Some Telling Quotes From Man in the Trap: W Reich's Psychology and Socio-Political Character Types

More coming. Nobody beats Reich when it comes to figuring out the character psychopathy of politics.

The individual character neurotic, crushed as he is by society, suffers from crippling himself; he does not usually inflict this damage on others. Therefore, one has a great deal of sympathy and compassion for him. The socio-political character also is sick, but insists on inflicting the effects of his illness on his environment by restricting and regimenting it. One understands his condition but has little tolerance for its destructiveness when it prevents others from leading satisfying lives and, in certain instances, has caused mass murders and the destruction of entire nations.

Baker, Elsworth F.. Man in the Trap (Page 189). American College of Orgonomy Press. Kindle Edition

The first socio-political pattern is what Reich termed the emotional plague. It is the necessity of certain individuals, instead of working out their own problems, to set themselves up as the standards of normality and to make their environment, and everyone in it, conform to their own inadequacy. 

The plague character as such develops where a high energy level is combined with an insuperable pelvic block. However, most people have some emotional plague in them; we are familiar enough with the unfeeling mother who cannot stand healthy functioning and proceeds to mold her infant in her own image. Cruelty, criminality, nasty gossip, resentment of other's good fortune, all are examples of plague behavior, behavior not just unhealthy , but destructive of the health of others. We can say that to the degree that an individual tries to tear down other people or control their lives, he is functioning as a plague character.

 Baker, Elsworth F.. Man in the Trap (Page 190). American College of Orgonomy Press. Kindle Edition.

 Defense against feeling may be one of two types, although both may occur in the same individual: 1) muscular contraction, where contact with the core is not lost, but sensations from it are diminished or distorted, and 2) an intellectual defense where the individual largely or wholly succeeds in losing contact with the core, enabling him to live primarily in the superficial layer of his structure. It must be remembered that this is not primarily a matter of intellectual capacity or intelligence, but rather the use of such capacity as a defense in meeting the anxieties of life. This is a later or more sophisticated means of  defense than muscular armoring. Except for the few healthy individuals, mankind may be roughly divided into these two types; that is, those who live an intellectual rather than a feeling life, and those who still maintain contact, whether true or distorted, with their basic feelings and are to a great extent ruled by them. Few are pure examples, but the vast majority belong predominantly to one group or the other. I call the two types the liberal and the conservative. In their simplest form, both are legitimate attitudes toward the world and, when represented by equal numbers, they offer a good balance in social and governmental progress. Exaggerations and distortions of either attitude bring social and political chaos.

 Baker, Elsworth F.. Man in the Trap (Page 190). American College of Orgonomy Press. Kindle Edition.

 The basic characteristics of the liberal are a tendency to intellectualism, mechanistic explanations of natural phenomena, and a collectivistic attitude toward social living. The conservative, on the other hand, tends toward a feeling attitude toward life, a mystical explanation of natural phenomena, and a selectivistic attitude toward social living.

 Baker, Elsworth F.. Man in the Trap (Page 191). American College of Orgonomy Press. Kindle Edition.

 Schematically, we can say that these are armored attitudes sitting to the right and left of the healthy or natural way of functioning. The closer to center, the nearer they approach rationality. The further they deviate, the more irrational they become, bringing in bias and distortion to defend themselves against natural living and functioning, which terrifies them. Exaggerations of the liberal are what I term the modern liberal, socialist, and communist, while exaggerations of the conservative are the extreme conservative, reactionary, and fascist.

Baker, Elsworth F.. Man in the Trap (Page 191). American College of Orgonomy Press. Kindle Edition.