Cain and Abel: a study of the societal dynamics of ethnic conflict

Abstract

The Irish Institute for Psycho‐Social Studies (IIPSS), founded in late 1994, has involved psychoanalysts, sociologists, groups analysts and politicians in the search for new ways to address protracted ethnic conflict. A new hybrid sociological/psychoanalytic methodology, involving a ‘resonant study group’ practising ‘resonant focus groups’ seems appropriate to address a broad spectrum of societal ills. Preliminary results suggest the presence of unconscious structures in ethnic entities not unlike those in individuals, and unconscious ethnic dynamics similar to those between individuals.