Socio-Analysis
Encyclopedia
Socio-analysis is the activity of exploration, consultancy, and action research
which combines and synthesises methodologies and theories derived from psychoanalysis
, group relations, social systems thinking, organisational behaviour, and social dreaming
.
Socio-analysis offers a conception of individuals, groups, organisations, and global systems that takes into account conscious and unconscious
aspects and potentialities. From this conception are born methods of exploration which can increase capacities through making conscious what was unconscious
for individuals, groups, and organisations, and through releasing energy and ideas that help create individual and organisational direction, and meaning.
Socio-analysis has at its heart a query as to what is the psychological truth for an individual, group, organisation, or other social system, and how may this best be brought to light as a means for creative transformation and growth?
, its exploration, and understanding are of central concern to psychoanalysis
, which was originally founded to explore the mental problems of medical patients. While socio-analytic exploration frequently uncovers systemic pain, (of which anxiety is a part), the “pain” is a guide to transformation of the system as a whole with all its potentialities for growth. Joshua Bain has suggested that the emphasis on anxiety is limiting, and that a more appropriate paradigm for socio-analysis is wonder. Wonder was regarded by Plato
as the beginning of philosophy
, and its link to exploration, creativity, and the growth of capacities of human beings, would seem to make it the appropriate starting point for socio-analysis as well.
“Wonder is the special affection of a philosopher; for philosophy has no other starting point than this; and it is a happy genealogy which makes Iris the daughter of Thaumas
”. Theaetetus
, 155D
The saying “When wonder ceases, knowledge begins”, which is attributed to
Sir Francis Bacon, is especially apt for socio-analysis with its emphasis on always explore, rather than sit tight on what is supposedly known.
and John Rickman, and reported in the Lancet
in 1943, and later by Bion in the Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic in 1946. Bion is generally regarded as the father of socio-analysis (although the word was not used in those days).
was born in India
in 1897 and educated at Bishop Stortford College in England
. During the First World War he commanded a tank on the Western Front
and was decorated for bravery: Distinguished Service Order
, and the Legion of Honour. After studying History
at Oxford University, and a stint teaching History at his old school, he began Medical training at University College Hospital
in 1924 and qualified in 1930. He worked at the Tavistock Clinic
in London before the Second World War, and started a personal psychoanalysis with John Rickman. After the Second World War he contributed to the formation of the Tavistock Institute
. He had a second psycho-analysis with Melanie Klein
, and trained and qualified as a psychoanalyst. Bion was, and is, regarded by many people as a genius who made fundamental contributions to psychoanalysis, and to the understanding of groups. His stance of always pointing to the unknown, whether with a patient or with a group or in himself, was the realization of his genius.
was a military hospital, situated in Birmingham
, in the English Midlands
, with the task of treating soldiers who had developed psychiatric problems, in order to get them back into the war. Together with John Rickman, Wilfred Bion introduced group meetings as the principal method of change for these patients. This Experiment, together with the Second Northfield Experiment associated with the innovations of S. H. Foulkes
, Tom Main and Harold Bridger, contributed the following elements to the emerging discipline of socio-analysis:
, works from a stance of “not knowing” with the courage, and fortitude, to pursue psychological truth.
The socio-analyst, like the psychoanalyst, uses concepts such as the unconscious
, defences, splitting
, projection
, projective identification
, introjection
, and transference
, but the field for exploration, while including the individual, is wider than the psychoanalytic dyad – e.g. a group, an organisation, a society, global systems.
Thus, for example, the socio-analyst uses concepts of group and organisational transference
, and pays particular attention to the way he/she is made to feel through client engagements, as a possible indication of unconscious
dynamics within the client system.
at the Tavistock Clinic
in London after the war culminated in a seminal publication “Experiences in Groups”, which describes and analyses three basic assumptions that can be observed in group behaviour at different times: basic assumption dependency, basic assumption fight / flight, and basic assumption pairing. Basic assumptions operate unconsciously within groups at the same time a group may be engaged in a conscious work task – that Bion called a W group.
