ABSTRACT
The theory of social defences has changed little since Menzies Lyth's development of Elliot Jaques's initial hypothesis. This chapter begins with Menzies Lyth's innovation, differentiate between organizational and individual or team change, and looks at the theory's problem of change before introducing the re-conceptualization. It highlights some relevant contributions of Emery, Trist, and Jaques to open up the theoretical space, before introducing the central concepts of cultural theory and how they can be utilized as a practical resource to social defence theory and intervention. Utilizing cultural theory also allows us to better infer the possible causes and social processes through which social defences operate and the likely consequences they may generate upon the organization or social context. The work of Emery, Trist, and Jaques provided the opening of the theoretical space to include a more sociological perspective alongside psychoanalytic insight and method. The chapter concludes by applying these ideas to Menzies Lyth's seminal case study.
