ABSTRACT
Being part of the transactional analysis community—with its emphasis on working in and thinking about groups—can provoke the challenge of living in groups even as it provides the means of growth into viable, satisfying membership. The author considers how this particular cultural aspect of transactional analysis—its demands and its gifts—contributed significantly to reversing his own lifelong habit of withdrawal and cutoff from group life. The extensive literature on group work is discussed in reference to the different practice fields within transactional analysis—counseling, organizational consulting, education, and psychotherapy. The concept of culture is then elaborated in terms of the concrete objects and procedures left by previous generations; the unique feel of being in any particular family, organization, or community; and the particular efforts of family, organization, and community leaders and teachers to facilitate or foster continued growth, especially when nurturing the next generation.
