Special Issue on Prejudice and Conflict

In this special issue of the International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, we have selected papers from the International Conference on Prejudice and Conflict, co-sponsored by our journal, the International Association for Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, and the International Psychotherapy Institute, held in Salt Lake City on December 1-4, 2005, which addressed how prejudices and conflict are closely interconnected. The collection in this issue has a subtheme, not of overt conflict resulting from prejudice, as for example, racially based wars, but rather of the ways in which stereotypes make life difficult for minority groups in a variety of cultures. Whereas overt conflict leading to war, death, and destruction is considered more newsworthy because it is terrifying and promotes a fight or flight reaction - even in those who are designated to protect us, like military personnel and politicians - with concomitant degradation of the quality and creativity of thinking, when the last word is said, it is probably the prejudices of everyday life that cause more lasting, although not so blatantly manifest, human misery.

For example, as Forrest Hamer (in press) has pointed out, the goal standard in Western cultures is White. Another recent example of commentary on such effects of prejudice was reported in the Houston Chronicle, July 2, 2006, “Jump Page” (A-21), the subtitle states: “Many black men find or must resort to exaggerated etiquette and a conservative style of dress to succeed.” One individual interviewed likens it to chess; “The rules of the game are universal: white moves first then black moves, he said, black has to respond to the moves that whites make and you take advantage when it is available.” One mother, Carol Taylors, wrote a book called The Little Black Book: Survival Commandments for Black Men, mostly filled with tips on how to deal with police: keep your hand visible; carry a camera; and don't say much, and when you do, be polite! Similar pre