We’ve all got skin in the game: National Diversity Working Group: Power, Privilege and Position

Abstract

This article describes the thinking and processes involved in initiating the National Diversity Working Group: Power, Privilege and Position (PPP) at the Institute of Group Analysis (IGA) in the UK. It argues that while group analysis is in theory distinguished by a commitment to engaging in power differences and wider socio-political issues, this theory has not hitherto been deeply reflected in practice in the institutional culture of the IGA, reflecting a disconnect between theory and practice. This article suggests that in practice there has been lived experience of a culture of various institutional prejudices. In this context there was an increasingly urgent need to take action to address the intransigent culture around power and difference at the IGA. The PPP was needed as a response to the entrenched anti-group processes at work in maintaining institutional prejudices. Positive responses to addressing institutional racism have created opportunities for organizational change. The article explores how the PPP working group’s responses to addressing institutional racism worked to support organizational change and how this work has been instituted throughout the wider community. The article emphasizes how in response to the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM), issues concerning race have recently become focal in the PPP’s life and therefore form the focus of the article. Drawing on Brown’s notion of the ‘Monitor of Justice’ it argues that in setting up the PPP there was a harnessing of hitherto marginalized but pro-social group norms in the IGA culture in the face of anti-social institutional prejudice. In this context the article contains a detailed reflection of the lived experience of a black group analyst taking on a key leadership role in the organization by becoming the Chair of the PPP. It describes how under this leadership, working collaboratively with colleagues, PPP has become a highly innovative and creative centrifugal force in the IGA within two years. It tracks the process of culture change and how creating a safe space for experiences of marginalization within organizations can lead to wider system changes that increase inclusivity. When institutions can remain open and not become defensive about these experiences, this can lead to the wider culture being able to integrate these important experiences and adapt.