From Crowd Psychology to the Dynamics of Large Groups: a transdisciplinary approach

Join us for the launch of Carla Penna's book "From Crowd Psychology to the Dynamics of Large Groups: Historical, Theoretical and Practical"

From Crowd Psychology to the Dynamics of Large Groups offers transdisciplinary research on the history of the study of social formations, ranging from nineteenth-century crowd psychology in France and twentieth-century Freudian mass psychology, including the developments in critical theory, to the study of the psychodynamics of contemporary large groups. The book presents a unique combination of sociology, psychoanalysis, and group analysis in the study of social formations. It revisits the epistemological basis of group analysis by introducing and discussing its historical path, especially in connection with the study of large groups and investigations of the social unconscious processes. It also explores early work on group relations and contemporary research on the basic-assumption group, particularly Hopper’s theory of Incohesion as a fourth basic assumption. The reflections in this book present new perspectives for psychologists, psychoanalysts, group analysts, sociologists, and historians to investigate unconscious processes and the psychodynamics of contemporary crowds, masses, and social systems illuminating the comprehension of the twenty-first century collective movements.

The Speakers

Carla Penna, PhD is a psychoanalyst and a group analyst in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Group-Analytic Society International. She is a former president of the Brazilian Group Psychotherapy Association and Group-Analytic Psychotherapy Society of the State of Rio de Janeiro and a former Visiting Professor of Medical Psychology at FCM/UERJ.

Earl Hopper, PhD, is a psychoanalyst, group analyst, and organisational consultant in private practice in London. A distinguished fellow of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, an honorary member of the Group Analytic Society International, and an honorary member of the Institute of Group Analysis, he is a supervisor and training analyst for many psychotherapy organisations in England. He is a former president of the International Association for Group Psychotherapy and Group Processes (IAGP), and a former chairman of the Association of Independent Psychoanalysts of the British Psychoanalytical Society. The author and editor of many books and articles in psychoanalysis, group analysis, and sociology, he is the editor of the New International Library of Group Analysis.