Jung was notoriously suspicious of groups and the forces that work in them, noting that “the mental state of the people as a whole might well be compared to a psychosis.” At the same time, Jung’s thought has much to say about collective phenomena, and especially the collective phenomenon known as culture. In recent decades there has been much work extending Jung’s notion of the complex into the cultural realm in the form of cultural complexes, but what exactly do we mean when we talk about this thing called culture? How does culture relate history to mythology? How are culture and soul intertwined? And how might we gain a more sympathetic picture of group dynamics from this perspective?

Jason Sugg, MA, M Eng is a counseling intern and student in Pacifica Graduate Institute’s Depth Psychology Ph.D. program, and has a strong interest in the cultural and political applications of depth psychological theory. He also holds B.S. and M Eng degrees in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He lives in south Austin with his wife and two children.

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