These insights of Bion together with theories of Kurt Lewin
led to the first Group Relations Conference in 1957 that was sponsored by the Tavistock Institute
of Human Relations and Leicester University, and directed by Eric Trist
.
Group Relations Conferences typically explore the effects of group and organisational dynamics on how individuals take up authority and leadership in this temporary institution, and in their work. The “Leicester” Conference as it came to be known under the leadership of A.K.Rice and colleagues such as Pierre Turquet, Eric Miller, Robert Gosling, and Bruce Reed stimulated similar explorations and enterprises in numerous countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, France, Éire, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Israel, India, and Australia.
in the 1950s were action research
; the discovery of socio-technical systems
by Eric Trist
and Ken Bamforth, its development by Trist and Emery
, Rice and Miller; and Elliott Jaques
and Isabel Menzies concept of social systems being structured as a defence against anxiety
by Gordon Lawrence at the Tavistock Institute
in 1982.
Social Dreaming is the activity of sharing dreams (night dreams), associations to the dreams, and connections between dreams, with others in a Matrix setting. The focus of social dreaming (unlike in psychoanalysis or dreaming groups) is not on the meaning of the dream for the individual dreamer, but regarding the dreams and associations as a way of exploring and making social meaning. Conferences to explore social dreaming have been held in Israel, the United States, Australia, India, and most European countries.
Up until 1996 the work that has been described in this article went under different labels. There was no one word that described the activities and the role. Alastair Bain suggested that the discipline should be called “Socio-Analysis” in 1996.
in New York, the A.K. Rice Institute in the United States, the Tavistock Institute
and Tavistock Clinic
in London, the Grubb Institute http://www.grubb.org.uk/ and OPUS http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~opusuk/, both in London, the Centre for Applied Research in Philadelphia, the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations http://www.ispso.org/, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, the University of Wuppertal http://www.wiwi.uni-wuppertal.de/Startseite.1566.0.html, and practitioners from many countries who work in the tradition of Wilfred Bion. The Journal “Socio-Analysis” is now published by Group Relations Australia.http://www.grouprelations.org.au/
which is based on the observation that dreams are “container sensitive”, and that the dreams shared by people within an organisation during a project will reflect organisational realities that are the “unexpressed known” within the organisation.
” that is based in Wonder
and the Sangha
(Buddhist notion of “people on the path”) in contrast to usual understandings that are based on the Individual, Anxiety
, and Hierarchy
.
Action research
Action research or participatory action research – is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. Action research is done simply by action,...
which combines and synthesises methodologies and theories derived from psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, group relations, social systems thinking, organisational behaviour, and social dreaming
Social dreaming
Social dreaming is a method for identifying the cultural knowledge and scientific method deployed in the dream - not the oedipal issues experienced by the dreamer. Social dreaming takes place with many participants simultaneously. The number can be 100 to 6, but mostly with about 30. The sessions...
.
Socio-analysis offers a conception of individuals, groups, organisations, and global systems that takes into account conscious and unconscious
Unconscious mind
The unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
aspects and potentialities. From this conception are born methods of exploration which can increase capacities through making conscious what was unconscious
Unconscious mind
The unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
for individuals, groups, and organisations, and through releasing energy and ideas that help create individual and organisational direction, and meaning.
Socio-analysis has at its heart a query as to what is the psychological truth for an individual, group, organisation, or other social system, and how may this best be brought to light as a means for creative transformation and growth?
Socio-analysis and Wonder
AnxietyAnxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
, its exploration, and understanding are of central concern to psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis
Psychoanalysis is a psychological theory developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Psychoanalysis has expanded, been criticized and developed in different directions, mostly by some of Freud's former students, such as Alfred Adler and Carl Gustav...
, which was originally founded to explore the mental problems of medical patients. While socio-analytic exploration frequently uncovers systemic pain, (of which anxiety is a part), the “pain” is a guide to transformation of the system as a whole with all its potentialities for growth. Joshua Bain has suggested that the emphasis on anxiety is limiting, and that a more appropriate paradigm for socio-analysis is wonder. Wonder was regarded by Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
as the beginning of philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
, and its link to exploration, creativity, and the growth of capacities of human beings, would seem to make it the appropriate starting point for socio-analysis as well.
