From Crowd Psychology to the Dynamics of Large Groups: Historical, Theoretical and Practical Considerations PDF
Preview From Crowd Psychology to the Dynamics of Large Groups: Historical, Theoretical and Practical Considerations
“Carla Penna takes us on a journey through centuries of thought about persons whoarebothsocialbeingsaswellassentientones.Herbookismorethanasetof reflections,asitcomprisesacomprehensivesurveyofthepoliticalandsociological nature of groups, communities, and societies. It then considers the various con- temporary forms of therapy in groups. We are invited to see how social theorists such as Kurt Lewin or Norbert Elias contributed to therapeutic thinking, whilst therapeutic practice has informed sociological thinking. This multi-dimensional pictureshowshumanbeingswithinthematrixofthesocietieswhichhumanshave created,andhowthatmatrixcanhealusaswellasformus.” R.D. Hinshelwood, psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, Professor of Psychoanalysis, University of Essex “At lasta helpful and scholarly account of the theoretical history of Large Group Theory. The book is to be recommended for forging a link between sociology, psychoanalysis, and up to date group analysis. Readers are left in no doubt that large group phenomena can only be comprehended in an inter-disciplinary way and that there are more ways than one to look at human gatherings in large numbers.” Gerhard Wilke, group analyst, an independent organizational consultant in London, and an Associate of the Ashridge Business School “From CrowdPsychologyto the Dynamics ofLarge Groups is anessential additionto the literature on how to understand, and live with, the demands of our trou- bledtimes.Moving withgreat clarityandenergythrough thehistoryof hordes, herds, masses, and crowds, and drawing from her deep understanding of group psychologies and group analysis, Carla Penna offers both a balanced and well- informed guide to group theory and a set of innovative ideas for confronting social and psychological reality.” Stephen Frosh, PhD, Professor of Psychosocial Studies, Birkbeck, University of London “Carla Penna’s book From Crowd Psychology to the Dynamics of Large Groups: His- torical, Theoreticaland PracticalConsiderationsis amonumentalresearchproject.The bookisrichwithfactsandideas,describingthedevelopmentoftheconceptofthe crowd,thebirthoftheworkofBion(theTavistockInstitute)andFoulkes(Group Analysis), the unstructured psychodynamic Large Group, Unconscious Social Processes, and Hopper’s fourth basic assumption of Incohesion. Penna integrates sociology, psychology, and group analysis in a very fluent and smooth way. Her historical research is broad and reveals many important facts from the end of the nineteenth century until today. This breadth is breathtaking. In today’s world, at the beginning of the third decade of the twenty-first century, flooded by social conflicts, polarization, divisiveness, and mass impact of social media, this book is essential in order to understand the large social group unconscious processes. Its perspective allows the reader to take some distance from current political, socio- logical, and cultural crises and to look at them from a wider angle. This book is highly recommended for sociologists, historians, psychologists, psychotherapists, group therapists, group analysts, and anyone who is interested in understanding moreaboutunconscioussocialprocesses.” HaimWeinberg,PhD,psychologistandgroupanalystinCaliforniaandIsrael,past President,IsraeliAssociationforGroupPsychotherapy,andformerDirectorofInternational Programs,ProfessionalSchoolofPsychology,California “Carla Penna puts at our disposition her encyclopedic knowledge on phe- nomena involving large numbers of persons. She approaches the context of masses with psychoanalytic and group analytic tools, first ‘mapping the field’ of the unconscious life of crowds, illuminating the darkness of the twenty-first century crowds and masses.” Robi Friedman, PhD, group analyst, past President of the Group Analytic Society International “This book represents an impressive tour de force. The author takes us on an exciting journey into a transdiciplinary analysis and investigation of the psy- chodynamics of the larger group, starting with Durkheim and Le Bon over Freud to the Frankfurt School, the Northfield experiments, Bion and Foulkes, ending up with Hopper’s fourth basic assumption of Incohesion. It is an out- standing achievement and it is warmly recommended.” Gerda Winther, MA, psychologist, former Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Copenhagen, and past President of the Group Analytic Society International “Carla Penna’s particular view from Brazil, combined with her many years of experience as practitioner, teacher, and academic of psychoanalysis and group analysis, enables a full study of where we are now in understanding large groups. She provides an expansive perspective with access to writers from Latin America and Europe often with her own translations.” Dr Jale Cilasun, BM FRCPsych, consultant psychiatrist, specialist in medical psychotherapy and group analyst “This is a much-needed book – in time and on time. In a world where crowds take many different forms globally and virtually, transcending lives everywhere, this transdisciplinary study investigates crowds as social and psychological phe- nomena historically and contemporary based on an impressive command of knowledge. However, the focus turns to the social unconscious as the most important tool for the understanding of the complicated and often incompre- hensible processes that go on in the large groups that forms the crowds. The author is a psychoanalyst and group analyst and is drawing on theories and clinical experience of large group dynamics where the interaction in the social unconscious between the individual and the large group takes place.” AnneLindhardt,psychiatrist,trainedgroupanalyst,formerDirectorofMentalServices, Copenhagen,andChairpersonofInstituteofGroupAnalysisCopenhagen From Crowd Psychology to the Dynamics of Large Groups FromCrowdPsychologytotheDynamicsofLargeGroupsofferstransdisciplinaryresearch on the history of the study of social formations, ranging from nineteenth-century crowd psychology in France and twentieth-century Freudian mass