You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
This book arrives at a time when many analytic institutes are integrating the study of group dynamics and the group unconscious into training. Many institutes have come to realize that the concentration on the study of the individual psyche has provided only a limited perspective in understanding human behaviour and the relationship of the unconscious to persons and groups. For those who are curious, fascinated, or mystified by how to explain what happens in groups and why groups and individuals within the groups behave as they do, this fine collection of well written chapters presents a feast of multi-layered perspectives.
The introductory chapter by Earl Hopper is a long, but very lucid history of the theory of groups and is a fine introduction to those who have no previous exposure to the theory of the unconscious of groups. This introduction whets one's appetite for more. Hopper traces the trajectory of early Freudian and Jungian theory to writers such as F.H. Foulkes and Norbert Elias. He then links the early theoretical concepts to contemporary theories of mind.
In her chapter on ‘The foundation matrix and the social unconscious’ Regine Scholz gives S. H. Foulkes due respect for his early theoretical clarity that links Freud to the development of the ‘social unconscious’. She describes Foulkes's foundation matrix as ‘the concept [that] understands [the] individual and group as one single and inseparable process in which biological, social, cultural, and economical factors meet, based on ongoing communication’ (p. 265). She emphasizes the role of embodied memories and values and the role of art, culture, and the generational transmission of psychic phenomena.
Each chapter expands on basic theories with nuanced and well-articulated elaborations. What is especially interesting is that the authors come from a wide range of geographic locations and experiences: Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, United States, Britain, Serbia, Czech Republic, Israel, Bulgaria, Serbia, Austria