Psychosocial isomorphism

Psychosocial isomorphism exists whenever the relations within a personality are similar to those within a society, namely whenever a social structure was similar to a personal structure. For example, it is suggested that there are structural similarities between war propaganda and some times of mental illness. Both are characterized by inner conflicts or self-contradictions, by denial or repression of these conflicts, by projection of the denied material (usually dominance and aggression in war propaganda, but usually sex and aggression in mental illness) onto other nations or other persons, and by justification of aggression, for example, as an appropriate response to the aggression projected onto others. Such forms of mental illness and war propaganda are different in their content but show a similarity between their structures.