The Legacy of Glenn and Claire Swogger

Dr. Glenn Swogger and his wife Claire were generous supporters of the Primary Texts Certificate program for many years. Recently, their private foundation gave $2 million to create the Glenn and Claire Swogger Chair of Primary Texts in the Department of Political Science. You can read the announcement here.

Claire was a gifted photographer. Glenn was a psychologist and engaged in research throughout his life. Dr. Swogger was CEO of Kaw Valley State Banks. He worked for many years as a psychologist at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, KS, and his research was in the area of political psychology.

This list was compiled by Alex Corrado, graduate student in the Department of Political Science at K-State. For more information about Dr. Swogger's works, or if you have any questions, please contact corrado@ksu.edu.

Scholarly Articles

Article - Toward Understanding Stress: A Map of the Territory; 1981

Abstract: Why is there such great interest in the subject of stress in our society at this time? We have only to turn on the television, pick up a newspaper or magazine, use any product or sample some food to learn of a new source of psychological or bodily stress. As an article in the Topeka Capitol Journal, October 1, 1980 p uts it: “Danger seems to lurk in life’s every corner. Life seems to be turning into a giant warning label.” We may begin to wonder whether knowledge of new sources of stress is itself becoming a source of anxiety in our lives. Does our preoccupation with stress reflect a denail of the fact that life is inherently dangerous and, indeed, tends to end fatally?

Swogger Jr, Glenn. “Toward Understanding Stress: A Map of the Territory.” The Journal of School Health, vol. 51, no. 1, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 1981, pp. 29–33, doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.1981.tb02094.x.

Article - Assessing the Successor Generation in Family Business; 1991

Abstract: When considering the succession process in family businesses, it is often useful to inquire into the relationships among all members of the successor generation: sons, daughters, and their spouses. Do members of the successor generation show evidence of autonomy and individuation, healthy sibling bonds, and acceptance of talent and leadership from within their generation? Do unresolved rivalries and dependency on parents paralyze their ability to cooperate? Using a Bowenian family systems approach, three important dimensions of differentiation in the successor generation are discussed. Several case vignettes illustrate the value of an assessment intervention.

Swogger, Glenn. (1991). Assessing the successor generation in family businesses. Family Business Review, 4(4), 397–411. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-6248.1991.00397.x

Book Chapter – The Psychodynamics of Organizations, Ch. 7 – Group Self-Esteem and Group Performance; 1993

Introduction: When managers are asked to describe the “best” work group they were ever apart of, their answers fall in three categories. They speak of the group’s ability to accomplish its task. They describe its internal cohesion with high morale, and how individuals within the group were treated. And they describe their own feelings of satisfaction and fulfillment and the personal meaning that the group had for them. They find corresponding qualities in their leadership: a task orientation, combined with fairness and sensitivity to members of the group that lead them to feel bonded with their leader, admiring, and appreciative. Reflection on these sentiments, and on my own consulting experience, led me to wonder how personal satisfaction and self-esteem become linked with membership in a work group and how the group’s level of pride, morale, and cohesion relates to its performance.

Swogger, G. (1993). Chapter 7 - Group Self-Esteem and Group Performance. In L. Hischorn & C. K. Barnett (Eds.), The Psychodynamics of Organizations . essay, Temple University Press. ISBN: 1-56639-020-6

Article – The Psychodynamics of Threat in Environmental Rhetoric; 1999

Abstract: Starting with an analysis of typical examples of the language of threat in representative environmental writings, the individual and group psychodynamics by which a sense of threat is defined and created, and the interplay between external events and dangers, and internal—sometimes unconscious—sources of anxiety, guilt, and fearfulness, are elaborated. The ways in which a sense of threat may be manipulated by social organizations and institutions are briefly described; and further context for understanding present fears of social and environmental catastrophe is given by examining the long history of religious and political wishes for and fears of the Apocalypse. Finally, approaches are proposed for mitigating threat rhetoric, with its associated fearfulness and panic, and their effects on reliable judgment about public policy in the environmental area.

Swogger, Glenn. "The Psychodynamics of Threat in Environmental Rhetoric." Technology, vol. 6, no. 1-3, Cognizant Communication Corporation, 1999, pp. 173-191

 

Article - The Psychodynamic Assumptions of the U.S. Constitution; 2001.

Abstract: The U.S. Constitution is a blueprint for the design of a government which reflects the consistent application of an understanding of the emotions and interests driving the political activity of individuals and groups. This understanding is articulated in the writings of key proponents of the Constitution, and clarified by its historical and philosophical context. Their theories are congruent with psychoanalytic perspectives on narcissism, leadership, group dynamics, and the role of transitional space in cultural life. The concept of interests, reformulated in psychoanalytic terms, is a useful addition to our understanding of political behavior.

Swogger, G. The Psychodynamic Assumptions of the U.S. Constitution. Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 3, 353–380 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1012509205439

Op-Ed/Current Events

Article - Stress and Your Work; 1983

Introduction: There seems to be an inexhaustible supply of interest in the subject of stress. It rates headlines in the National Inquirer, and reports of health research are rushed into print: ‘eating garlic lowers cholesterol!’ Someone sent me a clipping recently reporting on a preliminary research finding that delinquents drank excessive quantities of milk. The headline read ‘Too much milk drives youth to crime!’ If only my mother would have known!

Swogger, Glenn. “Stress and Your Work.” Research Management, vol. 26, no. 4, 1983, pp. 12–15, doi:10.1080/00345334.1983.11756781. Or https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00345334.1983.11756781

Article – Issues of Retirement in a family business; 1988

Swogger, Glenn., Johnson, E., & Post, J.M. (1988). Issues of retirement from leadership in a family business. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 52(2), 150–157.

Article – Donald Trump: Narcissist-In-Chief, Not Commander-In-Chief; 2016,

Overview: Dr. Swogger and Dr. Miller write an article pointing out Donald Trump’s many symptoms of Narcissistic Personality Disorder and the associated implications.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/03/30/donald-trump-narcissist-in-chief-not-commander-in-chief/?sh=6a2de31e5d45