The concepts of the social unconscious and of the matrix in the work of S. H. Foulkes

2018 ◽  
pp. 3-25
Author(s):  
Dieter Nitzgen ◽  
Earl Hopper
Keyword(s):  
The Social ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Social Unconscious

A history of the struggle against racism in the social unconscious of group analysis

2021 ◽  
pp. 053331642098473
Author(s):  
Dick Blackwell
Keyword(s):  
Group Analysis ◽  
Institutional Racism ◽  
Unconscious Processes ◽  
Unconscious Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Unconscious ◽  
History Of ◽  
Conscious Belief

Institutional racism is a social unconscious process. It is the collective operation of shared unconscious assumptions and values that exist in groupings and cultures such as group analytic institutions where individuals may consciously believe they are not racist. In such cultures this conscious belief is protected by unconscious processes of denial, avoidance and negation. Attempts to address the issue within group analysis reveal some of its problematic dynamics.

scholarly journals The Meaning of the Matrix: Towards a Cybernetic Critical Theory of Capitalism

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Shay Hershkovitz
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Theoretical Concept ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
System A ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Entity ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Operational Logic

Marxist criticism is most discernible; despite the oft-repeated claim that it is now irrelevant, belonging to an age now past. This essay assumes that criticism originating in the Marxist school of thought continue to be relevant also in this present time; though it may need to be further developed and improved by integrating newer critical approaches into the classic Marxist discourse. This essay therefore integrates basic Marxist ideas with key concepts from ‘social systems theory’; especially the theory of the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann's. In this light, capitalism is conceptualized here as a ‘super (social) system’: a meaning-creating social entity, in which social actors, behaviors and structures are realized. This theoretical concept and terminology emphasizes the social construction of control and stability, when discussing the operational logic of capitalism.

The white mirror: Face to face with racism in group analysis part 1—mainly theory

2021 ◽  
pp. 053331642199231
Author(s):  
Anne Aiyegbusi
Keyword(s):  
Black People ◽  
Group Analysis ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Individual Group ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Unconscious ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Trauma Response

Group analysis privileges the social and political, aiming to address individual distress and ‘disturbance’ within a representation of the context it developed and persists in. Reproducing the presence and impact of racism in groups comes easily while creating conditions for reparation can be complicated. This is despite considerable contributions to the subject of racism by group analysts. By focusing on an unconscious, defensive manoeuvre I have observed in groups when black people describe racism in their lives, I hope to build upon the existing body of work. I will discuss the manoeuvre which I call the white mirror. I aim to theoretically elucidate the white mirror. I will argue that it can be understood as a vestigial trauma response with roots as far back as the invention of ‘race’. Through racialized sedimentation in the social unconscious, it has been generationally transmitted into the present day. It emerges in an exacerbated way within the amplified space of analytic groups when there is ethnically-diverse membership. I argue it is inevitable and even essential that racism emerges in groups as a manifestation of members’ racialized social unconscious including that of the conductor(s). This potentially offers opportunities for individual, group and societal reparation and healing. However, when narratives of racism are instead pushed to one side, regarded as a peripheral issue of concern only to minority black or other members of colour, I ask whether systems of segregation, ghettoization or colonization are replicated in analytic groups. This is the first of two articles about the white mirror. The second article which is also published in this issue highlights practice implications.

So What is this Social Unconscious Anyway?

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haim Weinberg
Keyword(s):  
Building Blocks ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Working Definition ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Unconscious ◽  
Complex Term

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.

scholarly journals Kristevan Femininity and Negative Theology in Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine, I and II

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Takapoui
Keyword(s):  
Julia Kristeva ◽  
Negative Theology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Unconscious

Christopher Marlowe’s characters, brought along from far-off corners of history to the centre stage, are rid of the illusive integrity of Selfhood. His plays are also famous for their reluctance to favour domestic and female atmosphere. Despite such views, Marlowe’s drama enjoys a specific aura of femininity which is pressed by contemporary French feminist theoreticians, namely Julia Kristeva who finds the term essentially irrelevant to genders, but a spatial and temporal concept. In the present study, such supposition of the absence of femininity in Marlovian drama is questioned, doubted, and eventually rejected. The outlandish characters are also found in the heart of the very society Marlowe was living, only in a theatrical disguise, drawn back into spotlight from the level of the social unconscious.

scholarly journals Social Sciences, Complexity and Sociology of the Present in Edgar Morin

2019 ◽  
pp. 41-52
Author(s):  
Alex Galeno ◽  
Fagner Torres de França
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Open Method ◽  
Complex Thinking ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Narrative Ability ◽  
Epistemological Basis

