Ego Training in Action in Culture and History

Abstract

Referring to Foulkes's thesis on `ego training in action' this article draws particular attention to the cultural and historical impacts on this self-organized learning process of the individual in group analysis. First, the reflections of Norbert Elias on configurations in German culture are presented. In a second step the conceptualization of early infant upbringing will be analysed in a way that is decentred from the mother-child relationship towards the configurations of the surrounding society. Third, it is suggested that the German habitus is reflected in early infant upbringing in the 1930s, in the pattern of detachment. Finally, by focusing on the individual, there will be a brief discussion of how understanding and attachment can prevent the development from pain to violence: by ego training in action in culture and history.