A democracia latente em Winnicott: da maturidade psíquica à vida cívica

Abstract

Is civic maturity synonymous with civic health of citizens? From this questioning, this study aims to investigate democracy in the light of psychoanalysis. For that, I use as bibliographical reference the works of the psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott. I justify this prediction because this author examines social phenomena from the perspective of the theory of personal maturation. He assumes that democratic praxis requires the predominance of psychologically healthy members integrating the sociopolitical fabric. Therefore, a democracy would only become functional when the prosocial personalities prevail over the dissocial and antisocial individuals in the community. As there is then a greater numerical proportion of ethical personalities, a “latent democratic tendency” appears in the collective life. It would be an emotional substrate tacitly generated from the attainment of psychosocial maturity. Only then can democratic ideals be upheld as civic practices by their citizens. Otherwise, the postulates of a Democratic Rule of Law can become just a “democratic facade” or lean towards a tendency towards dictatorship. Based on this thesis that the sociological organization is influenced by the psychological health of its members, this work adopts as its object of research the study of the individual's emotional health development processes: from the roots of psychic maturity to civic life