The World Within the Group: Developing Theory for Group Analysis [New International Library of Group Analysis].

London: Karnac Books, 2014. Paperback octavo, very good plus condition, minimal edgewear. 206 pp. An original and ambitious endeavour to connect group analysis to philosophy, history, and modern social theory. Group analysis needs theoretical renewal to remain relevant, and that philosophy is a valuable resource for such thinking, notably Nietzsche, Dewey and Gadamer, each being associated with pragmatic observation of the client's perspective. Also offers a reformulation of the concept of social unconscious, seen as a discursive world of production and articulation. Drawing on contemporary social theories, it chimes with the spirit of Elias's historical approach, eg, the shifting social unconsciousness during the Reformation and revolutionary upheavals in England. The final two essays address the narrative turn in social sciences. The implications of considering persons as story-telling, metaphorical animals is explored, as is the inevitability that personal stories are infused by wider, cultural narratives.