Die Vertrauenskrise in der Gesellschaft: Eine psychoanalytische Perspektive

This analysis is based on data from empirical studies about Germans’ attitudes that reveal a widespread mistrust towards the democracy as it is currently practised in Germany and the political representatives. These attitudes, which seem inappropriate and exaggerated, are reflected by employing psychoanalytical and attachment theory-based concepts. This understanding is in contrast to the explanations of socially critical authors in the tradition of the critical theory (Kritische Theorie), who ultimately blame the economic conditions for antidemocratic attitudes. Freud’s understanding of the underlying human nature in the interaction with the requirements of the outside world is taken up again and enriched with new findings coming from developmental psychology, especially Peter Fonagyʼs concept of “epistemic trust”. In this article an analogy is made between the therapist-patient relationship and the relationship between politicians and their potential voters. A “case study” from the public political communication is used to illustrate the extended understanding by using this analogy and a “treatment technique” is proposed.