2nd Prague conference
otto fenichel
AND HIS LEGACY

Incredible advances in areas such as communication, signal and photographic intelligence, travel technologies, and expanded financial markets beyond borders have made people with different large-group identities interact to a greater degree and with greater speed. Such developments, alongside their positive aspects, have produced confrontations. The question “Who are we now?” has been globalized. After describing how large-group identities develop, the presenter explores the psychological forces that are challenging and changing large-group identity. He focuses on the role of mental representations of past historical events shared by thousands or millions of individuals in the evolution of today’s religious terrorist organizations. These terrorist organizations perform their terrible acts to bring attention to and maintain their newly formed large-group identity.