Table Of Content“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
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©2023CarlaPenna
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knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin
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Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered
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intenttoinfringe.
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AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
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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
