Archetype, Culture, and the Individual in Education

In Archetype, Culture, and the Individual in Education: The Three Pedagogical Narratives, Clifford Mayes presents a unique approach to understanding how Jungian principles can inform pedagogical theory and practice. In a time when what the educational historian Lawrence Cremin called the ''military-industrial-educational complex'' and its standardized education are running roughshod over the psyche and spirit of students, Mayes deploys depth psychology, especially the work of Jung, to advance an archetypal approach to teaching and learning.

Mayes demonstrates how catastrophic it is to students when the classroom is governed by forces that objectify the individual in a paralysing stranglehold. He argues that one’s life-narrative is significantly impacted by one’s narrative as a learner; thus, schooling that commodifies learning and turns the student into an object has neuroticizing effects that will spread throughout that student’s entire life. In Part I, Mayes explores the interaction between archetypes and various types of time—ultimately focusing on the individual but always mediated by ‘the cultural unconscious’. In Parts II and III, he brings together education with (post-)Jungian and (post-)Freudian psychology, examining transference/countertransference in the classroom; the Jungian idea of ‘the shadow’ applied to educational processes; Jung’s unique vision of ‘the symbol’ and its importance for educational theory; and Jung’s ‘transcendent function’ as a prime educational modality. Mayes concludes by looking to the future of archetypal pedagogy.

This groundbreaking work in the emerging field of Jungian pedagogy is invaluable reading in Jungian Studies, depth psychological theory, educational theory, and for teachers and psychotherapists.