ABSTRACT
Previous chapters outlined Honneth’s description of recognition in light of the notion of ‘reciprocated confidences’ and the ‘reciprocally constitutive’. A strategy was developed whereby Honneth’s application of object-relations theory to the concept of recognition could be reinforced through the self-psychology of Heinz Kohut, and in particular Kohut’s pathology of narcissistic success and failure. This chapter elaborates the depth dimension of that approach, by expanding on self-realisation as a psychosocial phenomenon that hinges upon the recognitive principle of mutuality. This is achieved through discussion of R. D. Laing’s existential approach to personality, as well as classical and post-Jungian thinking on persona. From here, the chapter engages a specific derivation of the term ‘complex’ from Jungian depth psychology to explore the intricacies of authenticity as a recognitive notion in social media interactions. The complex in this sense brings together the building blocks of the psyche, often experienced as partial personalities in the Jungian terminology, but in addition raises the question of ‘cultural complexes’ as constellations of psychic and social space interacting and mutually impacting. What follows is an original contribution to the understanding of the psychology of online interaction, within a framework that might describe social media as a false-self system.