“Wonder is the special affection of a philosopher; for philosophy has no other starting point than this; and it is a happy genealogy which makes Iris the daughter of Thaumas
Thaumas
In Greek mythology, Thaumas was a sea god, son of Pontus and Gaia. He married an Oceanid, Electra . The children of Thaumas and Electra were the Harpies and Iris, the goddess of rainbows and a messenger of the gods; according to some, also Arke.Thaumas was also the name of a centaur...
”. Theaetetus
Theaetetus
Theaetetus could mean:* Theaetetus , a Greek geometer* Theaetetus , a dialogue by Plato, named after the geometer* Theaetetus , a lunar impact crater....
, 155D
The saying “When wonder ceases, knowledge begins”, which is attributed to
Sir Francis Bacon, is especially apt for socio-analysis with its emphasis on always explore, rather than sit tight on what is supposedly known.
Brief history
Socio-analysis has its roots in the first Northfield Experiment carried out by Wilfred BionWilfred Bion
Wilfred Ruprecht Bion DSO was an influential British psychoanalyst, who became president of the British Psychoanalytical Society from 1962 to 1965....
and John Rickman, and reported in the Lancet
The Lancet
The Lancet is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal. It is one of the world's best known, oldest, and most respected general medical journals...
in 1943, and later by Bion in the Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic in 1946. Bion is generally regarded as the father of socio-analysis (although the word was not used in those days).
Wilfred Bion
Wilfred BionWilfred Bion
Wilfred Ruprecht Bion DSO was an influential British psychoanalyst, who became president of the British Psychoanalytical Society from 1962 to 1965....
was born in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in 1897 and educated at Bishop Stortford College in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. During the First World War he commanded a tank on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
and was decorated for bravery: Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, and the Legion of Honour. After studying History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at Oxford University, and a stint teaching History at his old school, he began Medical training at University College Hospital
University College Hospital
University College Hospital is a teaching hospital located in London, United Kingdom. It is part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is closely associated with University College London ....
in 1924 and qualified in 1930. He worked at the Tavistock Clinic
Tavistock Clinic
The in London was founded in 1920 by Dr. Hugh Crichton-Miller, a psychiatrist who developed psychological treatments for shell-shocked soldiers during and after the First World War. The clinic's first patient was, however, a child. Its clinical services were always, therefore, for both children...
in London before the Second World War, and started a personal psychoanalysis with John Rickman. After the Second World War he contributed to the formation of the Tavistock Institute
Tavistock Institute
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations is a British charity concerned with group behaviour and organisational behaviour. It was launched in 1946, when it separated from the Tavistock Clinic.-History of the Tavistock:...
. He had a second psycho-analysis with Melanie Klein
Melanie Klein
Melanie Reizes Klein was an Austrian-born British psychoanalyst who devised novel therapeutic techniques for children that had an impact on child psychology and contemporary psychoanalysis...
, and trained and qualified as a psychoanalyst. Bion was, and is, regarded by many people as a genius who made fundamental contributions to psychoanalysis, and to the understanding of groups. His stance of always pointing to the unknown, whether with a patient or with a group or in himself, was the realization of his genius.
Northfield Experiments
Northfield HospitalNorthfield Hospital
The Northfield Hospital was a psychiatric hospital located at Tessal Lane, Northfield near Birmingham, England, and is famous primarily for the work on group psychotherapy that took place there in the years of the Second World War...
was a military hospital, situated in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, in the English Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
, with the task of treating soldiers who had developed psychiatric problems, in order to get them back into the war. Together with John Rickman, Wilfred Bion introduced group meetings as the principal method of change for these patients. This Experiment, together with the Second Northfield Experiment associated with the innovations of S. H. Foulkes
S. H. Foulkes
Siegfried Heinrich Foulkes , born Siegfried Heinrich Fuchs in Karlsruhe, Germany, was the founder of Group Analysis, a specific form of group therapy, and the Group Analytic Society, London, which has an international membership in many countries....
