Archie Bunker: The King of Rationalization
March 29, 2008 9:30 am Coping
In previous posts I spoke about defense mechanisms in general, and supression in particular. I also promised more.
Well here it is: lets talk more about a fairly common defense mechanism:
Rationalization
You know about rationalization, it what Archie Bunker does! (And probably lots of other people you know, maybe you even do it yourself once in a while!)
Archie was a bigot, and reactionary, a family man and blue collar worker skillfully played by Carroll O’Connor in All in The Family. This series ran from 1971 through 1979 and forced us all to look at our own prejudices and stereotypes of anyone who was “different”.
Archie justifies his prejudicial attitudes, beliefs, and behavior by applying his crazy logic and false notions that he has thoroughly deluded himself with. Not only can he justify it, but he can even convince himself that these behaviors are actually good or wise in some way.
His reasons for his prejudice against black people and gays are the clearest statements of rationalization, although there are many other examples. Archie is so transparent in his rationalization (to everyone but himself) that most of the time we find it absurd and even funny. It can also be painful to watch!
Actually the definition of Rationalization goes something like:
A process of making up (not necessarily consciously) a logical explanation or justification for unacceptable beliefs, decisions, actions (or lack of actions,) behaviors or feelings. The true reasons for those feeling or behaviors are usually very different from the stated explanation.
