On Globalization

Abstract

The internet site “Facebook”, in a stunningly short time, has supplied McLuhan’s “global village” with a “meeting place” and creates the potential for a global neighbourhood. All the major developments in communications technology since McLuhan have rendered the globe more of a village than it was, even in McLuhan’s day only two decades ago. But Globalization is proceeding. We need to understand its structure and dynamics just as we, as analysts, seek to understand the structure and dynamics of the human psyche to find realistic ways and means of bringing about benefits for the lives of individuals. Is there something that psychoanalysis can contribute to our understanding of the global village? Dare we hope that the global village being formed by communications technology will pacify us as it unites us?