, Tom Main and Harold Bridger, contributed the following elements to the emerging discipline of socio-analysis:
- Attention to, and making hypotheses, and interpretations, about conscious and unconsciousUnconscious mindThe unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
functioning at the level of the group. A group was no longer regarded as simply an aggregate of individuals, but as having its own intrinsic dynamics that required understanding and interpretation. - The concept of working therapeutically with the “institution as a whole", or the “whole community". The idea of the “therapeutic communityTherapeutic communityTherapeutic community is a term applied to a participative, group-based approach to long-term mental illness, personality disorders and drug addiction...
” which burgeoned after the Second World War, e.g. at the Menninger Clinic in Kansas, and the Cassel Hospital in London has its origins in Main’s work at Northfield. - The significance of creating "transitional space" for therapy, action projects, and development, so that people, (in this case patients), are enabled to take up their own authority for task. Bridger pioneered this approach at Northfield through his celebrated “Club”, a space for patients to make of it what they wished to, without the use of the space being determined by hospital or military staff. Bridger continued to develop this approach to working with groups and organisations of all kinds after the War.
Socio-analytic Role
The Northfield Experiments heralded a socio-analytic consultant role: one of exploration of individual, group, and organisational phenomena which are linked dynamically. The socio-analyst, as exemplified by the role Bion took at Northfield, and after the War in his group explorations at the Tavistock ClinicTavistock Clinic
The in London was founded in 1920 by Dr. Hugh Crichton-Miller, a psychiatrist who developed psychological treatments for shell-shocked soldiers during and after the First World War. The clinic's first patient was, however, a child. Its clinical services were always, therefore, for both children...
, works from a stance of “not knowing” with the courage, and fortitude, to pursue psychological truth.
The socio-analyst, like the psychoanalyst, uses concepts such as the unconscious
Unconscious mind
The unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
, defences, splitting
Splitting (psychology)
Splitting may mean two things: splitting of the mind, and splitting of mental concepts . The latter is thinking purely in extremes Splitting (also called all-or-nothing thinking in cognitive distortion) may mean two things: splitting of the mind, and splitting of mental concepts (or black and...
, projection
Psychological projection
Psychological projection or projection bias is a psychological defense mechanism where a person subconsciously denies his or her own attributes, thoughts, and emotions, which are then ascribed to the outside world, usually to other people...
, projective identification
Projective identification
Projective Identification is 'a term first used by Melanie Klein to describe a process whereby parts of the ego are thought of as forced into another person who is then expected to become identified with whatever has been projected'....
, introjection
Introjection
Introjection is a psychoanalytical term with a variety of meanings.Generally, it is regarded as the process where the subject replicates in itself behaviors, attributes or other fragments of the surrounding world, especially of other subjects...
, and transference
Transference
Transference is a phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the...
, but the field for exploration, while including the individual, is wider than the psychoanalytic dyad – e.g. a group, an organisation, a society, global systems.
Thus, for example, the socio-analyst uses concepts of group and organisational transference
Transference
Transference is a phenomenon in psychoanalysis characterized by unconscious redirection of feelings from one person to another. One definition of transference is "the inappropriate repetition in the present of a relationship that was important in a person's childhood." Another definition is "the...
, and pays particular attention to the way he/she is made to feel through client engagements, as a possible indication of unconscious
Unconscious mind
The unconscious mind is a term coined by the 18th century German romantic philosopher Friedrich Schelling and later introduced into English by the poet and essayist Samuel Taylor Coleridge...
dynamics within the client system.
