THE “SOCIAL EMBEDDEDNESS" OF THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP: DIALECTIC BETWEEN SOCIAL FEELING AND AMBITION TO SUPREMACY

Abstract

Two main adlerian concepts “wish of power” and “social feeling” look as running parallel to a couple of underlying concerns that cross all the history of sociology and continue to characterize the sociological scene, albeit in the most diverse alchemic blend. As to the first concern there is the issue of competition between individuals and/or the conflict between groups, conjugated to the individuation processes (not in the Jungian sense) within the individualist culture (autonomy from others) of modern society.
The second concern is connected to the theme of cooperation between individuals, based on a conscious or unconscious functional interdependence, variously conjugated in turn to the sense of belonging (dependency on others) and to group identification processes mediated by solidaristic culture(s).
The overall scenario is given by the history of social and cultural development (not necessarily progress) in Western society context. The social role of sociology as a mediating factor between Market and Government is a natural expression of its mainly critic and reformist orientation and its connection with Welfare problems. Doubtless Adler had a quite reformist orientation too. After those theoretical arguments the Author will report some suggestions about how sociological instrument (or a sociological orientation at least) may be useful in professional settings, concluding with an extended citation from Max Weber work on Politics as a Vocation. Weber argues about the necessity for the true political man to conciliate ethics of conviction with ethics of responsibility. This weberian insight may concern psychotherapeutic profession as well