Abstract
While this book is primarily situated in the disciplines of sociology and social psychology, this chapter introduces the hypothesis of a ‘field’ character of collective consciousness that influences social life and social change. The field hypothesis uses quantum phenomena to connect the human mind with its environment.
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- 1.
Dean Radin, PhD, is a senior scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and an adjunct faculty in the Department of Psychology at Sonoma State University. He has worked in consciousness research for over 25 years. According to Radin, ‘[Recent experiments] suggest that a previously unsuspected cause of global violence and aggression may literally be the chaotic, malevolent thoughts of large numbers of people around the world’ (Radin, 2006, p. 174). The research is in its infancy; however, the work of the Institute of Noetic Science is noteworthy, as noetic researchers attempt to support individual and collective transformation through consciousness research. The Global Consciousness Project is another attempt to detect interactions of global consciousness in physical systems: see http://noosphere.princeton.edu/, accessed October 2010.
- 2.
I conducted personal research interviews on the connection between quantum phenomena and the social sciences with Prof. Wendt at Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, in June–July 2010.
- 3.
For a more general overview of the role of the quantum in social sciences, see a 2005 article by Alexander Wendt entitled ‘Social Theory as Cartesian Science: An Auto-Critique from a Quantum Perspective,’ in Stefano Guzzini and Anna Leander (2005, pp. 181–219).
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Walker, A. (2018). The Field Hypothesis: Quantum Phenomena and Mind/Matter Interaction. In: Collective Consciousness and Gender. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54414-8_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54414-8_5
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