Group Relations Theory and Tavistock Conferences
Bion’s exploration of group dynamicsGroup dynamics
Group dynamics refers to a system of behaviors and psychological processes that occur within a social group , or between social groups...
at the Tavistock Clinic
Tavistock Clinic
The in London was founded in 1920 by Dr. Hugh Crichton-Miller, a psychiatrist who developed psychological treatments for shell-shocked soldiers during and after the First World War. The clinic's first patient was, however, a child. Its clinical services were always, therefore, for both children...
in London after the war culminated in a seminal publication “Experiences in Groups”, which describes and analyses three basic assumptions that can be observed in group behaviour at different times: basic assumption dependency, basic assumption fight / flight, and basic assumption pairing. Basic assumptions operate unconsciously within groups at the same time a group may be engaged in a conscious work task – that Bion called a W group.
These insights of Bion together with theories of Kurt Lewin
Kurt Lewin
Kurt Zadek Lewin was a German-American psychologist, known as one of the modern pioneers of social, organizational, and applied psychology....
led to the first Group Relations Conference in 1957 that was sponsored by the Tavistock Institute
Tavistock Institute
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations is a British charity concerned with group behaviour and organisational behaviour. It was launched in 1946, when it separated from the Tavistock Clinic.-History of the Tavistock:...
of Human Relations and Leicester University, and directed by Eric Trist
Eric Trist
Eric Trist was a British scientist and leading figure in the field of Organizational development . He was one of the founders of the Tavistock Institute for Social Research in London.-Biography:...
.
Group Relations Conferences typically explore the effects of group and organisational dynamics on how individuals take up authority and leadership in this temporary institution, and in their work. The “Leicester” Conference as it came to be known under the leadership of A.K.Rice and colleagues such as Pierre Turquet, Eric Miller, Robert Gosling, and Bruce Reed stimulated similar explorations and enterprises in numerous countries: United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru, France, Éire, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Bulgaria, Finland, Belgium, Holland, Italy, Spain, South Africa, Israel, India, and Australia.
Other Influences
Other influences on the nascent discipline of socio-analysis that emerged from the work of social scientists at the Tavistock InstituteTavistock Institute
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations is a British charity concerned with group behaviour and organisational behaviour. It was launched in 1946, when it separated from the Tavistock Clinic.-History of the Tavistock:...
in the 1950s were action research
Action research
Action research or participatory action research – is a reflective process of progressive problem solving led by individuals working with others in teams or as part of a "community of practice" to improve the way they address issues and solve problems. Action research is done simply by action,...
; the discovery of socio-technical systems
Socio-technical systems
Sociotechnical systems in organizational development is an approach to complex organizational work design that recognizes the interaction between people and technology in workplaces. The term also refers to the interaction between society's complex infrastructures and human behaviour...
by Eric Trist
Eric Trist
Eric Trist was a British scientist and leading figure in the field of Organizational development . He was one of the founders of the Tavistock Institute for Social Research in London.-Biography:...
and Ken Bamforth, its development by Trist and Emery
Fred Emery
Frederick Edmund Emery, nick Fred, was an Australian psychologist. He was one of the pioneers in the field of Organizational development , particularly in the development of theory around participative work design structures such as self-managing teams. He was widely regarded as one of the finest...
, Rice and Miller; and Elliott Jaques
Elliott Jaques
Elliott Jaques was a Canadian psychoanalyst and organizational psychologist. He developed the notion of requisite organization from his 'stratified systems theory', running counter to many others in the field of organizational development...
and Isabel Menzies concept of social systems being structured as a defence against anxiety
Social Dreaming
A recent methodology for the exploration of social phenomena has been the discovery of social dreamingSocial dreaming
Social dreaming is a method for identifying the cultural knowledge and scientific method deployed in the dream - not the oedipal issues experienced by the dreamer. Social dreaming takes place with many participants simultaneously. The number can be 100 to 6, but mostly with about 30. The sessions...
by Gordon Lawrence at the Tavistock Institute
Tavistock Institute
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations is a British charity concerned with group behaviour and organisational behaviour. It was launched in 1946, when it separated from the Tavistock Clinic.-History of the Tavistock:...
in 1982.
