ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights two key conceptual elements that are core to our understanding of group relations conference dynamics and which are often ignored–Oedipus and Sphinx. It argues that focusing on these two concepts should help distinguish between resolutions of conflict with authority based on the paranoid–schizoid position and those based on the depressive position. The chapter shows that connections between the personal and the political are significant features of group relations and are also consistent with applications of group relations theory to economic, cultural, and social behaviour. It describes the impact of ideas about the Oedipus complex and ideas of Sphinx on group relations within and beyond its network. In many respects, group relations work goes against the grain of contemporary social thinking. Group relation draws attention to the inevitable presence of both powerful positive and negative feelings in human beings.
