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Chapter Ten – Summary and Conclusions – Page 303
boundaries of the space. Other ritual qualities included here are exemplified in Augé’s
(2004) notion of the emblematic form of Suspense, and what Fiske (1997) has referred
to as learning and participating. These qualities are more related to the processes that
take place in the ritual space, that is, what people actually do and experience. 3
.
It seems useful to regard the group matrix of the learning group as a form parallel to
Bordin’s (1971) concept of the psychoanalytic working alliance from individual
psychotherapy. If one does this, then Bordin’s casting of the creation, maintenance and
repair of the working alliance as the business of therapy can also be adopted to make the
creation, maintenance and repair of the group matrix one strand of the business of the
learning group. The responsibility for this aspect of the business of a group is captured
to a significant degree by the group analytic concept of dynamic administration. This is
elaborated next.
Dynamic administration
This notion is regarded by many as a seminal contribution from Foulkes. Dynamic
administration refers to the responsibility of the conductor of a group to set,
communicate, model and promote aspects such as the values and boundaries of a group-
analytic group. Although it can appear as mere common sense, Foulkes was clear from
the beginning of his writing that the totality of the setting for group analysis was crucial,
and that the creation and maintenance of this is a key responsibility for the group
conductor. A form of this concept was already a distinctive feature of much of the
3 Hopper’s (2003) examination of how groups are helpful to difficult patients, outlined on Pages 60 of this
thesis in Table 2.1, notes in Item 1 that some see the supportive and containing aspects of groups as a
manifestation of Winnicott’s environmental mother. Winnicott (1960, 1969) contrasted this notion with
that of object mother, who is available as an object with whom to relate. I am differentiating here between
ritual as context (reflecting elements of Winnicott’s environmental mother, providing an essential
environment that can be taken for granted), and ritual as process (reflecting elements of Winnicott’s
object mother, providing a presence in the environment, directly aimed at the encouragement of
transition).