ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses what the term "classical" systems theory and its relevance to contemporary psychoanalytic group thought. The chapter shows how systems theory can highlight the presence of social meaning as it enters and impacts group process and thus, the intersubjective field of the group. Homeostasis/heterostasis is a second complementary process that typifies systems functioning. Donnel Stern describes the emergence of meaning in the relation between analyst and analysand in the following way: The group leader can be central in organizing what seem at first to be hopelessly chaotic, even extra-group data into meaningful system patterns. The presence of social context in individual and group life as represented by a "social unconscious" has been written about extensively by Earl Hopper who states, "Ultimately the meaning of human affairs always requires that we contextualize them in time and social space in appreciation of open living systems".
