ABSTRACT
In this chapter, I will summarise my theory of the basic assumption of Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification or (ba) I:A/M, which I (Hopper, 2003) have developed at length in Traumatic Experience in the Unconscious Life of Groups. Although I have clarified and refined this theory in more recent publications (for example, Hopper, 2005a, 2009, 2010), I believe that this summary is the most lucid statement of it. Of course, it is impossible to discuss here the general theory of both the “work group” and the “basic assumption group”. The key text is Experiences in Groups (Bion, 1961), and further discussion and applications of Bion’s ideas about groups can be found in, for example, “Bion’s contribution to thinking about groups” (Menzies-Lyth, 1981) and Tongued with Fire: Groups in Experience (Lawrence, 2000), which include extensive bibliography.
