From homo sapience to homo communis: Belongingness, personality development, and social evolution
In 1935, Alfred Adler wrote, “The feeling of belongingness, the social interest, takes root in the psyche of the child and leaves the individual only under the severest pathological changes of his mental life.” The lecture addresses the origins and the development of the fundamental tenet of belongingness in Adlerian psychology, the uniqueness of that tenet in Adlerian psychology, and its role in personality development and social evolution. Mental health implications of belongingness, underdeveloped, and misguided belongingness will be considered on all systems levels - from individual to familial, societal, and global. A topic of dictatorship, from an Adlerian perspective, is considered. The Bluvshtein Lecture is an annual series on the Adlerian concept of belongingness. The series was established in Dr. Marina Bluvshtein's honor through an endowment gift from the Simmerling Epting Charitable Fund.