Transactional Analysis and the Social Psychology of Power Reflections Evoked by Jacobs' “Autocratic Power”

Abstract

Transactional analysis is typically used as an intrapsychic and interpersonal approach, although Berne also applied it to groups and organizations. Jacobs' (1987) analysis of societal-level processes requires a social psychology, not only a social psychiatry. This article discusses 1) a rationale and criteria for using TA as a social psychology; 2) how autocratic power fits into the broader spectrum of power; 3) how human motivations and structures of power interconnect; and 4) how TA concepts such as life positions and the dynamics of symbioses and autonomy, when used in social psychological analysis, are useful in studying human motivations and power structures.