The Genocide Principle

Perspectives from Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Sociology
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-032-91367-4
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 156 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

This book explores how and why genocide is a trans-cultural and trans-historical phenomenon, reflects the unconscious processes that drive human nature, and draws broadly on psychoanalytic theory, and on social science and philosophical perspectives.

Using Bass’s own research on genocide and his considerable clinical psychoanalytic experience, the book examines what it is within us that leads us to see some people or groups as ‘other’, what we project on to these groups, how we can come to dehumanise them, and how mass murder can become a purportedly ethical imperative. Using real-life examples, it explores the question of what genocide says about us individually and collectively, how apparently ‘normal’ people can take part in genocide.

Tackling one of the most important topics of our time, this is key reading for all psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, and for philosophers, social scientists, and psychologists.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Professional Reference

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bass, Alan

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie: Allgemeines, Methoden
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Psychologische Theorie, Psychoanalyse Psychoanalyse (S. Freud)

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction Chapter 1: Kiernan on History Chapter 2: Bauman on the Holocaust Chapter 3: Foucault on State Racism Chapter 4: Weisband on the “Macabresque” Chapter 5: Waller on Group Phenomena Chapter 6: Charny on the Cancer Metaphor Chapter 7: Moses on Permanent Security Chapter 8: Semelin on Purification and Destruction Chapter 9: Derrida on Sovereignty, Cruelty, and Oneness References

Über Autor(innen)

Alan Bass, Ph.D. is a psychoanalyst practicing in New York City and is on the graduate philosophy faculty of The New School for Social Research. He is the author of three previous books, many articles, and the translator of four books by Jacques Derrida.