About the Book
Drawing on over four decades of professional and academic experience, Susan Long explores how the concept of the unconscious has evolved from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, showing that it is more than an individual phenomenon, but also a group, organisational and institutional phenomena.
Each chapter examines theories that use the idea of the unconscious, first covering the work of Schelling, Freud, Bion, and Lacan. After examining traditional psychoanalytic ethos, the author takes a look at the mid-twentieth century extension of the meaning of the unconscious towards the social field. Here, she explores three main traditional categories of approaches: the Neo-Freudians, the Frankfurt School and social scientists, historians and anthropologists. The book also covers the idea of approaching the unconscious from the perspective of the neurosciences, as well as its connections with nature, showing a broader, more cosmic view of the unconscious in nature and the universe. Lastly, Long looks at how we might understand today’s organisations and society through the lens of the changing ideas presented throughout the book.
Broad sweeping and accessible, this book is a valuable resource for organisational psychologists, consultants, and managers exploring psychoanalytic and socioanalytic approaches, as well as those in academic settings wanting to pursue an interest in the unconscious.
Table of Contents:
1. Introduction 2. Schelling – The Beginnings 3. Freud – The Repressed Unconscious 4. Bion – The Infinite Unconscious 5. Lacan – The Unconscious Structured like a Language is Structured 6. The Unconscious in Social Theory 7. The Social Unconscious 8. The Unconscious in Organisations 9. The Unconscious in Neuropsychoanalysis 10. The Unconscious in Nature 11. The Spirit in Things 12. Theories of the Unconscious Revisited in the Light of Spirit
About the Author :
Susan Long is Emeritus Professor and PhD Co-Lead at the National Institute of Organisation Dynamics Australia (NIODA). She has more than four decades experience teaching psychoanalytic and socioanalytic approaches to managers, organisational consultants, organisational psychologists and other professionals.
Review :
“Professor Susan Long opens a portal for a new generation of leaders and scholars to appreciate an old idea that was overlooked at best and misunderstood at worst. Her capacity to understand and explain in a digestible form such a complex idea and its evolution over time is testimony to her unique scholarly gifts. She invites the reader to encounter perspectives and narratives in new ways.
From Schelling to Freud and out into the realm of the spirit - this book is a tour de force. The Unconscious and its evolution is a timely study - as the world collapses under its own weight of greed and toxic polarisation, this text offers those with a curiosity about the human condition a window on where we have been and where we could go next. The reconnection of the Unconscious with the Spirit is a bold a radical act - and timely! It is a courageous exposition that re-situates the Unconscious and our current world in profound entanglement that has quantum opportunities for the human species and its relationship to life. This is a creative and scholarly contribution to a field that is struggling to find its way in the emerging age of Artificial Intelligence.”
Dr Leslie Brissett, formerly of the Tavistock Institute, St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, UK and Dumas, Arkansas, USA
"Susan Long lives in the spaces between us, uncovering the hidden connections that link our unconscious minds, each other, and the world around us. In this moving exploration, she guides us through the ideas of various clinical and social theorists, offering an engaging and accessible journey toward a moving and thought-provoking synthesis. For anyone seeking to better understand the complexities of human experience, I highly recommend joining her on this illuminating journey."
Edward R. Shapiro, MD, author, Finding a Place to Stand: Developing Self-Reflective Institutions, Leaders, and Citizens (Phoenix, 2020).
“This landmark book on the unconscious will help you in navigating the endless seas of human reality, with all its mysteries and challenges. The unconscious as a source, an ally and compass, for making sense and better choices.”
Erik van de Loo, psychoanalyst, affiliate professor of organizational behavior, at business school INSEAD
"This dazzling tour de force reminds us (once again) why Long is a leading thinker and theorist about the sources of meaning, passion, creativity and destructiveness that reside below the surface of our consciousness. And, of course, how these forces shape our thinking and behavior. She traces the history of the idea as it evolved through the work of major theorists in a clear, concise, and engaging fashion. While accessible, it is far from simplistic. As an intellectual history, it is valuable in its own right. Yet there is another, intriguing and wonderful side to the book. While each chapter takes us through different thinker’s perspective on the unconscious, she shows how each viewpoint served as a tributary to her own intellectual development. It is, itself, a beautiful illustration of the interplay of the social and personal, which she seamlessly knits together in her uniquely reflective voice."
James Krantz, PhD, Distinguished Member, International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations; Faculty - INSEAD and Higher School of Economics (Moscow)
