Abstract
In one of his last published works, the late A.K. Rice advanced two propositions regarding the nature of the individual’s dynamic relationship to a social collectivity (1969). One of these tenets held that group membership inherently involves the potentiation of primitive, latent anxieties around the preservation of ego identity, that is the sense of self as a familiar, integrated and demarcated entity. As a corollary, Rice posited that the capacity for joining in the rational, task-oriented activities of a group was directly limited by the extent to which the individual needed to defend against these archaic threats to the integrity of self boundaries. Rice’s insights into these group-induced processes of regression and primitivization which affect the participant’s self concept have served as an important aspect of the theoretical elucidation of the interface between the personality system and social system. The present paper, incorporating recent contributions from such diverse areas as developmental psychology and object relations theory, aims at expanding upon and further articulating the self boundary issues attending participation in group life.
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© 1982 Plenum Press, New York
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Greene, L.R. (1982). Personal Boundary Management and Social Structure. In: Pines, M., Rafaelsen, L. (eds) The Individual and the Group. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9239-6_26
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-9239-6_26
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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