Reddit mentions of Jung in the 21st Century Volume Two

I would suggest that "renaissance" of their ideas is taking place now.

There's a book called Neurobiology of the Gods that explores this question in relation to neuroscience. It's pretty good, what I've read of it so far.

The author makes a note that some evolutionary psychologists and biologists are coming around to a notion that the mind is structured along lines that Jung espouses in his theory of the Collective Unconscious, and that the concept of archetypes indeed has biological and psychological roots if not structural dynamics informing the phenomena of the human psyche:

>This and other evidence has led neuroscientists to conclude: Most scholars are beginning to concede the existence of a core human psyche that is largely a product of biological evolution (specifically a result of natural selection). . .
Evolutionary psychiatrists are beginning to agree that much of human mental activity is driven by the ancient affective emotional and motivational brain systems shared with other animals. (Panksepp, 2006: 790, emphasis added; see also Gardner and Wilson, 2004; Jones and Blackshaw, 2000). What Panksepp is calling the "core human psyche'' is perhaps comparable to Jung's "collective unconscious''.

>From another perspective, that of cognitive neuroscientists, we find the opinion that "human emotions are underpinned by specific but universal psychobiological mechanisms'' (Stein, 2006: 766). Furthermore, "This fundamental point is at the heart of the evolutionary perspective, and concurs with a vast amount of neuropsychological research'' (Gazzaniga et al., 2002: 596).
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The same author reiterates the claim, on the basis of referenced empirical evidence, that something like 95% of what is going on in terms of consciousness is unconscious in its processes, and what is occurring in those processes also aligns to varying degrees with aspects of Jung's theories.

The following two texts, which I haven't read yet, would also appear to be asserting evidence that links Jung's theories with contemporary scientific understanding in such a way that validates Jung's theoretical model, albeit they have mixed reviews;

Jung in The 21st Century, Volume One: Evolution and Archetype

Jung in The 21st Century, Volume Two: Synchronicity And Science

(in the review section of Volume One's listing, the author of the aforementioned work, The Neurobiology of The Gods, Erik D. Goodwyn turns up and posts this clear, contextual overview of Jung's work and where it is being envisaged as sitting now in emerging scientific discourse, which might go some way to addressing the questioning of Jung's validity from both your girlfriend and professor. Here's an extended excerpt from the review:

>Coming out among the recent renaissance of Jung, including the publication of Jung's "Red Book" in 2010, which has been featured on the cover of Time magazine as well as the Archives of General Psychiatry, Haule takes up the charge first helmed by Anthony Stevens in pointing out the many striking parallels in Jung's thought on the psyche and shows how it is very congruent with the more recent findings of evolutionary biology, neuroscience, primatology and anthropology. Depth psychology in general has suffered in the last few decades due to the perception that it lacks empirical support and it has been supplanted in the public and professional eye by more recent therapies such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). This has been due to several trends--the first of which was early arrogance and dominance of Freudian schools within psychology in the first part of the 20th century, and its distrust of empirical research. Along came manualized CBT type therapies in the latter part of the 20th century, which took on a very empirical approach and showed through a large number of accumulated studies that CBT was effective for a variety of disorders. This, along with the lack of enthusiasm for showing empirical effectiveness of psychodynamic styles of therapy such as those based in Freudian psychoanalysis, object relations theory, Self psychology, and of course Jung's "Complex Psychology", witnessed a steady decline in the public eye. Combine this with sensationalized and often rather silly media depictions of psychoanalysis, along with a particular penchant for touting some of Freud's wackier ideas (like "penis envy") that no one takes seriously anymore, and psychodynamic theory suffered greatly.

>Perhaps no one, however, suffered more than Jung, who even in his day was heavily criticized for being a "mystic" in the sense of a befuddled guru and not the positive sense, who challenged Western thought with such outrageous ideas like the mind is not a blank slate, that evolution has had a profound effect on human nature and continues to do so, that altered states of consciousness such as dreaming and trance/reverie produced images that should not be dismissed or explained away with "blahblahblah" types of rationalistic/materialistic reduction but taken seriously as significant expressions of the unconscious psyche. Jungian Analyst Anthony Stevens, along with a few others, however, as early as the 1980s began to notice that though psychology had for the most part forgotten about Jung, there were some curious findings being discovered independently by many other disciplines. He set the playing field with his book "Archetype: Natural History of the Self" (updated in 2002), showing how newer disciplines such as ethology (animal behavior), neuroscience, and evolutionary biology have made a variety of findings that sounded suspiciously like very similar statements about the mind/psyche Jung made decades prior, such as the importance of evolution, our similarity with other animals, the interesting physiology of dreams, and so forth, and has since continued to champion a call to re-examine Jungian thought within the light of all this new research going on largely independently of each other. Jung, it seems, had been right all along, and we are now beginning to see exactly how and why. At the same time, psychodynamic theorists have begun to catch up with CBT-styled therapies and have shown that psychodynamic therapy is not only effective, but in some cases is more effective than CBT; in particular psychodynamic therapy has an 'extended release' effect that continues to improve patient functioning as long as 5 years after therapy has terminated--other non-psychodynamic therapies do not have this effect. Furthermore, detailed comparative studies have shown that even therapies labeled 'CBT' are more likely to be effective when they incorporate one or more principles common to all psychdynamic therapies such as an emphasis on the therapeutic relationship ('transference'), a focus on how early developmental events are playing out in current symptoms, an overall emphasis on encouraging patients to continue to express their feelings, and free exploration of dream and fantasy imagery. Jungian therapy naturally utilizes all of these methods.

>Now enter Haule's work "Jung in the 21st Century". Here Haule pulls together a wide array of studies from fields of primatology, cultural and physical anthropology, evolutionary biology, and weaves a strongly coherent model of the archetype--Jung's most profound and foundational concept--that is firmly anchored in the empirical data of these disciplines. He avoids the mistake of getting hung up on the endless debates in psychology about "mental modules", Haule makes one of the most creative and important contributions to this whole area by showing how archetypes are not independent "algorithms" (which invites all sorts of pointless debates about evolutionary psychology) but "complexities within complexities" that have a long evolutionary history and emerge in development due to our phylogenetic history. These archetypes then shape our common dreams, religious feelings and experiences with "godlike" forces in our life. Haule does not stop there, however, and continues on to organize a model of altered states of consciousness and "shamanistic" practices that have been used by humans for anywhere between 60,000 to 200,000 years to attain better inclusive fitness and achieve their goals both religious and mundane (such as to achieve power and set up social strata). He continues on with a brilliant analysis of the history of consciousness--another of Jung's projects, and broadens the span of Jung's inquiry to include primate consciousness through modern day.