The cultural dichotomy of colonial people.

We have presented a justification for the application of some of the principles of individual psychic development to the understanding of societal development. The interplay between the various systems of organization provides a circular and reciprocal interaction between the individual and the broader organizational levels of which he is a part. We have noted how individuals contribute to the characteristics of these organizational levels, as they contribute to his own. An illustration of this interplay has been provided by describing the impact of a societal condition such as colonialism on the colonized individual, as well as its force in shaping the character of the collectivity. Its effect on individual parameters of self-definition and self-esteem has been noted, and its possible relevance to psychotherapeutic processes pointed out.