Tolerating Strangers In Intolerant Times

In this interdisciplinary and wide-ranging study, Roger Kennedy looks at the roots of tolerance and intolerance as well as the role of the stranger and strangeness in provoking basic fears about our identity. He argues that a fear of a loss of attachment to one’s home might account for many prejudiced and intolerant attitudes to refugees and migrants; that basic fears about being displaced by so-called ‘strangers’ from our precious and precarious sense of a psychic home can tear communities apart, as well as lead to discrimination against those who appear to be different. Present day intolerance includes fears about the ‘hordes’ of immigrants confused with realistic fears about terrorist attacks, populist fears about loss of cultural integrity and with it a sense of powerlessness, and fearful debates about such basics as truth, including the so-called ‘post truth’ issue. Such fears, as explored in the book, mirror old arguments going back centuries to the early enlightenment thinkers and even before, when the parameters of discussion about tolerance were mainly around religious tolerance. There is urgency about addressing these kinds of issue once more at a time when the ‘ground rules’ of what makes for a civilized society seem to be under threat. Kennedy argues that society needs a ‘tolerance process’, in which critical thinking and respectful judgment can take place in an atmosphere of debate and reasonably open communication, when issues around what can and cannot be tolerated about different beliefs, practices and attitudes in people in our own and other cultures, are examined and debated. Tolerating Strangers in Intolerant Times, with the help of psychoanalytic, literary, social and political thinking, looks at what such a tolerance process could look like in a world increasingly prone to intolerance and prejudice. It will appeal to psychoanalysts as well as scholars of politics and philosophy.

Roger Kennedy has written a masterful investigation into the concept of evil. He begins with a general view of the subject before moving into more detailed analysis. First is a review of the science of evil, including evidence from neuroscience and social psychology. This is followed by psychoanalytical studies of the individual and groups before presenting an overview of the philosophy of evil. Also included are historical and social studies which inform an understanding of evil in action. Kennedy goes on to examine the nature of genocide using a main focus on the Holocaust and of slavery. Both of these "journeys to evil" remain relevant for understanding contemporary society and issues. The Nazi past continues to disturb and resonate decades on. The politics and social fabric of Western society was reliant on slavery as a foundation of economic wealth and is haunted by its inability to process the harsh reality of slavery and its continuing after-effects. Kennedy moves from there to a discussion on the genius of Shakespeare and his encapsulation of the essential features of how evil can develop and take over a person's inner world. The book concludes with a summary of the main themes and a look at those who have resisted evil and what we can learn from them if we are to build a society that can resist the forces of evil. The book is informed by a psychoanalytic approach, with its emphasis on the power and influence of unconscious processes underlying human actions, and on the role of inner conflicting and elemental fears and anxieties often driving individual and group behaviours. It brings fresh insight to an eternal discourse.

How are unwarranted dislikes and prejudices portrayed in the works of Shakespeare and to what extent does Shakespeare differ from his contemporaries in their portrayal? What can we learn about Shakespeare's times and our own through a close reading of prejudice depicted in his plays? In this study, B. J. Sokol examines what King Edward in Henry VI Part III calls 'your scorns and mislike' (4.1.23) – the unfounded prejudices depicted in Shakespeare's works and targeted at five distinct areas: education, the arts, peace, 'strangers' or outsiders and sexual love. Through a close reading of his plays, comparison with the works of other Elizabethan writers and a consideration of Shakespeare's social environment, this study provides a detailed appreciation of Shakespeare's dramatic method and his insights into the psychological motivations behind the prejudices portrayed. Presenting Shakespeare's prejudice against education, Sokol examines numerous representations of pupils, teachers and schooling, focusing on anti-educational prejudices in The Merry Wives of Windsor and in King Henry VI Part 2. The distaste of characters for art is considered alongside Shakespeare's repeated depiction of the destructive downgrading of the arts that erupts during political upheavals, while prejudice against peaceful living is traced in Shakespeare's various portrayals of 'honour'-driven feuding, such as in Romeo and Juliet, and in warrior characters such as Coriolanus. Prejudice against strangers as depicted in plays including Titus Andronicus, Othello and The Merchant of Venice is contrasted with that of plays by his contemporaries, including Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta. A final chapter examines prejudice against sex and the representation of many male and female characters who evade the erotic, subordinate the erotic to power seeking, or regard their own or others' erotic attachments with revulsion.