The article intends to revisit the contribution of the french thinker Edgar Morin (1921-) to the construction of a plural and open method of research in Social Sciences. We will have as theoretical-epistemological basis the sociology of the present, an approach of social phenomena developed by the author during three decades, from the 1940s to the 1970s, constituting the matrix of complex thinking. The present work defends the idea that the central categories of the present sociology, such as phenomenon, crisis and event, as well as the so-called living method of empirical research are still fundamental today in the sense of proposing an opening of the social sciences to phenomena increasingly more complex and multidimensional. This presupposes the researcher's subjective and objective engagement, narrative ability, and sensitivity to grasp revealing detail.

scholarly journals A Systematic Comparison of Factors Affecting the Choice of Matrix Language in Three Bilingual Communities

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana Carter ◽  
Peredur Davies ◽  
Margaret Deuchar ◽  
María del Carmen Parafita Couto
Keyword(s):  
Word Order ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Speech Community ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Structural Relationships ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Bilingual Corpora ◽  
Bilingual Communities ◽  
The Impact

AbstractIn this paper we compare the code-switching (CS) patterns in three bilingual corpora collected in Wales, Miami and Patagonia, Argentina. Using the Matrix Language Framework to do a clause-based analysis of a sample of data, we consider the impact of structural relationships and extra-linguistic factors on CS patterns. We find that the Matrix Language (ML) is uniform where the language pairs have contrasting word orders, as in Welsh-English (VSO-SVO) and WelshSpanish (VSO-SVO) but diverse where the word order is similar as in Spanish-English (SVO-SVO). We find that the diversity of the ML in Miami is related to the diversity of degrees of proficiency, ethnic identities, and social networks amongst members of that community, while the uniformity of the ML in Wales is related to the uniformity of these factors. This is not so clear in Patagonia, however, where there is little CS produced in conversation. We suggest that the members of the speech community use Spanish or Welsh mostly in a monolingual mode, depending on the interlocutor and the social situation.

Open wounds: visible physical disability and its meaning for the group and society

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sue Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Physical Disability ◽  
Social Models ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Group I ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Unconscious ◽  
Social Treatment ◽  
Handless Maiden

This article presents an exploration of the unconscious social treatment of physical disability and its transformational potential. In particular, I focus on the apparent difficulty talking about underlying emotion stimulated by disability. The social models address discrimination but obscure underlying emotion. The problem of physical disability appears to be located within an individual. I argue that this is done by mechanisms of projection and splitting and refer to the social unconscious and I suggest the problem is located within the group. I explore the process of shame and use myth of the Handless Maiden. I highlight the conductor’s role in facilitating communication and discuss self-disclosure. Personal examples and a group vignette are presented to illustrate ideas.

Multidimensionality and the Matrix: Identifying Charter Violations in Cases of Complex Subordination

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerri A. Froc
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Supreme Court Of Canada ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Aboriginal Women ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
The Government ◽  
Relations Of Power ◽  
Aboriginal Groups

AbstractThe failure of the Supreme Court of Canada to give more than lip service to “context” when considering claims under s. 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms arises largely from the Court's analytic framework, which resists recognizing the social relations of power inherent in complex cases of oppression. The precise nature of the flaws in the Court's analysis is demonstrated in a number of thoughtful feminist critiques that received recognition in the recent decision in R. v. Kapp. While it is too soon to tell whether the Court intends to depart completely from the past decade of s. 15 jurisprudence, equality-seeking groups now have greater opportunities to advance alternative theoretical frameworks for Charter interpretation. This article discusses one such framework, multidimensionality theory, which focuses on the interaction of systems of oppression, conceptualized as an invisible matrix—a vast network of complex, overlapping, interactive, and mutually reinforcing systems. The operation of the systems obscures their effects, and their complexity renders outcomes difficult to predict when they interconnect at sites of subordination and privilege. One can expose the operation of the systems by looking at particular sites of oppression/privilege and considering the contradictions or “inexplicability” of the circumstances based on one system alone. The author argues that the failure of the Charter claim at the heart of the Supreme Court's decision in Native Women's Association of Canada v. Canada demonstrates the need for courts to employ multidimensionality theory in cases of complex oppression. In NWAC, multidimensionality theory reveals that the “dominant” Aboriginal groups were involved in the negotiation/performance of hegemonic masculinities within a racial/colonial context that provided them with justification to suppress NWAC's independent promotion of the interests of Aboriginal women in constitutional negotiations with the government, and that the government was complicit in this performance. By framing the freedom of expression issue as whether NWAC had a “special” right to a speaking platform, and the equality issue as exclusively one of determining whether NWAC could prove the other groups were “male dominated,” the Court fragmented considerations of patriarchy from those of racism and colonization, distorting the synergistic effect of the systems of oppression and reinforcing colonial ideology.

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