You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
January 31, 1978. A PSYCHOANALYST LOOKS AT MAN'S SOCIALITY. Samuel Atkin, M.D.
Defining sociality as a term referring to those social factors, attitudes, processes, and interactions which have been internalized into an individual's mental functioning, Dr. Atkin proposed that conscious and unconscious functioning always be understood as an integral part of a social organism. Despite the fact that social institutions express the sociality of man, psychoanalysis has neglected the study of social and cultural factors in its investigations, with the exception of a focus on the family. Sociality leads to the need to postulate a modification of instinct theory which would place concern about the life of society alongside of the self-preservative and sexual drives. Man's cathexis of social institutions should not be underestimated. Among Freud's followers, Erik Erikson is one of the few who has attempted to direct our attention to the problems of society.
Drawing on his clinical experience, Dr. Atkin suggested that narcissistic and asocial patients spend more time talking about social concerns than "healthier" patients do. He felt this implied that socially derived mental states are subjectively and unconsciously experienced as part of the pursuit of one's personal