Skip to Main Content
16
Views
4
CrossRef citations
Altmetric

Conference Presentations

“I Rebel, Therefore We Are” (Albert Camus)

New Political Thinking on Individual Responsibility for Group, Society, Culture, and Planet

Pages 101-108
Published online: 28 Dec 2017
 
Translator disclaimer

This article is an attempt to open discussion on the role of the individual, as opposed to the group, in contemporary progressive and radical politics. The phrase making a difference comes to mind. Academic ideas about the contexts and groups in which individuals operate are important yet require extensive revision. Jung’s ideas about the relationship of individuals and the social collective are useful as is Camus’ (1951/1953) book The Rebel. This article presents new thinking about individuals as fractured and broken as distinct from the autonomous unit promulgated by neoliberal thinking. Yet they remain individuals.

Additional information

Author information

Andrew Samuels

Author Biography
Andrew Samuels trained as a Jungian analyst and in his practice he now uses a blend of Jungian, humanistic, and relational psychoanalytic approaches. He is known for his work at the place where therapy and politics meet and works internationally as a political consultant. He was the elected chair of the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy and was one of the two cofounders of Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility. He also cofounded the Alliance for Counselling and Psychotherapy, which led the successful fight against statutory regulation of therapists in the United Kingdom. He is a university professor and the author of 11 books that have been translated into 21 languages. The most recent ones are Persons, Passions, Psychotherapy, Politics (2014) and A New Therapy for Politics? (2015). Andrew operates a website where he performs “rants”—unscripted talks straight to camera on a wide variety of professional, cultural, and political issues: www.andrewsamuels.com. He can be reached at 12 MiHo Apartments, 565 Caledonian Road, London N7 9RB, United Kingdom; email: .
The original version of this article was presented as a keynote address on 29 July 2015 during the International Transactional Analysis Association Conference in Sydney, Australia. A much longer and less passionate version was published in Psychotherapy and Politics International, 12(2), pp. 99–110, June 2014. The author wishes to give special thanks to Keith Tudor for his many valuable contributions.