Experiencing, understanding, and dealing with intergroup and institutional conflict

Abstract

In this chapter, the author examines the application of the principles and practices of the group relations approach in conjunction with a historically determined conflict between psychoanalytic professional groups. The group relations approach assumes that communication, that is, the sharing of experience, is a necessary but not a sufficient basis for building understanding and, with it, trust. The author focuses on two models, both derived from psychoanalysis, as the theoretical base for his understanding of group and institutional dynamics. The first of these stems from Melanie Klein's theories of splitting and projection and of the paranoidschizoid and depressive positions, particularly as modified and extended by W. R. Bion. The second stems from Bion's own theory of group dynamics, especially the phenomena he referred to as basic assumption Fight/Flight. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, the eminent American political columnist, Irving Kristol, took social science experts to task over the proven ineffectiveness of their theories of conflict resolution.