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Purpose – Role-taking refusal was a foundational problem in Mead's work but was ignored by subsequent interactionists who focused on the benefits of role-taking – empathy and solidarity – but failed to examine how they are destroyed or crippled from emerging as inclusionary aspects of social consciousness. Role-taking refusal constitutes both the microfoundation of dehumanization in the case of the oppressor and, in the case of the oppressed, the microfoundation of resistance. Role-taking refusal is linked to Giddens's notion of the reflective project of the self, Omi and Winant's racial formation theory, Feagin's theory of systemic racism, and the perspective of Critical Race Theory.

Methodology – I shall portray role-taking refusal by using historical, theoretical, and empirical works, especially ethnographic studies.

Social implications – The oppressed know the image their oppressors have of them. Refusing to internalize this image is the first step – the microfoundation – of resistance. Role-taking refusal in the oppressed fosters critical consciousness, which, if solidarity with others is formed, can lead to collective action and, possibly, permanent institutional change.

Originality – “The superiority delusion” is the paradigmatic ideology of all oppressors, deployed to justify their power, privilege, and prestige. This delusion is maintained by the microfoundation of dehumanization, which is a systematic refusal to role-take from those over whom oppressors oppress. All other ideologies that justify oppression are derived from some form of “the superiority delusion,” identifying for the first time role-taking refusal as paradoxically both the original sin of social relations and the foundation of social resistance.

An artificial chemistry approach is adopted to explore new ways of investigating a global dynamic of a collective belief. Five derivatives of belief are considered– knowledge, misbelief, delusion, ignorance, and doubt – to be reactants of an abstract chemical solution. The reactants interact one with another by certain laws obtained though unconventional interpretation of a belief update. Several types of reaction systems are studied in computational experiments with the doxastic solutions. A global dynamic of doxastic chemical solutions is also interpreted from a common‐sense point of view.

The paper aims to discuss delusion as a creative experience.

The paper addresses narrative rendering of delusional thinking in detail and related styles of thought in artists.

Enhanced creativity during psychosis can be put to productive use in recovery. Artistic cultures may help psychosis sufferers move to a more socially inclusive, consensual view of reality.

The paper emphasises the artistic aspect of psychosis as a counterweight to the “machine aesthetic” of positivistic science and also stresses the importance of spiritual experience to recovery.

This case report seeks to describe successful treatment of erotomania using cognitive behavioural psychotherapy in concert with community support providers applying similar psychotherapeutic approaches.

A case report is presented illustrating successful treatment of an individual with erotomania and intellectual disability. Pharmacotherapy assessment suggested its ineffectiveness and medicines were slowly reduced and discontinued. Cognitive behavioural psychotherapy provided a venue to discuss personal issues and work on solutions. The community support system was enlisted to approach the problem using two main psychotherapeutic strategies: eliminate social attention for the delusion; and increase social relationships.

Cognitive behavioural psychotherapy working in collaboration with the community support system resulted in great improvement. Within three years, the individual returned to previous functioning with no symptoms of the delusional disorder.

This case study illustrates the successful treatment of erotomania using cognitive behavioural psychotherapy and engaging the community support system in applying directed psychotherapeutic strategies. Erotomania occurs in people with intellectual disability and must be recognized and treated. Ineffective pharmacotherapy was successfully reduced and discontinued within the context of appropriate therapeutic supports.

The author argues that leadership in the public sector operates within the belief of a historical and often mythical hierarchy, and that leadership as a term often is over‐used and under‐conceptualised. This ‘leadership delusion’ is located in a functional approach to leadership where the assumption is that removing dysfunctions from organisations through efficient and effective delivery will automatically bring about changes to standards. While organisational systems, structures and roles are important for quality and improvement, such an approach is not of itself socially critical. This viewpoint argues that we need approaches to leadership that engage with bigger issues such as class, gender and race in ways that are more than counting and measuring.

The aim of this article is an analysis of the links between race and psychotic illness, psychiatric diagnosis and treatment, as well as psychiatric, police and prison violence against people with mental health problems. The analysis focuses on Black men who are more frequently diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders and who face more brutal treatment than other people with such diagnoses. We have adopted a multidisciplinary approach which draws insights from psychiatry, psychology, and sociology and challenges the biologistic interpretation of “mental illness.” We take into account the United States and Britain – two countries with large Black minorities and an established tradition of research on these groups. Among the crucial findings of this study are the facts that racial bias and stereotypes heavily influence the way Black men with a diagnosis of psychotic illness are treated by the psychiatric system, police and prison staff, and that the dominant approach to psychosis masks the connections between racism and mental health.

Purpose – To motivate diversity researchers to reconsider prior findings that use homogeneity as the standard to which diverse teams are compared. To recognize that homogeneity may be just as (if not more) influential than diversity in shaping group processes.

Design/approach – We selectively review the diversity literature and develop a conceptual reinterpretation of prior research. We challenge the general orientation in the literature to treat homogeneity as a baseline to which the effects of diversity are compared. We develop propositions that use diversity as the baseline for homogeneity and provide directions for future research.

Findings – We redigest evidence relating to five core areas in which researchers have identified differences between diverse and homogeneous groups, indicating that homogeneity may lead to (1) an avoidance of disagreement, (2) less use of unique information, (3) overconfidence about performance, (4) more social focus, and (5) less sensitivity to relationship conflict than might be warranted. Based on this reinterpretation of prior literature, we propose that homogeneous teams are prone to delusions, assuming they share similar values, opinions, knowledge, and preferences that make their world seem more homogeneous and comfortable than it may actually be.

Originality/value – We attempt to spur greater understanding of how diversity and homogeneity affect group functioning. We stress the independent effects of homogeneity in shaping group outcomes, an underexplored perspective in the diversity literature.

The essay explores the profound nature and consequences of subjectivity struggles in everyday life. W. E. B. Du Bois's concept of double consciousness and its constituent concepts of the veil, twoness, and second sight illuminate the process of racialized self-formation. Racialized self-formation contributes to understanding the cultural reproduction of domination and subjugation, the two primary concerns of radical interactionists. Double consciousness, long ignored by symbolic interactionists, cannot be neglected by radical interactionists if they are to articulate a comprehensive account of self-formation in a white-supremacist culture. Reflections on racialization, meritocracy, and subjectivity struggles in contemporary everyday life conclude the essay.

Two meanings of the word myth informed the origins of this volume and its constituent chapters: myth as an archetypical narrative that societies and cultures use to embody value-laden lessons about both the natural world and human nature (myths to live by); and myth as a nefarious fabrication that imperils those who believe it (myths to die by). Throughout this volume, we use the Greek myth of Cassandra – the heroine of Troy who unsuccessfully forewarned her community of avoidable future disaster – as an archetype for the often heroic efforts of those in our day who seek to forewarn us of altogether foreseeable future disasters associated with both natural forces and human contrivance. We also explore the deadly myths of delusion – those which weave an illusory cocoon of invincibility around those who increasingly inhabit increasingly disaster-prone landscapes. Each chapter in this volume tells stories about what happens when these two meanings of myth collide, and of how better heeding the message of present-day Cassandras might help us to dispel the myths of delusion.