Universal and Local Unconsciousnesses

What is the Collective Unconscious? Put simply, it is the psychological structures of which people are, collectively, unaware. But I think there should be a distinction made between a ‘universal’ unconscious that all human share – one which Jung spoke of – and a more local or cultural one that belongs to a specific group of people.

I’ll define each by three points that describe what it is, what it does and how it is established.

Universal (genetic/archetypal) Unconscious

1. It is the repository of the human species’ experience
2. It is innate (genetic)
3. It adapts itself to the specific historical, cultural and symbolic structure of a specific human group (which takes me onto the next “collective unconscious”)

Local (cultural/social/stereotypical) Unconscious

1. It is the collection of unquestioned assumptions (values, habits, etc.) of a human group.
2. It establishes itself early in life through our social experiences and reinforces itself through our social environment.
3. It ensures the conformity of beliefs, behavior and identity of a human group.

This is something I touched on long ago on my other blog The Grove of Quotes: Archetypes, Stereotypes and the Collective Unconscious. It’s certainly a theme that’s always interested me, and I my return to this again in the future, possibly with how they relate to ‘Individuation’.