Prejudice, Cultural Prejudice, and Countertransference

How do we differentiate between cultural prejudice and racism, given that these terms are often used interchangeably? Prejudice is an intrinsic attitude towards another individual which holds no logic or reasoning. Racism, on the other hand, refers to hateful discrimination of races, considering some as superior to others. This distinction suggests that, while there is an obvious link between the two, prejudice and racism cannot be considered as the same.

In his presentation Kannan Navaratnem will propose that unconscious prejudice (based on anxiety, fear, paranoia about identity and culture) and our identifications (rooted in family, community, and society), as well as the interplay between these two areas merit psychoanalytic study and understanding. He also suggests that analyst and analysand bring to their encounter not only their deeper intrapsychic conflicts and difficulties, but also socio-cultural issues of their backgrounds with which they are consciously or unconsciously preoccupied. Along with these come each other’s prejudices. The analysand is prejudiced against the analytic culture that the analyst represents, just as the analyst is prejudiced against what he/she sees as the analysand’s familial and social culture, and the pathology there. His argument is, that it is the analyst’s countertransference that works as a valuable tool for empathy, understanding, and change in relation to the prejudices in both the analyst and the analysand. He will illustrate his ideas with clinical vignettes from his analytic work.