Commentary on Woodger’s ‘Large Group Work: Identity Development and Its Significance for Achieving Race Equality’

Abstract

Introduction What is exciting about Woodger’s article is that it demonstrates how an experiential large group in a training context can be the instrument for effecting change. Change not only in the members as they get to know themselves better, not only in the learning that takes place about group dynamics or the subject of their education, which is stated to be about understanding of racism and identity in this case, but the beginnings of social change. I will comment on the group analytic concepts and practices that relate to this work, in particular the concept of the social unconscious, I will introduce Agazarian’s notions of stereotypical and functional subgroups, and end with some examples of large group experiences from the large group that is held at the Institute of Group Analysis, another training context that uses large groups.