The Politics of Difference: Uses and Abuses

Through my work, as a consultant, I recently started noticing a phenomenon which became a source of both disturbance, and interest. This paper attempts to set out my thinking around this phenomenon and invites colleagues to consider and share their experiences and consider the propositions I make.

In today’s political, economic, and global environment, matters of equality and diversity have become increasingly important. Since the murder of George Floyd in 2020, the resurgence of Black Lives Matter and the emergence of the Me-Too movement, there has been an increased recognition in Western society of the need to tackle institutionalised discrimination based on race, sex, gender, age, disability, sexuality, and religion. Whilst some progress has been made there is a long road ahead to travel.

As a consultant to a range of small groups, the phenomena I began to experience with increased regularity is the group’s preoccupation with matters of difference to the extent that at times it obscures the task of the group. I notice this preoccupation often manifests in a particular manner, starting in quite a sophisticated and intelligent in manner discussing difference, it can soon turn into a battle around which minority group is and has been discriminated against the most, and which is the most oppressive / discriminatory. This often becomes personal with the minority groups being represented by individuals embodying that difference fighting something. The group seeks out an individual or sub-group, often the one assumed least discriminated against by society in general and uses projective identification in its evacuative form to load that individual up psychologically and emotionally with all the unbearable feelings of the group, usually those of both persecutor and persecuted. The individual on the receiving end often then finds themselves torn between denying this by joining in the battle and sharing their own tale of discrimination or surrendering to the projections and bearing the shame, pain, blame, hatred, isolation, aggression, guilt, self-loathing generated by the dynamic of discrimination.

Initially, seduced by the groups apparent interest in exploring matters of difference, I sat in hope of witnessing some profound progressive working through that might occur on behalf of society. Whilst there have been such occasions, more often, I experience groups engaging with matters of difference in a manner that resembles Bion’s (1961) Basic Assumption Fight/Flight where difficult, are projected around the system in an evacuative manner. The question that emerged for me is whether basic assumption fight /flight was being used as useful temporary defensive retreat as the group oscillated back and fore to the work group when discussing matters of difference, or was there something else, another matter within the group that is being avoided and what might the group be talking about if there were not using matters of equality and diversity as a vehicle to defend against another difficult reality.

This paper explores Bion’s BaF in more detail in relation to this phenomenon with the use of examples from my work.

Bion, W (1961) Experiences in Groups.

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5 MINS

Introduction

30 MINS

Paper presentation

20 MINS

Small group discussion; impressions of the paper and developing questions for the presenter

20 MINS

Discussion forum with the presenter; moderated for the speaker to elaborate their ideas

10 MINS

Discussion forum with the presenter; themes from the discussions

5 MINS

Break

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