Jung, Psychology, Postmodernity

Jung, Psychology, Postmodernity compares and contrasts Jungian and postmodern themes, exploring points of confluence, and more often, contradictions between Jungian and postmodern ideas. Throughout the book, Raya Jones examines how personal meaning emerges in human activity. Jung addresses personal meaning in terms of symbol formation, with particular attention to dreams, myths, art, and other fantasy productions. Postmodern psychologists tend to address issues of meaning in terms of peoples self-understanding and identity construction, with particular attention to self-positioning in actual conversation or to autobiographical narratives. Relevant viewpoints within postmodern psychology include social constructionism, narrative psychology, and the dialogical-self approach. The book draws a line of critical comparison with Jung's description of the symbolic dimension, myth, and the structure of the psyche, culminating with a critique of his 'psychic energy' concept, for which there is no direct counterpart in postmodern psychology.