The Kurt Lewin–Goodwin Watson FBI/CIA files: A 60th anniversary there-and-then of the here-and-now

FBI files on Kurt Lewin, founder of this journal, and his close colleague Goodwin Watson, reveal inter alia the investigation of Lewin postmortem by the FBI/CIA, and FBI surveillance of Watson while he was a proponent of corporate T-groups, a precursor to present day team development. Sixty years on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Human relations (New York) 2007-03, Vol.60 (3), p.435-462
Main Author: Cooke, Bill
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Action research
Archives & records
Cold War
Criminal investigations
Executives
FBI
Group dynamics
Historical analysis
Human relations
Lewin, Kurt
Lewin, Kurt (1890-1947)
Management development
Murders & murder attempts
Organizational effectiveness
Political behaviour
Political sociology
Politics
Social psychology
Social theory
Sociology
Sociopolitical factors
Surveillance
Teams
Teamwork
U.S.A
Watson, Goodwin
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Summary:FBI files on Kurt Lewin, founder of this journal, and his close colleague Goodwin Watson, reveal inter alia the investigation of Lewin postmortem by the FBI/CIA, and FBI surveillance of Watson while he was a proponent of corporate T-groups, a precursor to present day team development. Sixty years on from Human Relations' launch, and Lewin's premature death, the files enrich understandings of Lewin's, and Watson's, lives and work. The socio-political structures-in-process they evidence also support the idea of the T-group as a knowing political tactic, apparently emancipatory, yet immunized from (proto-)Cold War inquisition by its very focus on the here-and-now.
ISSN:0018-7267
1741-282X
DOI:10.1177/0018726707076686