Organising for Change? Group-Analytic Perspectives on a Feminist Action Research Project

Drawing on my experience of managing a research project on domestic violence service provision to women from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, I elaborate three examples to illustrate the relevance and application of group-analytic concepts and interpretations. First, I outline some striking resonances between the research topic and process within the research team, focusing on the negotiation of similarities and differences within this team arising from its commitment to feminist antiracist work, and how tensions between these two foundational ‘group illusions’ were realized when convening support groups. The third example addresses how dilemmas around safety, secrecy, containment and entrapment came to figure within the research team process, and describes strategies to resolve these difficulties. The paper ends by reviewing the relative compatibility between group analysis and other frameworks for the analysis of, and intervention within, social change projects.

The Social Unconscious: A Post-Foulkesian Perspective

The paper begins with a critique of orthodox renditions of the social unconscious which (a) retain divisions between a personal sphere and a social sphere, and (b) which are said to be in conflict with each other The ways in which these are instituted in various psychoanalytic and group-analytic theorizations are briefly delineated. Next, the two versions of the social unconscious (an orthodox and a radical) that are found in Foulkes are described. Elias's notion of process reduction is then used to deconstruct the philosophical basis of the orthodox version of the social unconscious. The thoughts of Radical Foulkes are extended by drawing on Elias and Matte-Blanco, bringing the notion of power into the theoretical schema. This is followed by an examinantion of the impact of the notion of power on Foulkes's conception of the communicational field. Finally, the article describes the consequences of the impact of power on the construction of the psyches of individuals as well as interpersonal relations.

The Group in the Unconscious

In this article, the author proceeds from the individual to the group by elaborating the group matrix in each individual’s unique unconscious. The article ends with a brief outlook from a group-analytic perspective on to the global village.

So What is this Social Unconscious Anyway?

Although the concept of the Social Unconscious has increased in importance in the group analytic literature recently, there are still many misconceptions and misunderstandings about it and its practical applications. While some papers define the term, there are no papers explaining the basics of the social unconscious and what it includes. The purpose of this article is to address the misconceptions, describe the basic building blocks of the social unconscious, and develop a working definition for this complex term.

Re-imagining decision making: addressing a discrete social driver of HIV/AIDS through the lens of complexity science

This article argues that decision making is a discrete social driver that can be associated with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Limpopo province in South Africa. The authors argue that complexity science can inform future research and interventions by presenting two decision making frameworks arising out of complexity science that have the potential to enable young people to better negotiate decision-making contexts whilst simultaneously opening spaces of dialogue that can mitigate the impact of HIV-risk in specific, punctuated contexts. The methodological design was prompted by findings from youth-oriented community engagement projects that include Communication Conversations and Sex & Relationships Education. The proposed methods have the potential to exploit the phenomenon of leadership emergence as a product of decision making at critical moments. This has the potential to promote the growth of home-grown leadership skill sets that make sense to young people and to enable them better manage their own health, thus reducing risk and vulnerability to HIV infection and sexual violence.