An Appreciation: Eric Landsdown Trist (1909-1993)

• Published in: Human relations (New York) Vol. 46; no. 10; pp. 1171 - 1176
• Main Author: Emery, Fred
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Thousand Oaks, CA SAGE Publications 01.10.1993; Plenum Press, etc; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Deaths; Defense mechanisms; Eric Landsdown Trist; Personal profiles; Physiology; Psychoanalysis; Science; Scientists; Social change; Social psychology; Social sciences; Social scientists; Society; Sociology; Teachers; Traditions; Trist, Eric; United States > US
• ISSN: 0018-7267; 1741-282X
• DOI: 10.1177/001872679304601001

Eric Trist was always concerned with the science in the social sciences. He did not waver from seeking rigor even when he was most critical of some scientific pretensions. He was concerned with scientifically understanding the social and psychological facts of life, even those that unconsciously determined human behavior. He was intolerant of the reductionism that sacrificed social or psychological facts in order to be more scientific. He was attracted, in psychoanalysis, to Fairbairn's object relations theory that placed the emphasis on the psycho-social perspective rather than on assumed phsysiological mechanisms. From 1933, when he studied at Yale, until 1993, Trist believed and acted as though the social sciences were one seamless web, from the unconscious motivation of individuals to the actions of the UN. In appreciation, his professional life is viewed in 4 phases: 1. up to the early 1960s as theory building, 2. the 1960s to early 1970s as institution building, 3. the 1970s and 1980s as teacher-mentor-elder statesman, and 4. the magnum opus.