Social Dreaming is the activity of sharing dreams (night dreams), associations to the dreams, and connections between dreams, with others in a Matrix setting. The focus of social dreaming (unlike in psychoanalysis or dreaming groups) is not on the meaning of the dream for the individual dreamer, but regarding the dreams and associations as a way of exploring and making social meaning. Conferences to explore social dreaming have been held in Israel, the United States, Australia, India, and most European countries.
Up until 1996 the work that has been described in this article went under different labels. There was no one word that described the activities and the role. Alastair Bain suggested that the discipline should be called “Socio-Analysis” in 1996.
Organisations
The Australian Institute of Socio-Analysis pioneered a three year professional training program in socio-analysis in 1999, and began publishing a Journal “Socio-Analysis” in 1999. While the Australian Institute of Socio-Analysis no longer exists the work of socio-analysis continues to be developed by the Centre for Socio-Analysis in Melbourne http://www.acsa.net.au. Other organisations which do socio-analytic or closely related work include the William Alanson White InstituteWilliam Alanson White Institute
The William Alanson White Institute, founded in 1946, is an institution for training psychoanalysts and psychotherapists. It is located in New York City, USA, on the Upper West Side, in the Clara Thompson building....
in New York, the A.K. Rice Institute in the United States, the Tavistock Institute
Tavistock Institute
The Tavistock Institute of Human Relations is a British charity concerned with group behaviour and organisational behaviour. It was launched in 1946, when it separated from the Tavistock Clinic.-History of the Tavistock:...
and Tavistock Clinic
Tavistock Clinic
The in London was founded in 1920 by Dr. Hugh Crichton-Miller, a psychiatrist who developed psychological treatments for shell-shocked soldiers during and after the First World War. The clinic's first patient was, however, a child. Its clinical services were always, therefore, for both children...
in London, the Grubb Institute http://www.grubb.org.uk/ and OPUS http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~opusuk/, both in London, the Centre for Applied Research in Philadelphia, the International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations http://www.ispso.org/, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, the University of Wuppertal http://www.wiwi.uni-wuppertal.de/Startseite.1566.0.html, and practitioners from many countries who work in the tradition of Wilfred Bion. The Journal “Socio-Analysis” is now published by Group Relations Australia.http://www.grouprelations.org.au/
Organisational Dreaming
Current developments in socio-analysis include Bain’s discovery of Organisational Dreaming,which is based on the observation that dreams are “container sensitive”, and that the dreams shared by people within an organisation during a project will reflect organisational realities that are the “unexpressed known” within the organisation.
Authority, Wonder and the Sangha
The work of the Centre for Socio-Analysis has also led to a formulation of “AuthorityAuthority
The word Authority is derived mainly from the Latin word auctoritas, meaning invention, advice, opinion, influence, or command. In English, the word 'authority' can be used to mean power given by the state or by academic knowledge of an area .-Authority in Philosophy:In...
” that is based in Wonder
Wonder
Wonder most commonly refers to:* Wonder , an emotion comparable to surprise that people feel when perceiving something rare or unexpected.Wonder may also refer to:In fiction* Wonder Boys, a 1995 novel by Michael Chabon...
and the Sangha
Sangha
Sangha is a word in Pali or Sanskrit that can be translated roughly as "association" or "assembly," "company" or "community" with common goal, vision or purpose...
(Buddhist notion of “people on the path”) in contrast to usual understandings that are based on the Individual, Anxiety
Anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components. The root meaning of the word anxiety is 'to vex or trouble'; in either presence or absence of psychological stress, anxiety can create feelings of fear, worry, uneasiness,...
, and Hierarchy
Hierarchy
A hierarchy is an arrangement of items in which the items are represented as being "above," "below," or "at the same level as" one another...
.
External links
- Centre for Socio-Analysis in Australia.
- Grubb Institute in UK.
- Group Relations Australia
- International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organisations
- IPTAR
- National Institute of Organisation Dynamics Australia (NIODA)
- OPUS, UK.
- Social Dreaming Institute
- Tavistock Clinic
- Tavistock Institute
- University of Wuppertal
- PRO consult the Netherlands
- http://akriceinstitute.org/ The A.K. Rice Institute