Softcover

ISBN 10: 1855753421 ISBN 13: 9781855753426

Publisher: Karnac Books, 2005

"In social dreaming the dreamers tell their dreams to others. Although individuals are necessary to dream, the dream is not just a personal possession for it also captures the political and institutional aspects of the dreamers' social context and how these are present or laced into their struggles for creativity, meaning and ordinariness. The meaning of the dream is expanded and developed through free association, amplification and systemic thinking to give voice to the echoes of thinking and thought that exist in the space between individuals' minds in the shared environment." -- W. Gordon Lawrence

This introductory text explores the phenomenon of social dreaming, a concept first introduced at the Tavistock Institute in 1982. Social dreaming gives an opportunity to share a dream with others and the dream is then further developed by free association and discussion. The focus is on the dream and the social context of the dreamers, rather than the individual dreamers. Dreams often reflect the social environment of the dreamer and thus prove to be a useful tool when examining the group dynamics.

It can be used to identify possible problems within that group and to create common ground among the participants. Solutions can be found in unexpected ways when a person's inner thoughts are discussed in the social context he/she belongs to. Social dreaming has been used in business organiations, churches, hospitals and even schools.

The author offers various examples of dreams narrated and explored in groups and their applications in the social setting. His extensive experience and knowledge on the subject are combined with an easy-to-understand language in this important text on social dreaming.

About the Author:

W. Gordon Lawrence is a former member of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations, where he discovered social dreaming in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Currently, he is a visiting Professor at Cranfield, the University of Northumberland at Newcastle, and the New Bulgarian University, Sofia. He is a Fellow of AISA and is on the editorial boards of Free Associations, Freie Assoziation, and Organisation and Social Dynamics. He has published a number of books, as well as writing numerous articles and papers, of which the most recent are Roots in Northern Landscape (1996), Social Dreaming @ Work (1998), Tongued With Fire: Groups in Experience (2000) and Experiences in Social Dreaming (2003). He is a managing partner of Symbiont Ventures, London, which is directed at advancing the idea of social dreaming and its application.

Review:

'This is as fine an introduction to Lawrence's concept of social dreaming as one could have hoped for. It is lucid, concise, full of vignettes that are unusually clear, and as one would by now expect of anything written by this author, it is inevitably creative, even if it is meant to be "just" an introduction.'- Christopher Bollas'Lawrence unbinds the dream from the confines of the private (including the world of the consulting rooms) and reinstates it in its primordial role as a useful mental instrument with unlimited social function.'- Dr Judit Szekacs, psychoanalyst 'And now we have it at last, the perfect primer on social dreaming, and in the master's voice. As social dreaming moves more and more firmly into mainstream organizational development, Lawrence's book arrives in time to explain the history, to examine the underpinning conceptual frameworks, to explicate the practice and to encourage new ways of thinking about accessing the layers of reality in our working lives. This will become a textbook in time.'- Ruth Silver, CBE, Principal, Lewisham College London, Visiting Professor at London Southbank University 'Social dreaming adds depth to group-analytic explorations in workshops and conferences. Lawrence's work provides new and important pathways to unconscious thoughts and phantasies. This book should be essential reading for group analysts.'- Dr Malcolm Pines, Past President of the International Association of Group Psychotherapy and founder member of Institute of Group Analysis, London