АнглийскийWell... all the previous week I spent in the countryside with my mom and a cat. Learning Numpy, statistics, algorithms, English, all as usually. So usually, that I don't even have anything to tell about, besides this smug muzzle:



However, I can't say a lot about it. Tomcat is just a tomcat. I would rather write about a book of Eric Berne that I've finished reading a little bit earlier. It's «The Structure and Dynamics of Organizations and Groups». In russian (and I read it in russian) it looks like this:



I greatly like Eric Berne and his theories. Though he is a psychiatrist, his models look as really explaining the processes that I see around me, in interpersonal communications and in social dynamics.

We all are the members of different social groups, whether we like it or not. There is a little chance to avoid it, as lack of sensory stimuluses can be a serious trial for one's mind. Berne describes common patterns and rules that are intrinsic to any type of groups, from small psychoanalytic groups to large countries. He states that a group should be distinguished from other social aggregations, such as crowd, mass and reception. The main difference is that the last forms have neither structures, nor roles distributions, nor rational aims. As I understand, every time people gather for purposeful activity, not the idle pastime, they subconsciously get organized into a group.

Berne tells that though the group structure can be quite complex, in the first approximation all groups are formed by an external border, that separates its participants from the outer world, and an internal one, that separates the leadership apparatus from other members.
Schematically, it looks like this:



Besides the leader, the leadership apparatus consist of the part that defends the group from the outer world, and the part that solves internal group issues. These two apparatuses are fighting against the group disruption, that can happen due to following reasons:

• the physical destruction, that means that individuals forming the group were physically liquidated;


• the ideological decay happening when members have too weak need to retain the group and lack uniting feelings;


• structural demolition that happens in the result of the main group borders violations and breakdown of the group structure;

Every group obligatorily has a leader. The leader formulates and personifies the group canon, that is the aim of the group, its constitution, morals and culture. It's also leadership apparatus duty to maintain the respect for the group canon as well as for the leader. As an example, Berne told the story when he was participating in a spiritual seance. For the sake of an experiment he decided to question the position of the seance master (the leader). Instantly he saw the forces, arised to counteract the disturbance.

In addition to performing the main activity, the group has also to put its energy to fight external threats along with strengthening the group cohesion. All these three activities can be crucial for group existence and should not be neglected.

Sure, individuals become a part of the group because they get something important from it. For the sake of entering the group they usually have to sacrifice a part of their individual inclinations and needs. It's obvious, that a structure of a real group is more complex then the scheme above depicts; there can be different roles and niches that the individuals have to fit into. Except for those who were born for the specific roles, the other members have to use adaptability and flexibility to settle down in the group. The adaptability means thorough scrutiny of the group structure in order to use available niches for getting the most from them for the individual's live scenario and aspirations. The flexibility is about the readiness to sacrifice some aspects of his/her aspirations in order to fit into the proposed niche. It seems to me, the neuroses are formed when someone needs participation in the group, but he/she is not adaptable and flexible enough to fill any of the free niches.

Well, when an individual is not able to get into one of available roles, he/she can try to modify them, asking the neighbours to move a little. Not all of them will be so kind, however As I understand, that forms so-called internal group process. I think, such processes should be solved with the assistance of the group apparatus. When the individuals fail in the internal group process, they can redirect their energy towards the leadership, showing that group canon and its morals are not so moral for some participants. It can look like this:



And this can turn into a structural demolition threat!

Many other parts of the book are considering the interactions inside a group, both between the members and between the members and the leadership. Berne believe that such interactions can be studied using his transactional analysis approach. It means that all the people participating in all the communications are acting in one of three states of Ego: the Parent, the Adult or the Child, as well as appealing to one of the parner's Ego states. There is another interesting book dedicated to this concept: «The games people play» and I will not recite it here. May be some time later

@темы: english writing skills, Жизненное, Книги