Routledge The Social Unconscious in Persons, Groups and Societies: Mainly Theory (The New International Library of Group Analysis)

The social unconscious is vital for understanding persons and their groupings, ranging from families to societies, committees to organisations, and from small to median to large therapeutic groups, and essential for comprehensive clinical work. This series of volumes of contributions from an international network of psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, group analysts and psychodramatists draw on the classical ideas of Freud, Klein and Jung, Bion, Foulkes and Moreno, and on contemporary relational perspectives, self-psychology and neuroscience. Volume 1 is concerned mainly with the theory of the social unconscious. It is focused on topics such as location, sociality, the social brain, identity, ideology, the foundation matrix, social psychological retreats, false collective self-objects, the collective unconscious and its archetypes and social dreaming. Review "A collage of essays on overlapping and interdependent areas of theory and clinical application, which is accessible to the beginning clinician in individual or group work, and will extend the reach of the most sophisticated theoretician."--David Scharff, MD, coordinator of the International Psychotherapy Institute and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry "A major contribution to the literature about how we are governed by social and cultural forces that we glimpse mostly only in passing. This collection draws on the work of major contemporary theorists, and offers a definitive account of the social unconscious that will be of value to everyone working on the interfaces between psychology, psychoanalysis, sociology, social theory, and group analysis."--Stephen Frosh, PhD, Professor of Psychology "An international collection that looks into the psyche and out to the social world, far into the past and deeply into the present, providing an integrated perspective on the effects of cultural and social forces on the continuing development of individuals, families and social organizations. It points to a future in which psychoanalysis can arrive at a fuller understanding of the human condition."--Jill Savege Scharff, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry "Outstanding clinicians from four continents explore the concept and implications of the social unconscious, filled with information on the myriad of ways that psychic and social realities intersect, including socio-political structures and their effects on individuals."--Howard D. Kibel, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, New York Medical College and Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry "The clearest and most definitive statement about unconscious processes in social groups to date. A momentous volume that will define the field for decades to come; essential reading for all of us."--Peter Fonagy, PhD, FBA, Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, University College London, and Chief Executive "The Introduction to this book, written by its co-editors, is a cornerstone for the understanding of the complex concept of the social unconscious. A brilliant and precise historical review. a precious gift to group analysts the world over."--Hanna Biran, psychoanalyst and group analyst, Tel Aviv, Israel "This edited volume of erudite papers places the topic of the social unconscious in the framework of contemporary psychoanalytic and group theory. Compelling reading, stimulating, informative, and well written."--Richard Billow, PhD, Clinical Professor and Director of the Group Program of the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies About the Author Earl Hopper