The Tripartite Matrix in the Developing Theory and Expanding Practice of Group Analysis explores the social unconscious in persons, groups and societies in terms of the "un-acknowledged" restraints and constraints of our social and cultural groupings. In this context, Earl Hopper and an international team of contributors elucidate the theory and concept of the tripartite matrix as a tool for the deeper understanding of the human condition and for clinical work in various settings. They consider topics ranging from envy to intersectionality, and from addiction to the inability to mourn. The Tripartite Matrix in the Developing Theory and Expanding Practice of Group Analysis will be of great interest to group analysts, psychoanalytical group therapists, psychoanalysts and psycho-dramatists, as well as to social scientists more generally. Its extensive bibliography will be of particular value to students.

The Tripartite Matrix in the Developing Theory and Expanding Practice of Group Analysis explores the social unconscious in persons, groups and societies in terms of the "un-acknowledged" restraints and constraints of our social and cultural groupings. In this context, Earl Hopper and an international team of contributors elucidate the theory and concept of the tripartite matrix as a tool for the deeper understanding of the human condition and for clinical work in various settings. They consider topics ranging from envy to intersectionality, and from addiction to the inability to mourn. The Tripartite Matrix in the Developing Theory and Expanding Practice of Group Analysis will be of great interest to group analysts, psychoanalytical group therapists, psychoanalysts and psycho-dramatists, as well as to social scientists more generally. Its extensive bibliography will be of particular value to students.

In this book, the authors develop the theory of the tripartite matrix, consider music as a form of non-verbal communication as a sub-dimension of the matrix, and present empirical studies of the matrices of peoples in three societies in the Middle East. It aids in the project of group analysis.

This book is concerned with the study of myths, which are an important element in the cultural dimension of the foundation matrices of all societies. It focuses on topics such as transmission, the foundation matrix, the social unconscious, totalitarianism, massification, and identity formation.

The social unconscious is vital for understanding persons and their groupings, ranging from families to societies, committees to organisations, and from small to median to large therapeutic groups, and essential for comprehensive clinical work. This series of volumes of contributions from an international network of psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, group analysts and psychodramatists draw on the classical ideas of Freud, Klein and Jung, Bion, Foulkes and Moreno, and on contemporary relational perspectives, self-psychology and neuroscience. Volume 1 is concerned mainly with the theory of the social unconscious. It is focused on topics such as location, sociality, the social brain, identity, ideology, the foundation matrix, social psychological retreats, false collective self-objects, the collective unconscious and its archetypes and social dreaming.

In this book, the authors develop the theory of the tripartite matrix, consider music as a form of non-verbal communication as a sub-dimension of the matrix, and present empirical studies of the matrices of peoples in three societies in the Middle East. It aids in the project of group analysis.

This book is concerned with the study of organizations of various kinds. It examines the patterns of conscious and unconscious life of those organizations in which traumatic experience is ubiquitous and understanding the variations in individual, group, and organizations.

The social unconscious is vital for understanding persons and their groupings, ranging from families to societies, committees to organisations, and from small to median to large therapeutic groups, and essential for comprehensive clinical work. This series of volumes of contributions from an international network of psychoanalysts, analytical psychologists, group analysts and psychodramatists draw on the classical ideas of Freud, Klein and Jung, Bion, Foulkes and Moreno, and on contemporary relational perspectives, self-psychology and neuroscience. Volume 1 is concerned mainly with the theory of the social unconscious. It is focused on topics such as location, sociality, the social brain, identity, ideology, the foundation matrix, social psychological retreats, false collective self-objects, the collective unconscious and its archetypes and social dreaming.

This collection of new contributions from psychoanalysts, group analysts and organizational consultants from Europe, Australia and the United States examines the patterns of conscious and unconscious life of those organizations in which traumatic experience is ubiquitous. Among the organizations studied are hospitals and clinics for the care and treatment of the mentally ill and the intellectually disabled; prisons; international industrial and financial firms; trade unions; universities and institutes for training mental health professionals; and churches.Drawing from Freudian, Kleinian, Independent and Lacanian perspectives in psychoanalysis and from Foulkesian and Bionian perspectives in group analysis, the authors illustrate the fourth basic assumption of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification, and elucidate the painful personifications of it. Of special interest are the transmission of psychotic anxieties and the traumatic enactments of them, especially when people are insensitive to the rights and obligations of organisational citizenship.

This book is concerned with the study of myths, which are an important element in the cultural dimension of the foundation matrices of all societies. It focuses on topics such as transmission, the foundation matrix, the social unconscious, totalitarianism, massification, and identity formation.

