In M. Fakhry Davids's psychoanalytic theory, racism becomes "inscribed in the mind" through the interaction of ingredients that are already present in the inner world. "Some objects," he writes,"are to be found in every internal world and can thus be thought of as part of the structure of the mind. Self, mother, father and superego fall into this category, and it is to this list that I think the racial other belongs." What Davids terms an "internal racist organization" comes about when a racial other is the foundation on which an elaborate system of defenses known as a "defensive organization," is constructed. An internal racist organization may be present even when the racial aspect is not overtly expressed, as he describes in the central case study of his book.
W. Hoffer first used the term "defensive organization" to counter what he saw as a common mischaracterization of Freud's defense mechanisms as mere "sudden creations, spontaneous random reactions of the ego, escape mechanisms, or defensive manoeuvres." Hoffer instead saw them as more complex and permanent, "patterns of a prescribed, automatic and compulsive character, comparable to the well-organized nervous reflexes." A defensive organization, then, is a wide-ranging, elaborate structure "which is itself part of the total ego organization" and controls a wide range of seemingly unconnected functions both conscious and unconscious.
In other words, a defensive organization is not so much a tool that the ego uses but is instead a keystone on which a major ego structure is built, which efficiently "filters out" that which is feared too painful to bear. Some defensive organizations shield out so much reality that they become harmful (as in
Sunset Boulevard, for example). More common and seemingly benign are those defensive organizations that people use in order to "get by" and which may serve them well until an unforeseen crisis or a psychotherapeutic intervention threatens the entire house of cards.
This latter category, is what Davids sensed was at work in one of his patients, Mr. A, who came to see him at age 30 after a "breakdown" from which he had been unable to recover.
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