Social Dreaming and democracy: is it time to rethink?

Social Dreaming has sometimes been referred to as a democratic process, but what does this actually mean? 

In this talk, Julian will be sharing thoughts and feelings about the relationship between Social Dreaming and democracy. 

He will suggest that some aspects of participation in Social Dreaming are manifestations of a democratic potential that could serve communities, societies and nations well in these times of democratic deficit, including:

• the containing, non-judgemental, safe space; 
• the bonding and relating that is sometimes reported by participants; 
• the creative feelings evoked; 
• the other-worldly sense of connectivity between the individual inner space and the ‘out there’; 
• and the mitigation of group dynamics in favour of cooperation, listening and reflection.

The discussion will consider the working hypothesis that in a radical sense Social Dreaming is as much or more about some of these aspects of democracy than about the dreams themselves, and that a letting go of Freud’s ‘Interpretations’ and Lawrence’s ‘discovery’ might be necessary for the further development of the Social Dreaming Matrix.

What is Social Dreaming?

This talk will be hosted by Juliet Scott.

About Prof. Julian Manley

Julian Manley is Professor of Social Innovation at the University of Lancashire. He is Co-Director of the Centre in Community Connectedness and Cooperation and Co-Lead in the University’s RKE4ALL project promoting equality, equity, diversity and inclusion.

Julian is also a member of the Climate Psychology Alliance, Director of the Centre for Social Dreaming, Secretary of the Preston Cooperative Education Centre and member of the Association for Psychosocial Studies. He is on the editorial boards of Socioanalysis and Humanities and Social Sciences Communications journals. He has published widely in the fields of psychosocial studies, social dreaming and cooperatives and cooperation. 

His book, Social Dreaming, Associative Thinking and Intensities of Affect, published in 2018, broke new ground in studies of social dreaming through a recontextualising of the matrix within a Deleuzian philosophical framework. He has continued this line of enquiry in later publications, including in his book (co-edited with Susan Long) Social Dreaming, philosophy, research, theory and practice (2019).

Fun fact

Julian says: “I was introduced to Social Dreaming during my Master’s course at the University of the West of England. Being immersed in group relations at the time, I was dreading the experience. What could be more useless and infuriating than sharing your dreams with strangers? What could be more embarrassing? What kind of scapegoating and awful dynamics would ensue? I was forced to attend in order to pass my MSc. Herb Hahn was sitting in the matrix, like Buddha himself...The rest is history!”