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Keywords Creativity, Competitive strategy, Jungian psychology, Capitalism
Abstract Organizational studies have been deeply influenced by three separate streams of research: the soft sciences; the hard sciences; and economics. This paper makes a case for an interdisciplinary approach, one that includes not only the social and physical and fife sciences, but also methodologies that have a long history in mysticism. It illustrates how the similarities and relationships between depth psychology, in Jung's theory of archetypes, and the "hard science" notion of complexity theory can reveal critical aspects of competition as expressed through capitalism. It also suggests that a methodology for accessing information about archetypes in general and capitalist competition in particular is through creative imagination
All the most powerful ideas in history go back to archetypes. This is particularly true of religious ideas, but the central concepts of science, philosophy and ethics are no exception to this rule (C.G. Jung in CW 8:342[1]).
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Introduction
Organizational studies have been deeply influenced by three separate streams of research. The soft sciences, including psychology, have provided important content about human behavior, the hard sciences have provided theoretical and experimental methodologies, as well as deepened our understanding of the material world; and economics has informed our thinking about how the human behavior interacts with the material world in order to survive. Attention to interconnections among the three streams can illuminate ways in which change agents can make more informed choices about processes and resource allocations. This paper makes a case for an interdisciplinary approach, one that includes not only the social and physical and life sciences, but also methodologies that have a long history in mysticism.
Specifically, this paper illustrates how the similarities and relationships between depth psychology, in Jung's theory of archetypes, and the "hard science notion of complexity theory can reveal critical aspects of competition as expressed through capitalism. Although implicit in the discourse of competition, the contention that competition is an archetype is new and gives Jungian analysis a central role in the understanding of organizations. Further, the paper suggests that a methodology for accessing information about archetypes in general and capitalist competition in particular is through application of...