Surplus Powerlessness: The Psychodynamics of Everyday Life and the Psychology of Individual and Social Transformation. This item is unavailable.Surplus Powerlessness: The Psychodynamics of Everyday Life and the Psychology of Individual and Social Transformation

This book argues that people make themselves more powerless than they need to be, and that this attitude...undermines one's personal effectiveness in both love and work and negates one's willingness to pursue any large-scale visions of political or social change.

Starting with a phenomenologically sophisticated account of the psychodynamics of everyday life, Dr Lerner explores the subjective experience of work, personal life and childhood, and shows how they together contribute to our perceptions of ourselves as alone and powerless. He explores the psychological appeal of conservative movements, analyzes how progressives often seem to seek isolation and defeat, and develops a psychological strategy that could be used by Democrats, labour, the peace and women's movements and others committed to democratic social change. The book constitutes a guide to self-understanding, a programme for politics and a contribution to social theory.