RadioActive Psyche traces and analyzes the psychological, cultural, and historical evolution of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) 1958 "peace symbol" image, and the liberation movements associated with it. Through the frameworks of depth psychology, feminist, and critical theory, this project further examines how secret, archetype, and myth inform how, and under what conditions, the peace symbol came to operate so powerfully in relation to social movements, and how considering the collective unconscious deepens our understanding of these dynamics. radioActive Psyche uses visual hermeneutic case study to focus on the emergence and fortitude of the peace symbol as cultural object in visual discourses of the West ... -- Author's abstract.

This book builds on Robert Jay Lifton's theory of psychic numbing, and takes madness as a guiding metaphor. It shows that public perceptions of the Bomb are a kaleidoscope of ever-changing ideas and images. Recent changes in public awareness only signal new symptoms of this public madness, symptoms unwittingly fostered by the antinuclear movement. Since the newest nuclear images follow the same psychological pattern as their predecessors, they are likely to lead us deeper into nuclear madness. Chernus offers new interpretations of four major theorists int the psychology of religion—Paul Tillich, R.D. Laing, Mircea Eliade, and James Hillman—to trace the roots of nuclear madness back to the onset of modernity, when the West gained technological mastery at the price of losing religious imagination and ontological security. The author develops an interpretation of Lifton's own thought as an ontological and religious psychology. Drawing on the work of Eliade and Hillman, he goes on to suggest that madness reflects a repressed desire to transform life by opening up the floodgates of imagination. A conscious cultivation of the play of imagination can lead the way through madness to sanity and peace. But, imagination can only respond to the nuclear threat if it is acted out in a new brand of peace activism that blends pragmatic politics with psychological and religious transformation.

This engaging new book uncovers the cultural context behind the peace symbol’s emergence, its growing significance in the 1960s, and its ongoing presence in today’s worldwide grassroots and nonviolent social action protests. Since its debut in 1958, the peace symbol has become a ubiquitous presence in broadcasted images of protest and resistance, yet most citizens are unaware of the symbol’s history or psychological evolution. It is a unique modern symbol in that it is at once an omnipresent and yet entirely unknown entity. This noteworthy text engages readers in fresh and thought-provoking ways around the interdependent relationships of peace and war, recognition and secrets, symbol and chaos, and action and inaction to name a few. In this book, Rivera-Clonch brings a depth psychological analysis to Post-World War II’s escalating nuclear tensions and rhetoric and links it to today’s increasing consciousness around social injustices and nonviolent activism. This is a timely and relevant interdisciplinary case study exploring the peace symbol through the dimensions of cultural secrets and psychological shadow, nuclearized storytelling and symbology, and grassroots nonviolent social action. A Depth Psychological Study of the Peace Symbol will be of interest to Jungian and depth psychologists, as well as students and scholars of peace studies and psychology.

Dozens of states have long been capable of acquiring nuclear weapons, yet only a few have actually done so. Jacques E. C. Hymans finds that the key to this surprising historical pattern lies not in externally imposed constraints, but rather in state leaders' conceptions of the national identity. Synthesizing a wide range of scholarship from the humanities and social sciences to experimental psychology and neuroscience, Hymans builds a rigorous model of decisionmaking that links identity to emotions and ultimately to nuclear policy choices. Exhaustively researched case studies of France, India, Argentina, and Australia - two that got the bomb and two that abstained - demonstrate the value of this model while debunking common myths. This book will be invaluable to policymakers and concerned citizens who are frustrated with the frequent misjudgments of states' nuclear ambitions, and to scholars who seek a better understanding of how leaders make big foreign policy decisions.

A pioneering examination of nuclear trauma, the continuing and new nuclear peril, and the subjectivities they generate Amid resurgent calls for widespread nuclear energy and “limited nuclear war,” the populations that must live with the consequences of these decisions are increasingly insecure. The nuclear peril combined with the looming threat of climate change means that we are seeing the formation of a new kind of subjectivity: humans who are in a position of perpetual ontological insecurity. In Radioactive Ghosts, Gabriele Schwab articulates a vision of these “nuclear subjectivities” that we all live with. Focusing on the legacies of the Manhattan Project, Hiroshima, and nuclear energy politics, Radioactive Ghosts takes us on a tour of the little-seen sides of our nuclear world. Examining devastating uranium mining on Native lands, nuclear sacrifice zones, the catastrophic accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima, and the formation of a new transspecies ethics, Schwab shows how individuals threatened with extinction are creating new adaptations, defenses, and communal spaces. Ranging from personal accounts of experiences with radiation to in-depth readings of literature, film, art, and scholarly works, Schwab gives us a complex, idiosyncratic, and personal analysis of one of the most overlooked issues of our time.

Exploring the nature of nuclear war, this psychological treatise examines human reactions to nuclear disaster and accidental explosions. The discusssion is based on evidence of human fallibility that has emerged from the psychology of accidents and from research into decision-making in military and political contexts. Draws on the psychology of negotiation and conflict resolution to suggest ways in which the threat of nuclear war might be reduced.

A pioneering examination of nuclear trauma, the continuing and new nuclear peril, and the subjectivities they generate Amid resurgent calls for widespread nuclear energy and "limited nuclear war," the populations that must live with the consequences of these decisions are increasingly insecure. The nuclear peril combined with the looming threat of climate change means that we are seeing the formation of a new kind of subjectivity: humans who are in a position of perpetual ontological insecurity. In Radioactive Ghosts, Gabriele Schwab articulates a vision of these "nuclear subjectivities" that we all live with. Focusing on the legacies of the Manhattan Project, Hiroshima, and nuclear energy politics, Radioactive Ghosts takes us on a tour of the little-seen sides of our nuclear world. Examining devastating uranium mining on Native lands, nuclear sacrifice zones, the catastrophic accidents at Chernobyl and Fukushima, and the formation of a new transspecies ethics, Schwab shows how individuals threatened with extinction are creating new adaptations, defenses, and communal spaces. Ranging from personal accounts of experiences with radiation to in-depth readings of literature, film, art, and scholarly works, Schwab gives us a complex, idiosyncratic, and personal analysis of one of the most overlooked issues of our time.