There is a plethora of work in the field of socialization much of which seeks to prevent the induction crisis witnessed in the first 18 months of our arrival into a new organization. Using the groundbreaking work of psychoanalyst, Juliet Mitchell, we seek to develop a new theory of socialization building on her work with siblings. Psychoanalytic studies of organizations are often dominated by the ‘vertical’ axis of parent/child relationships. Michell’s work allows us to explore the ‘lateral’ work done in firms by siblings and how this might be governed by what she terms ‘The Law of the Mother’. We provide two vignettes of siblings at work and explore what these dynamics might tell us about socialization in new and interesting ways.
