Psychoanalysis has been applied to the understanding of social groups, organizations and cultures for a very long time, and there have been many different approaches. This book brings together the contributions to a field that could be called psychoanalytic social psychology, from a very wide-ranging group of authors. The substantial introductory chapters by the editors describe a conceptual map of psychoanalytic ideas on social groups that have been formed around the world. These introduce eight chapters from eminent authors on the topic, writing in Europe, the Americas and Britain. The purpose of the Whurr series in Psychoanalysis, edited by Peter Fonagy and Mary Target of University College London, is to publish clinical and research based texts of academic excellence in the field. Each title makes a significant contribution and the series is open-ended. The readership is academics and graduate students in psychoanalysis, together with clinical practitioners, in Europe, North America and indeed worldwide.
