psychohistory their educated and often correct guesses. I assume tended to focus on Hitler, the Nazis, and Richard readers will do the same with my prognostications. Nixon. Practitioners such as Bruce Mazlish and You will find that you will learn more about the Robert Waite saw themselves as historians rather history of psychohistory than of its future. than as psychohistorians. The Harvard historian In the last millennium, in 1999 to be spe- William Langer, whose psychiatrist brother Walter cific, we invited colleagues to write about the fu- had done a classified, pioneering intelligence study ture of psychohistory and psychoanalysis in the of Adolf Hitler during World War II, in his 1957 21st century. (The large number of submissions presidential address to the American Historical As- necessitated the postponement of the psychoanaly- sociation referred to applying psychoanalysis to sis articles until the June, 2000, issue.) Potential history as the "Next Assignment." The American authors were invited to discuss the status of psy- Historical Review published some explicitly psy- chohistory in their particular discipline, institution, choanalytic, psychohistorical studies. The pioneer- and country. The issue of whether it is more ap- ing Wellfleet psychohistory group (still in exis- propriate for psychohistory to be a supplement to tence and by invitation only) was established on existing disciplines or a separate discipline was Cape Code. raised. We asked how psychohistory has fulfilled In 1976 the first national conference of its promise since William Langer's "Next Assign- psychohistorians was held at Stockton State Col- ment" presidential address to the American Histori- lege in New Jersey with much debate over the rela- cal Association in 1957, published in 1958. tionship of psychohistory to history, political sci- You will read the impressive and varied ence, psychology, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, soci- responses, some from people I had not known be- ology, and other disciplines. The organized field fore, in the 15 articles below. Academic psycholo- of psychohistory came into existence in the 1970s gist Dean Keith Simonton of the University of with the establishment of a variety of psychohis- California at Davis is a distinguished student of torical organizations in the United States. These creativity who explores his subject from a non- included the Group for the Use of Psychology in psychoanalytic background. Daniel Klenbort and I History (GUPH), the International Psychohistorical have discovered a common interest in the civilizing Association (IPA), the International Society for process. Articles by young scholars such as Anne Political Psychology (ISPP), and the Institute for Dietrich in Canada, David Lee in Europe, and Jerry Psychohistory. Today the GUPH, the IPA, and the Piven in New York were specifically invited be- ISPP have been joined by a variety of other organi- cause they represent the future of our field. My zations including the Bay State Psychohistory introduction will focus mostly on the little-known Group, the Psychohistory Forum, the Group for the history and present state of our field. Psychohistorical Study of Film, the Center for Psy- chohistorical Studies, and the University of Cali- The early practitioners of fledgling psycho- fornia Psychoanalytic Consortium. The ISPP, with history were European psychiatrists and psycho- an annual meeting in North America, Europe, or analysts who were steeped in history. They com- Asia, is quite large and consistently attracts new monly used historical examples, sometimes when leadership. The IPA has yearly, and sometimes they were trying to avoid revealing the identity of a twice-yearly, meetings in New York City, and patient known to others in their circle. Their stud- GUPH meets episodically at the American Histori- ies were usually written in technical psychoana- cal Association's annual meetings in the U.S. (The lytic language and based on theory rather than in- ISPP, the least psychoanalytically based of these depth historical research. Hitler's domination of three groups, has increasingly been embraced by continental Europe led to the dispersal of many of academic political scientists who now predominate these talented individuals to England and the in it in much the way literary scholars dominate the Americas. Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and After World War II, depth psychology and Society, founded in the 1990s by a profound concern for psychosocial issues became Lacanians.) The other groups have more frequent, well established in the United States as it built on regional, small-group meetings. some previous work of applied psychoanalysis, Last year's demise of The Psychohistory leading to the important work of Erik Erikson, Review was so distressing that it helped prompt Erich Fromm, Robert J. Lifton, Norman O. Brown, this special issue only a year after our Academia, March, 2000 Clio’s Psyche Page 135 Psychoanalysis, and Psychohistory issue. The Re- Psychohistory Review will not resume publication view was a sound academic journal. Personally, I until the year 2001. had enjoyed my association with its editor, Larry The underlying reasons for the cessation of Shiner, and was planning to submit an article on publication by The Psychohistory Review remain the origins and early usage of the words psychohis- unclear to me. Certainly, Larry Shiner's pending tory, psychohistorian, and psychohistorical. More retirement from academia is a vital part of the pic- importantly, more than 130 libraries were subscrib- ture. Several fine scholars are reported to have ing to it, which meant that the publication would volunteered to take over the editorship and have reach far more readers and ensure that it would be solicited the financial support of their colleges. I preserved as a record of a part of psychohistorical know my gut reaction was to offer my services as scholarship. an interim editor and at least one other colleague There is hope that the Review may be re- expressed the same thought. It was reported