Traumatic events happen in every age, yet there is a particularly cataclysmic feeling to our own epoch that is so attractive to some and so terrifying to others. The terrible events of September 11th 2001 still resonate and the repercussions continue to this day: the desperation of immigrants fleeing terror, the uncertainty of Brexit, Donald Trump in the White House, the rise of the alt-right and hard left, increasing fundamentalism, and terror groups intent on causing destruction to the Western way of life. If that were not enough, we also have to grapple with the enormity of climate change and the charge that if we do not act now, it will be too late. Is it any wonder many are left overwhelmed by the events they see on the news? Galvanised by the events outside of his consulting room, in 2015, David Morgan began The Political Mind seminars at the British Psychoanalytical Society and their successful run continues today. A series of superlative seminars, mostly presented by colleagues from the British Society plus a few select external experts, that examine a dazzling array of relevant topics to provide a psychoanalytic understanding of just what is going on in our world. This book is the first in The Political Mind series to bring these seminars to a wider audience. The Unconscious in Political and Social Life contains compelling contributions from Christopher Bollas, Michael Rustin, Jonathan Sklar, David Bell, Philip Stokoe, Roger Kennedy, David Morgan, M. Fakhry Davids, Ruth McCall, R. D. Hinshelwood, Renée Danziger, Josh Cohen, Sally Weintrobe, and Margot Waddell. They investigate so many vital issues affecting us today: the evolution of democracy, right-wing populism, prejudice, the rise of the far right, attitudes to refugees and migrants, neoliberalism, fundamentalism, terrorism, the Palestine-Israel situation, political change, feminism, austerity in the UK, financial globalisation, and climate change. This book needs to be read by all who are concerned by the state of the world today. Psychoanalysis and psychoanalysts with their awareness of what motivates human beings bring clarity and fresh insight to these matters. A deeper understanding of humanity awaits the reader of The Unconscious in Political and Social Life.

The immigration problem, which has been debated in the United States for over a century, is not likely to go away--least of all with the numbers of refugees and displaced and impoverished workers continuing to mount worldwide. The current bitterness and legislative stalemate over immigration policy are indications that new approaches to the issue need to be found. Removing himself from the specifics of the current congressional debate, Mark Gibney asks whether we are addressing the right questions and employing the correct criteria under our present admission practices. From a political-philosophical standpoint, the author looks at the fundamental social and moral questions that should be at the basis of any immigration policy: how do we distinguish between members and strangers, and do some strangers have more compelling claims than others for admission to this country?

This book reviews an often-forgotten aspect of history, that is, the culture, beliefs, politics, and events in the Jewish community several centuries before and after the life of Jesus Christ. It tells about the Roman political system, the representation of the Jewish political parties, the messianic movements, and the Greek and Jewish literature, including Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha.

Interrogating Xenophobia and Nativism in Twenty-First-Century Africa interrogates xenophobia and nativism in Africa and how they hamper the realisation of Pan-Africanism. The contributors examine migration in Africa, immigration policies and politics, and the social impacts and history of xenophobia and nativism in African life and culture. Through their analyses, the contributors explore how xenophobia and nativism have impacted the Pan-Africanism movement. The book also offers suggestions for reducing xenophobia and nativism in Africa, including bettering immigration policies and creating socioeconomic structures that would enrich the public and help prevent the pervasive belief that immigrants usurp limited opportunities for the poor in the countries they immigrate to.

Sedition refers to the uttering or writing of words intended to bring the sovereign state into hatred or contempt, to urge disaffection against the Constitution or democratically elected government, or the attempt to procure change in government by unlawful means. Modern sedition laws, such as those enacted in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and The Council of Europe target types of speech advocating violence against the state, in the form of religious sermons preaching violent jihad or glorifying acts of terrorism, although they have the potential to cover much more than this. For this reason, the modernisation of sedition laws renewed debate about the status of free speech and religious expression in a time of so-called terror. This book will look at the issue of sedition by providing an explanatorily account of the relation between speech and action using speech act theory as developed by J.L. Austin and applying this to the task of developing a defence of freedom of speech as a qualified right. This book contributes to the debate over the contested status of freedom of speech that sedition laws give rise to by filling in the explanatory gaps in our current understanding of the value of free speech as a qualified right. It provides arguments that go beyond the traditional parameters of the debate by exploring, in significant detail, the ways in which speech is also conduct, the ways in which it can harm the social interest, and why, for these reasons, sedition might be defensible, but also suggest ways in which their scope could be limited to ensure that such laws are not open to abuse.