Its history:
Sociodrama is a group method for dealing with social and group problems created by J. L. Moreno (1889-1974), a Romanian-born psychiatrist. Methodologically, it is situated among action methods, closely related to other methods created by J.L. Moreno, such as sociometry, psychodrama and role training.

The first sociodrama session took place on 1 April 1921 in Vienna, led by J.L Moreno. This session took place in the Vienna Comedy Theatre, just few years after the end of World War I and the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

"Postwar Wiena was seething with revolt. There was no stable government, no emperor, no king, no leader. And like the other nations of the earth, Austria was restless, in search of a new soul." (Moreno, 2019).

According to Moreno's description, the audience at this event consisted of about a thousand people, including politicians, foreign dignitaries, religious leaders, and cultural leaders of Vienna.

Moreno appeared on stage with no script, no actors, just a red plush chair resembling a throne in the middle of the stage and a gilded crown.
He invited audience members to rise from the crowd to the throne and offer a new leadership philosophy for the new world order.

Although for this event, J.L Moreno, at the time, was the subject of much criticism, this event had a major role and importance in showing the potential of sociodrama to address social issues and to provide solutions at the group and community level.

Defining sociodrama:

There are several different definitions of sociodrama, each with a different focus, depending on which function the formulator considers most important.
In terms of its function in addressing the theme of this project, sociodrama is an action-oriented group method for understanding, exploring and changing social, institutional, societal and global issues that affect all of humanity.
It is a group method whose essential feature is that it sees people, human actions, social phenomena as always embedded in a broader context, a cultural milieu

The basic thesis of sociodrama:

The basic thesis of sociodrama is that all human growth and human functioning is strongly influenced by the wider social influences of our culture and, as a result, human beings grow up in a social field that exerts enormous influence on them and that is largely outside the realms of individual consciousness. Throughout life, in the process of socialisation, the individual encounters social and cultural forces, belief systems, values and ways of living that shape his or her own view of how the world works and these social and cultural forces strongly influence his or her everyday actions at home, at work, alone and in all group
situations.

Sociodrama in practice:

In sociodrama, members of a group stage a jointly chosen story and/or a social situation to be explored, share experiences through role-playing, and then process this shared experience together.

Participants in the group can experience first-hand what it is like to be in the position of another person or group, and this role reversal can change the way they act from their own position.

One important and powerful effect is to trigger personal and systemic change.

Sociodrama is an effective diagnostic and problem-solving tool along the lines of the emergence of action and the forces involved. Groups can explore social and systemic problems from different perspectives through spontaneous improvisation, leading to a deep understanding of the social systems that shape people individually and collectively, and their impact on personal and group roles and relationships.

By exploring different perspectives, the systems of which individuals are part become visible and transformable, with the aim that we can all live healthy, fulfilled and happy lives, both individually and collectively.

Psychodrama and sociodrama

The structure and techniques of sociodrama play are largely the same as psychodrama, but the focus of dramatic exploration is different: psychodrama focuses on the individual experience of a role of the individual, while sociodrama is concerned with group functioning, the interconnections between social groups and the social consequences of these qualities.

Psychodrama's potential for powerful catharsis is partly what makes it an effective tool in psychotherapy. While psychodrama focuses on the externalization of individual problems, sociodrama dramatizes social problems. In psychodrama, the essential nature of roles focuses on the private elements of roles, while sociodrama focuses on the collective elements of roles.

The goals of sociodrama play include expression, catharsis, insight, learning and role practice. Sociodrama is not just one person's story, but a collectively created story that incorporates elements of the whole group's experience without using the details of a specific narrative.

Psychodrama is more suited to personal development, while sociodrama is more suited to social change.

Enikő Fazakas
Psychodrama therapist

Moreno, J. L. (2019). Psychodrama (Vol. 1, 6th ed.). New York: Beacon House.
Moreno, J. L. (2019). In E. Schreiber, S. Kelley, & S. Giacomucci, (Eds.), The autobiography of a genius. United Kingdom: North West Psychodrama Association.
Moreno, J. L. (1993). Who Shall Survive? Foundations of Sociometry, Group Psychotherapy
and Sociodrama. Student Edition. Virginia: Royal Publishing Company Roanoke.

Specialist: Enikő Fazakas