Editing Michael Lerner (rabbi) (section)

===Professorship and research===
After completing his Ph.D. Lerner moved to [[Hartford, Connecticut]] where he served as professor of philosophy at [[Trinity College (Connecticut)|Trinity College]] until 1975, when he moved back to Berkeley, joined the faculty at the University of California in the Field Studies program and taught law and economics until 1976 when he accepted a position at [[Sonoma State University]] for one year in sociology, teaching courses in [[social psychology]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cityclubofsandiego.com/city_club_past_details_db.asp?id=13334|title=Welcome to The City Club of San Diego|date=July 8, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708155835/http://www.cityclubofsandiego.com/city_club_past_details_db.asp?id=13334 |archive-date=July 8, 2011 }}</ref> Meanwhile, he completed a second Ph.D. in 1977, this one in [[Social psychology|social]]/[[clinical psychology]] at the Wright Institute in Berkeley.<ref>Bio at Gettysburg College and at Council for a Parliament of World Religions [http://www.gettysburg.edu/news_events/press_release_detail.dot?id=167333&crumbTitle="Middle East peace to be Rabbi Michael Lerner's topic Nov. 11 at Gettysburg College"]{{dead link|date=August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/index.cfm?n=27&sn=85 |title=Rabbi Michael Lerner, Rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue; Editor, ''Tikkun'' Magazine; Author |publisher=Council for a Parliament of the World's Religions |year=2009 |access-date=January 3, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706010801/http://www.parliamentofreligions.org/index.cfm?n=27&sn=85 |archive-date=July 6, 2010}}</ref>

In 1976 Lerner founded the Institute for Labor and Mental Health to work with the labor movement and do research on the [[psychodynamics]] of American society.<ref>Bios at ''Atlantic'' Monthly and PBS [https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/96jun/lerner/lerner.htm] and [https://www.pbs.org/wnet/tavissmiley/archive/200501/20050107_lerner.html]</ref> In 1979 he received a grant from the [[National Institute of Mental Health]] to train [[Union steward|union shop stewards]] as agents of prevention for mental health disorders, and he simultaneously extended his previous study of the psychodynamics of American society. With a subsequent grant from the NIMH he studied American politics and reported that "a spiritual crisis" was at the heart of the political transformation of American society as well as at the heart of much of the psychic pain that was being treated in individual [[Psychotherapy|therapy]].<ref>This study is described at length in Lerner's book ''Spirit Matters''.</ref>

His writing reflects a transposition of this analysis to economics too, viz. "This focus on money and power may do wonders in the marketplace, but it creates a tremendous crisis in our society. People who have spent all day learning how to sell themselves and to manipulate others are in no position to form lasting friendships or intimate relationships... Many Americans hunger for a different kind of society—one based on principles of caring, ethical and spiritual sensitivity, and communal solidarity. Their need for meaning is just as intense as their need for economic security." :<ref>Information Clearing House Weekend Edition of 6 December 2008 22:07</ref>