The Price of a Just Order: Psychodynamic, Group-Dynamic, and Social-Psychological Barriers to Social Justice
Published 25-06-2025
Keywords
- Social justice,
- Psychodynamic resistance,
- Group dynamics,
- Collective superego,
- Analytic attitude
Copyright (c) 2025 Treuer Tamás
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The aim of this study is to explore why contemporary theories of social justice—particularly those of John Rawls—encounter resistance in practice. The concept of justice often faces not only social and political, but also psychodynamic and social psychological obstacles.
Method: Theoretical analysis within the frameworks of psychoanalysis, critical social theory, and political philosophy. Following Rawls, the study examines the foundational concepts of justice and investigates their psychological distortions on three levels: individual, group dynamic, and societal.
Results: The paper formulates four new hypotheses regarding the psychodynamic mechanisms that hinder the realization of social justice and offers practical suggestions to address them. Special emphasis is placed on the analytic attitude as a tool for social reflection.
Conclusions: The key to achieving social justice lies not only in institutional reform, but in the reorganization of collective psychological structures. This requires the integrated application of critical psychology, analytic thinking, and symbolic cultural practices.
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