James R Fisher

"mirror of the Psyche" James R Fisher

Eric Hoffer's classic "The True Believer" (1951) anticipated the "terrible 60s" where misfits and fanatics sought escape from personal frustration by joining social, political, or religious mass movements. Social psychologist James R. Fisher, Jr. sees the "spoiled brat" generation (children born between 1945 and 1965) spawning subsequent generations as a "Mirror of the Psyche" to result in collapsing American individualism and freedom consistent with Hoffer's herd mentality prognosis. Hoffer's "true believers" are consumed with self-loathing and compensate for this weakened identity by depositing their fanaticism in some crusade or "holy cause." This study of Eric Hoffer's writings attempts to show the 21st century mirrors the 20th century as mass movements are now sponsored pragmatically by the corporate society. Without hesitation, it has entered the void created by the ambiguous retreat of society from individualism and freedom into a new style of dependence. The Fisher Paradigm(c)(TM) here represents an escape from A Sense of Self, A Sense of Place & Space, and A Sense of Self-Worth for the security of collective identity, but at the expense of personal pride, self-confidence, and purpose as everything is subsumed under corporate goals. This study of the Hoffer-Fisher exchange suggests societal revitalization is dependent on the health of the geography of our thought which is always a tick away from putting us back on track.