Um olhar junguiano sobre as relações de amizade masculinas na atualidade

Abstract

The main goal of this paper was to understand the place of male friendship in Brazilian young men s lives. To do so, interviews were held with five participants between 20 and 30 years old, heterosexuals, graduated or graduating from college, from São Paulo s middle class. The analysis of the interviews was qualitative, based on Analytical Psychology theory. Trough the interviews, we realized that friendship is an important relation to these men. Friendship, according to the participants, offers help and protection, company, positive emotional experiences (such as acceptance, intimacy and proximity) and selfaffirmative experiences (such as loyalty, security and mutual validation). It s a symmetric relationship that has a lot in common with the fraternal bond but, different from the late, it s voluntary. It is experienced in some way throughout every person s life since it s an archetypical experience. The interviewed men describe friendship as a relationship that provides a real encounter beyond stereotyped life views and behaviors and promotes an environment of cooperation that allows the friends to go beyond the persona and reach for their totality. We understand that the participants are searching for the other, external (friend) or internal. A greater contact with the field of emotions, that was for such a long time banned from the conscious experience of masculinity, is possible because of theses relations. It seems that friendship, due to all the reasons exposed, is a way to individuation