Lost in Familiar Places: Creating New Connections Between the Individual and Society

Abstract

In this little book, the authors have chosen the formidable task of integrating psychoanalytic concepts into group and organizational dynamics. Their central theme is how individuals can use introspective understanding of their own lives to further their understanding of their group's dynamics. They begin by establishing the notion that, because we live in a rapidly changing social environment, the stability we used to experience in our social institutions no longer seems a reliable reference point from which to establish our sense of who we are. As a result, as the title suggests, many of us are lost in familiar places. First, the family is examined to explore how the individual interfaces with his first group experience. The authors introduce the concept of personal boundaries and how excessive certainty and a lack of interpersonal curiosity may stifle a child's ability to negotiate her interpretation of her innner and outer environment. A