psychology, includingthedevelopmentsincriticaltheory,tothestudyofthepsychodynamicsof contemporarylargegroups. Carla Penna presents a unique combination of sociology, psychoanalysis, and group analysis in the study of social formations. This book revisits the epistemo- logical basis of group analysis by introducing and discussing its historical path, especially in connection with the study of large groups and investigations of the socialunconsciousinpersons,groups,andsocieties.Italsoexploresearlyworkon group relations and contemporary research on the basic-assumption group in England, particularlyHopper’s theory of Incohesion as a fourthbasic assumption. FromCrowdPsychologytotheDynamicsofLargeGroupsenablesthereadertomapout thefieldoftheunconsciouslifeofcrowdsilluminatingthedarknessoftwenty-first centurycollectivemovements. The reflections in this book present new perspectives for psychologists, psychoanalysts, group analysts, sociologists, and historians to investigate the psychodynamics of contemporary crowds, masses, and social systems. Carla Penna, PhD, is a psychoanalyst and a group analyst in Brazil. She is a member of thePsychoanalytic Circleof Rio de Janeiro andtheGroup Analytic Society International. The New International Library of Group Analysis Series Editor: Earl Hopper Drawing on the seminal ideas of British, European and American group analysts, psychoanalysts, social psychologists and social scientists, the books in this series focus on the study of small and large groups, organisations and other social systems, and on the study of the transpersonal and transge- nerational sociality of human nature. NILGA books will be required reading for the members of professional organisations in the field of group analysis, psychoanalysis, and related social sciences. They will be indispensable for the "formation" of students of psychotherapy, whether they are mainly interested in clinical work with patients or in consultancy to teams and organisational clients within the private and public sectors. Recent titles in the series include: Psychoanalysis, Group Analysis, and Beyond Towards a New Paradigm of the Human Being Juan Tubert-Oklander and Reyna Hernández-Tubert An Introduction to Psychotherapeutic Playback Theater Hall of Mirrors on Stage Ronen Kowalsky, Nir Raz and Shoshi Keisari with Susana Pendzik Psycho-social Explorations of Trauma, Exclusion and Violence Un-housed Minds and Inhospitable Environments Christopher Scanlon and John Adlam Sibling Relations and the Horizontal Axis in Theory and Practice Contemporary Group Analysis, Psychoanalysis and Organization Consultancy Edited by Smadar Ashuach and Avi Berman From Crowd Psychology to the Dynamics of Large Groups Historical, Theoretical and Practical Considerations Carla Penna From Crowd Psychology to the Dynamics of Large Groups Historical, Theoretical and Practical Considerations Carla Penna Coverimage:wildpixel/GettyImages Firstpublished2023 byRoutledge 4ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 605ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10158 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2023CarlaPenna TherightofCarlaPennatobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhasbeen assertedinaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright,Designsand PatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting fromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithout intenttoinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguing-in-PublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequestedforthisbook ISBN:978-0-367-02449-9(hbk) ISBN:978-0-367-02450-5(pbk) ISBN:978-0-429-39953-4(ebk) DOI:10.4324/9780429399534 TypesetinBembo byTaylor&FrancisBooks To the continued presence of Carlos and Renato Contents List of tables xii Acknowledgements xiii Series Foreword xiv Introduction 1 1 Nineteenth-century crowd psychology 7 Modernity and the construction of the concept of the individual 7 From the individual to the crowd in the nineteenth century 12 The nineteenth century and the zenith of European civilization: perspectives and fears 14 Crowd psychology in the nineteenth century 18 Gabriel Tarde: the laws of imitation, the science of opinion, and the crowd 21 Gustave Le Bon and crowd psychology 26 2 Twentieth-century Freudian mass psychology 34 From crowd to mass psychology in the twentieth century 34 Sigmund Freud’s mass psychology 37 The mass, the unconscious, and the libidinal tie 42 The drive circuit in group ties: an economic point of view 47 The illusory nature of group formations 52 The legacy of Freud’s mass psychology 55 3 Twentieth-century left-wing mass psychology 57 Freudo-Marxism 58 The Frankfurt School and mass psychology 62 Two critical contributions to Freud’s mass psychology: Lukács and Adorno 66 x Contents 4 Reflections on a society of individuals 73 Interweaving theories 73 The sociology of Georg Simmel 75 The study of socialization (Vergesellschaftung) or sociation in individual-society relations 76 Norbert Elias and the interdependent individuals 80 The individualization and the we–I balance in The Society of Individuals 81 The concept of figuration 86 Approximations between Simmel and Elias 89 Towards a society of persons 90 5 The Northfield experiments: the cradle of group work in England 93 The Northfield experiments: some early influences 94 The Northfield experiments: 1942–1946 96 Rickman and Bion: the first experiment 97 Bridger, Main, and Foulkes: the second experiment 99 Legacies 106 6 Group relations and Bion’s legacy 109 After World War II 109 The creation of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations 110 Bion’s basic-assumption group and the work group 111 The creation of the group relations conferences 115 7 Towards new basic assumptions in groups 119 A new world Zeitgeist for group work 119 Towards the postulation of new basic assumptions 121 Pierre Turquet: the theory of Oneness 122 Lawrence, Bain, and Gould: the Me-ness theory 131 8 Foulkes and group analysis: the development of the theory of the social unconscious 136 Foulkes and group analysis 136 The internalization of the external world and the notion of social unconscious 138 The “social a priori” and the social unconscious 141 Group analysis and the social unconscious 142
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