Psychiatry: Understanding Militancy

Psychiatrists and psychologists are well aware of the pitfalls involved in at tributing common motivation to an entire group of people. Still, within bounds, such attempts at mass analysis can be useful. Last week two psychiatrists addressing the 124th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association in Boston assessed the psychological forces at work within two of the nation's most militant if dissimilar groups—Green Beret volunteers and members of the Black Power movement. A third presented his views on the attitudes of white city fathers who must cope with militant blacks. —...