Description
Ambivalence is itself ambivalent. It takes two contrary forms and finds resolution in two quite contrary ways. As the pervasiveness of ontological insecurity spreads across the globe, these contrary forms will compete ever more fiercely to determine the mentalities and emotions that dominate social and political relations. The outcome of this conflict will play a central role in determining the future of the world risk society. It already affects how we relate to the future, and how we act in the present, with both future and past in mind. Will norms of recognition that promote the capacity to dwell in ambivalence manage to establish themselves as the proper way to feel, think and relate, or will norms of recognition encoding psychic defences that split ambivalence predominate, thereby promoting defences against ontological insecurity that promote the friend-enemy distinction? That is the issue that confronts our global future. Will ambivalence be split into the idealised and the despised in the false hope of dissolving the ontological anxiety it provokes, or will the capacity to dwell in ambivalence modify and sublimate our emotions without denying them, by accepting and containing the complexity of our emotional responses to challenging situations and challenging relationships?
