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On the Conjunction of Basic Assumptions in the Enlarged Group

  • According to Bion, group mentality is inspired by three basic assumptions (dependence, fightflight, pairing) dominating in turn. No conjunctions of basic assumptions seem to be possible. The author, however, formulates the hypothesis that such conjunctions may take place in weakly structured enlarged groups, midway between small groups and the institutional larger groups described by Freud and Bion as Church, Army and Aristocracy. A case study is here presented, wherein the group session appears to be dominated by a baFF+baP conjunction (i.e. a combination of fightflight and pairing emerging simultaneously). The in-depth analysis highlights the shared unconscious fantasy corresponding to this conjunction, i.e. the Weapon-Baby fantasy. Having split the parental couple into a good one and a bad one, the group expects the good couple to generate a Divine Baby capable of leading the war against the bad couple. The >good< pairing thus evoked, however, is nothing but a combined object, only capable of faecal offspring: a Stool Baby, which can only be used to be thrown against the Enemy. Similar fantasies can be found at the individual level in manicpersonality pseudo-creativity. At the social level, the same baFF+baP conjunction seems to apply as well to political movements such as Hitlerism.

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Metadaten
Author:Sergio Caruso
Parent Title (English):International Forum of Psychoanalysis, Oslo (Scandinavian University Press) Vol. 11 (No. . 4, December 2002), pp. 244-254.
Document Type:Articles
Language:English
Year of first Publication:2002
Release Date:2012/12/13
Format:PDF-scan upon request / PDF-Scan auf Anfrage
IdNo:Caruso_S_2002
Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive:Articles / Artikel
Licence (German):
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