Abstract

Drawn from the concepts and practices of institutional analysis, this article explores what an ‘analyser’ is and its importance for institutional analysis. The article begins by tracing the development of institutional practices in education and psychiatric care following the application of psychoanalytic theory. It traces the work done at the Saint-Alban psychiatric hospital, the La Borde clinic and by CERFI (Centre for Institutional Study, Research and Training) to demonstrate how institutional analysis instituted practices, such as the patient club, that transformed the institution, and how analysis is conducted through the process of these transformations. By these means, the institution was turned into an analyser of French culture and society. The article concludes with some micro-examples of contemporary radical institution practices which today function as an analyser.