When cruelty becomes culture
Two Tavistock Education and Training staff will speak at the Institute of Psychoanalysis’s Political Minds Summer Series on Tuesday 16 June
Two Tavistock Education and Training staff will speak at the Institute of Psychoanalysis’s Political Minds Summer Series on Tuesday 16 June.
Dr Anna Harvey, Senior Lecturer on the Professional Doctorate in Social Work and Social Care (D55), and Mark Freestone, Chief Education and Training Officer, will join an international panel exploring the theme: The culture of the cruel.
They will speak alongside internationally renowned psychoanalyst Mark J. Goldblatt, Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and Professor Fanny Guglielmucci, from Tre Roma University.
The title of the seminar is drawn from a forthcoming paper, Culture of Cruel, co-authored by Dr Harvey and Dr Goldblatt. The paper explores how cruelty can take root in individuals, groups and societies when people lose the capacity for compromise, empathy and reality-testing.
It argues that, rather than facing difficult feelings such as fear, shame or grievance, people may project them onto others — including migrants, minorities, political opponents or other nations. This can create a dangerous form of black-and-white thinking, where one group is seen as entirely good and another as entirely bad.
When reinforced by group dynamics and political leaders, these processes can fuel sadism, authoritarianism and violence. The authors suggest that the antidote lies in restoring dialogue, truth, responsibility and the ability to hold more than one perspective at once.
Dr Harvey said: “This is a very topical subject about the dynamics between internal and external destructive processes.
“I am so pleased to be on the panel, firstly because I created the concept for the talk and have worked closely with the seminar series chair, David Morgan, but also because I hope to foster a greater relationship between two great institutes.
“Politics is also a key consideration in a psychosocial approach to social work, where wider forces shape how we experience our work. The rise in cruelty we are seeing in culture is fostered by those in power to bolster more power.
“We must use our voice and privilege to understand why people may be attracted to polarising politics, to offer alternative ways of understanding where grievance may be coming from, and to counter the propaganda behind the politics of populism.”
According to Dr Harvey, this may be the first time Tavistock Education and Training has been invited to speak at the Institute of Psychoanalysis in this way, marking a significant moment for both organisations.
The seminar is expected to attract doctoral students and practitioners from across the world, including students on our Professional Doctorate in Social Work and Social Care.
The course was co-founded by Steve Briggs, Clare Parkinson and Andrew Cooper, and continues to support practitioners to think deeply about the links between social work, social care, psychoanalysis and wider social and political life.