1 books
Gündüz Vassaf is a psychologist and writer who examines how freedom, obedience and power are reproduced in ordinary life. Prisoners of Ourselves: Totalitarianism in Everyday Life shifts the discussion away from dictators alone and asks how habits, institutions and private choices make domination feel normal. Its essays move through work, family, education, leisure and public behaviour, connecting political structures with the small routines people rarely question. Vassaf's psychological training gives the argument a close interest in conformity, yet the book remains deliberately accessible rather than technical. Irony and provocation keep its claims open to dispute, inviting readers to test them against their own lives. Prisoners of Ourselves is the clearest entry to his thought: it introduces his concern with self-imposed limits and shows why resistance begins with attention to everyday conduct, language and fear.
