Collective Reflexology: The Complete Edition

Canadian Psychology,  Feb 2002  by Benjafield, John

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V. M. BEKHTEREV (LLOYD H. STRICKLAND, ED., EUGENIA LOCKWOOD & ALISA LOCKWOOD, TRANS.) Collective Reflexology: The Complete Edition New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2001, 552 pages (ISBN 0-7658-0009-8, US$59.95, Hardcover) Reviewed by JOHN BENJAFIELD

In 1994, a translation of the first part of Bekhterev's Collective Reflexology was published. Although the original work appeared in 1921, reviewers found the new translation to be not only of historical interest but also of contemporary relevance. One reviewer went so far as to argue that Bekhterev should not only "be read by all graduate students and faculty," but that they should consider "renouncing their degrees until such time as they can document that they know at least half the psychology intuited and induced" by Bekhterev (Rumbaugh, 1996, p. 641). In 1998, a translation of Bekhterev's Suggestion and its role in social life became available. A reviewer of that work was "struck, and somewhat chastened, by the contemporary relevance of the material" (Bakhurst, 2001). Bekhterev (1857-1927) is a formidable figure, and his work continues to deserve careful study.

Now, thanks to the efforts of Lloyd Strickland and the translators, we have the complete edition of the Collective Reflexology. As far as is evident, Part 1, which takes up the first 270 pages, is identical to that which has previously been reviewed (Rumbaugh, 1996; Tolman, 1997), and readers should consult those reviews for a sense of the richness of that material. As Tolman (1997) observed, Bekhterev was a "neutral monist," believing that mind and body were not separate substances, but two aspects of the same reality. For Bekhterev, the underlying reality was "energy," and all phenomena come about due to changing patterns of energy distribution. "[A]11 the external characteristics and manifestations of an individual [are] the result of the energy he accumulates with the processes of birth, nourishment and the influence of `external factors"' (Bekhterev, 1921/2001, p. 289). The reflex is the basic mechanism by which energy is transformed, and as such is a completely general concept, allowing us to understand the process of energy transformation at all levels from the individual to the collective.

Bekhterev's view of the individual as a system of energy transformation and exchange has obvious affinities with Freud's views. Indeed, in his foreword to Part 2, Strickland (pp. 278-281) notes that Bekhterev himself was aware of this similarity. However, Behterev attempted to distinguish himself from Freud in several ways, most notably by claiming to be more "objective" in his approach. For Bekhterev, the objective study of the mind meant observing its products (e.g., speech, social affiliation).

Part 2 of the work under review is a systematic application of laws, primarily drawn from physics, to what Bekhterev calls the "supraorganic" or social world. He begins by showing how the law of conservation of energy works in a collectivity. "It is possible to apply to the performance of collective work the parallelogram of forces used in mechanics, namely the result of action is manifested in a certain direction, and is equal to all efforts made by the separate individuals participating in a given collective work" (p. 292). Now, this all sounds "objective," but it must be said that we are never given an explicit diagram of forces of the sort one would expect if what Bekhterev was doing was a genuine form of mechanics. One often has the impression that the laws of (mainly 19th century) mechanics are simply being applied metaphorically to social phenomena. Other "laws" are presented in sequence, including the following.

Gravitational attraction, which means, for example, that "individuals who have similar internal and external characteristics are mutually attracted, [while] dissimilar people, who are nonetheless, mutually complementary, attract" (p. 311).

Equal and opposite reaction, which is intended to explain, for example, why it is that "every new social movement meets with some form of opposition" (p. 317).

Inertia, "which causes any movement, once it has developed, to tend to be popularized across the whole collective, attracting more and more individuals in the manner of a snowball that grows unlimitedly as it rolls through snow" (p. 365), leading eventually to "old tattered ideas hold [ing] on to their influence for a long time, taking the form of a prejudice" (p. 377).

Toward the latter part of the book, the "laws" presented begin to owe more to 19th century developmentalists such as Haeckel and Spencer than to classical physics. Examples of such laws are as follows.

Evolution, "representing the development of new forms ... is essentially a creative act, and the law of evolution is in essence a law of creation" (p. 399).

Differentiation, as illustrated by the way that the "differentiation of languages depends on the migratory patterns of nations and on the creation of new words that, little by little, add complexity to a primitive language" (p. 422).