Socioanalytic Methods: Discovering the Hidden in Organisations and Social Systems

Socioanalysis is the study of groups, organizations, and society using a systems psychoanalytic framework: looking beneath the surface (and the obvious) to see the underlying dynamics and how these dynamics are interconnected. This book examines several of the methodologies used in socioanalytic work. Even though the beginnings of socioanalytic investigation lay in the mid-twentieth century, a broad look across several methodologies has not been done before, despite separate publications dealing with particular methods. In addition, several new methods have been developed in recent years, which the present work incorporates. Connecting all these methods is their aim of tapping into the dynamic operation of what the author calls the associative unconscious within and between social systems. The associative unconscious is the unconscious at a systemic level. Each of the methods discussed in this book accesses the associative unconscious in different ways. They help bring hidden dynamics to the surface for people to see how they influence, aid, or inhibit their activities. Excitingly, they can show what we know at some level but have not yet been able to use. And, because the methods explore social systems, they can contribute to new collaborative endeavors for thinking the future.