The Psychology of Social Movements

Book excerpt: "Cantril uses the technique of phenomenological analysis to straighten out the tangle of mental contest and motivation found in the individual who is adjusting to the social world. He notes that "the principles of some social movements are 'wrong,' those of others are more nearly 'right.' Some are cruel illusions accepted by bewildered people who follow false prophets: others uncompromisingly base policies on assumptions which the psychologist knows are untrue; some would completely prohibit the search for an understanding of man and his social world; some unnecessarily destroy the capacity and talent of man in obtaining his objectives."".