Carl Jung’s Shadow &Persona vs Timur Kuran’s Preference Falsification.
Carl Jung and Timur Kuran were two thinkers who lived in this plannet during different times.
The former was a Psychtriast while the later, an economist and political scientist.
Timur Kuran is widely known for his theory of Preference Falsification, which he discussed in his 1995 book, Public Truths, Public Lies.
While Jung is a reknown psychologist whose work is widely read by all and sundry in the psychological field, We shall take part of his work, The Shadow and Persona which is greatly associated to, but not similar to Timur Kuran’s Preference Falsification.
According to Timur Kuran, There seems to be a disconnect between what people express publicly and what they conceal Privately. This might be; Beliefs, desires or even opinions. For instance in politics when voters claim to support a regime or certain candidate while secretly resenting.
On Carl Jung’s Persona and Shadow, we find out that people put on different masks to adapt to societal expectations or protect the ego from discomfort such as criticism, guilt, anxiety or even rejection.
Behind the persona lies the shadow which contained all the parts and traits we reject or find unacceptable. This might include impulses such as of aggression or sexual, weaknesses, resentment, unexpressed anger etc . They remain unconscious to the individual.
From the two above we find that both demonstrate the different ways individual fake masks to adapt. But Timur Kuran’s social preference Falsification theory demonstrates a more deliberate misinterpretation of desires, beliefs and opinions unlike the persona. Ie; The individual is aware of his/her privately held preference unlike in Jung’s case where the Shadow remains largely unconscious untill when it’s made Conscious.
Let’s call this Private Preferences, Conscious secrets. Let’s also call this Shadow aspect, The Unconcious Repository.
Case examples;
Preference Falsification; A women who claim to desire kind and caring men but secretly she’s attracted to Rakes. She’s aware of this but misinterprets when asked to.
Carl Jung’s Persona/Shadow; A woman who has a saintly face. The nice girl who’s always obidient and will even smile in the face of conflict. Her shadow however contained a dark side. Her aggressive nature and unexpressed anger.
Preference Falsification; An individual who lives in a society with an authoritarian regime that punishes and ostracizes anyone who goes against it’s value concealing beliefs, norms and values that go against the status quo. He’s so careful never to reveal them in public.
Persona/Shadow; A young man raised in a culture where sexual impulses were shamed and perceived to be a sin represses her Sexual desires to his Shadow. On the surface, he adopts the saintly persona while his shadow is filled with a desire to stir the taboo. There are sexual impulses of his that he finds unacceptable or shameful to acknowledge. They’re unconcious. The same can be said of a girl filled with unexpressed anger in the shadow out of conditioning. It’s unconscious. Attempt to express her rage might even be met with some guilt. But she isn’t aware.
With time however, the secret private preferences might be forgotten before turning into a Jungian shadow. This is mostly demonstrated at the society level.
In the case of the authoritarian regime above, when a regime enforces a preference Falsification to it’s subject for generations, these secret preferences might be forgotten/repressed hence turning to a collective societal shadow while the False Public Preferences become the societal Persona.
We can use the availability of illusions and false values and beliefs that most scholars and Intellectuals have been trying to warn the society about since history in this case. What was once a secret preference in our society is now no longer just a private preference but a forgotten truth. It’s foreign to our values, norms, beliefs etc.
References List;Â
Kuran, T. (1995). Private truths, public lies: The social consequences of preference falsification. Harvard University Press.