In this text, Earl Hopper has made a major contribution to the understanding of the depth and breadth of individuals and how we might help them to know more of their patterns of relatedness with others, inter-personally, socially and culturally. Of particular note is the open honest manner of his consideration of his counter-transference and these can be clearly observed in the abundance of pertinent vignettes. This book draws attention to theory and practice in relation to a side of therapeutic work insufficiently attended to and will reward readers at all stages of professional development. It is written in a clear, accessible style and manages to convey complex ideas in a readily comprehensible manner'. - Psychotherapy and politics international 'The Social Unconscious represents a line of thinking whose time has come. From bullying and youth violence in schools, to bombings in our cities, to anti-semitic or anti-Muslim activities and other race or religious hatred, to anxieties, well founded or otherwise, about immigration - wherever we live, all of us are touched and shaped by these events... This book draws attention to theory and practice in relation to a side of therapeutic work insufficiently attended to and will reward readers at all stages of professional development. It is written in a clear, accessible style and manages to convey complex ideas in a readily comprehensible manner.' - Psychotherapy & Politics International 'Dr Hopper argues for the awareness of, and training in, the processes of what he terms the Social Unconscious, for all mental health professionals. Hopper provides insight into the multiple forces that affect us and how we may reorganize our constraints. Does Hopper simply find what he is looking for, or does he discover something new? I recommend readers take this book of essays seriously and make their own decision.' - Psychologist - Psychoanalyst 'A very timely selection of papers by Earl Hopper on a very timely subject... People need to recognize that we are not merely passive sufferers of our world, rather we constitute it and have the power to shape it to a great extent. Much of what goes on in that world is unconscious in spite of the fact that we make it, therefore the importance of the social unconscious has been in the centre of Earl's interest for a number of years, and he has become one of the best known exponents of it.' - Reflections 'This most timely book - with its ready application across disciplines in a world fragmented by group-induced conflicts and traumas - will, no doubt, stimulate many thoughts, feelings and new possibilities for integration.' - Mark Ettin, Group Psychotherapist and Group Relations Consultant, USA 'The Social Unconscious offers a carefully composed selection of the author's group analytic contributions... the complexities of sociology, group analysis and psychoanalysis are put in mutually enriching perspectives.' - Dieter Nitzgen, Psychoanalyst and Group Analyst, Germany 'This record will be a lasting contribution to the literature. He movingly records with startling honesty the details of his family background and current history with poetic grace, thus applying what he has learned of the social unconscious to his own practice.' - W. Gordon Lawrence, Group Relations and Organizational Consultant, UK 'Earl Hopper's writing contributes a penetrating and unique view of pathology rooted in society as well as in the individual psyche.' - Dennis Brown, Psychoanalyst and Group Analyst, UK The social unconscious and its manifestations in group analysis are the focus of this important new book of Earl Hopper's selected papers. Drawing on sociology, psychoanalysis and group analysis, he argues that groups and their participants are constrained unconsciously by social, cultural and political facts and forces. These hypotheses are illustrated with clinical vignettes concerning anti-Semitism, racism, the politics of class and gender, and the effects of rapid social change. Transference and countertransference processes are examined both vividly and honestly. Theoretically generative and clinically astute, this book will be of value to both analysts and their stud

Earl Hopper, in his important, profound and well reasoned book introduces a fourth Basic Assumption (Incohesion) to the three Basic assumptions (of Flight/ Fight, Pairing and Dependency) introduced by Bion. Hopper's theory of Incohesion provides us with a new way of thinking about annihilation anxiety, which he discusses in terms of the unconscious fears of annihilation connected to the fears of separation.' - System Centered News 'What we may learn most from reading Hopper's profound thinking presented in this surprisingly readable book is how he makes the bridge from his theory to the treatment of difficult patients. He identifies aggregation and Massification as a characteristic of regressed groups. In groups of the traumatized, however, where survivor guilt, and perhaps more important, survivor shame underlies the suffering, Aggregation and Massification are likely to be chronic.' - Yvonne Agazarian Working within the traditions of Bion, Turquet, Foulkes and Pines, and drawing on concepts and data from psychoanalysis, group analysis and sociology, this volume develops Earl Hopper's theory of the fourth basic assumption in the unconscious life of groups and group-like social systems within a social, cultural and political transgenerational context. He argues that Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification or (ba) I:A/M (an acronym for 'I AM' - an assertion of personal identity when identity is under threat) is based on the fear of annihilation stemming from traumatic experience. With full respect for the constraints of the social unconscious, the personification of aggregation and massification by patients with crustacean, contact-shunning and amoeboid, merger-hungry characteristics, respectively, is illustrated with detailed clinical vignettes involving drug addicts, victims of incest and sexual abuse, and child survivors of the Shoah. Concluding with critical commentaries by senior British and American group analysts and psychoanalysts, this volume is essential reading for both analysts and their students.