Learning from the 70s

At the truly dire “Manchester Report” there was, on the Saturday morning session, one ray of light. Amidst the various techno-fixated persentations, Rosemary Randall, a Cambridge-based psychoanalyst, talked in simple and compelling terms about the inspiring Cambridge Carbon Footprint programme.

Anyway, she and I got into email conversation, as you do, and she mentioned a book she co-wrote and published in the late 70s. It’s called “Co-operative and Community Group Dynamics… or your meetings needn’t be so appalling.”

It’s long out of print, but I managed to get a copy from John Rylands library… and it’s a corker. 56 A4 pages, with cartoons and well-written text. It starts with a discussion of the desires that drive people to be in (campaigning/co-operative) groups, and what is happening when groups are creative, “intermediate” or destructive. Anyone who has ever been in a good group in full flow, and then seen it spiral into pointless petty bickering before finally disintegrating will be chuckling ruefully. The second half is a “do-it-yourself” problem-solving/consultancy section, perhaps of less interest to some.

And of course, now that I have heard of the book, I’ve instantly seen a reference to it, without even looking: comment on 13 May under a good post about burn out avoidance on the Transition Network website.