The feminine in the foundations of organizational psychology

Lyons, D. (1997). The feminine in the foundations of organizational psychology. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 33(1), 7-26.

This article examines how early work in the field of organizational psychology manifested the archetypal feminine, despite the lack of a feminist consciousness among notable theorists. It begins with an explanation of Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious and the role of archetypes in the human psyche and then presents a hypothesis about how individual, social, and archetypal forces might have contributed to the expression of the feminine in the works of Eric Trist and William F. Whyte, who are chosen as exemplars of this phenomenon. The article concludes with a discussion of the legacy of their work – in particular, the field’s amnesia about its roots and the use of the archetypal feminine in understanding gender roles.

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