The Explanatory Models of Mary Douglas and Melanie Klein Compared, in the Context of an Institutional Case Study

This article brings Mary Douglas’ theory of the four elementary and universal forms of social ordering—grid-group theory—into juxtaposition with the Klein object-relations tradition in psychoanalysis. Klein and her successors have proposed fundamental orientations—the paranoid-schizoid, depressive, and narcissistic “positions”—as universal attributes of personality development. Bion's theory of containment is considered as a development of Klein's ideas. The question explored is whether these different models, the first concerned mainly with forms of social behaviour, the second with the dispositions of individuals, have any illuminating relation to one another. This exploration takes the form of a case study of changes which have been taking place in the organisation of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, which is the largest institutional embodiment of a wider Tavistock tradition. The argument is that these changes can be understood both in the terms, following Douglas, of its dominant form of “social ordering”, moving from “hierarchy” towards “individualism”, “enclavism”, and “isolation”. And in Klein's and Bion's perspective, the shift is away from more “depressive” and “contained” dispositions and relations. These (contested) changes represent a significant break with the Tavistock earlier traditions, and in this reflect wider changes taking place in society.