The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice

Sheila McNamee, Ph.D. is Professor Emerita of Communication at the University of New Hampshire and Vice President and Co-Founder of the Taos Institute.  She is internationally known for her contributions to social construction theory and practice, focusing on dialogic transformation in psychotherapy, education, healthcare, organizations, and research.  She is author of several books and articles, including Research and Social Change: A Relational Constructionist Approach (with D. M. Hosking, Routledge, 2012), Relational Responsibility:  Resources for Sustainable Dialogue (with K. Gergen, Sage, 1999), and is co-editor of The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice (with M. Gergen, E. Rasera, & C. Camargo-Borges, 2020) and Education as Social Construction:  Contributions to Theory, Research, and Practice (with T. Dragonas, K. Gergen, E. Tseliou, Taos WorldShare, 2015). Dr. Gergen is Professor Emerita at Penn State University, Brandywine, in the Philadelphia area.  She has taught courses in many subfields in psychology and in Women′s Studies.  Her major academic focus has been on social constructionist theory and feminism.  Currently she is an officer in the Taos Institute, a non-profit educational organization.  She also advises Ph.D. students in applied social science fields.   Her work has taken her to many countries around the glove, most recently Nanjing, China.   Recent collaborators include Kenneth J. Gergen and Ellen Cole. Emerson F. Rasera, Ph.D. is Professor of Psychology at the Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil. He is former President of the Brazilian Association of Social Psychology, and former Editor of the Brazilian journals Psicologia & Sociedade [Psychology & Society], and Gerais: Revista Interinstitucional de Psicologia [Gerais: Interinstitutional Journal of Psychology]. His work is focused on social constructionist contributions to psychological practices, especially in health care, community work, and issues of sexual diversity. His most recent books are The Sage Handbook of Social Constructionist Practice (with S. McNamee, M. Gergen, & C. Camargo-Borges, 2020), Grupo como construção social [Group as social construction] (with M. Japur, 2018) and Social Constructionist Perspectives on Group Work (2015).

The quality and breadth of this handbook is amazing.  Contributions range from research methodology to constructionist practices in particular settings such as healthcare, education, and organizational development.  Imbued with the full range of theory.  A very welcome and leading addition to the field!

• Editors′ Introduction - Sheila McNamee, Mary Gergen, Celiane Camargo-Borges, & Emerson F. RaseraPart 1: IntroductionChapter 1: Constructionist Theory and the Blossoming of Practice - Kenneth J. GergenPart 2: Research PracticesChapter 2: Introduction to Research Section - Mary GergenChapter 3: Research as Innovation: An Invitation to Creative and Imaginative Inquiry Processes - Celiane Camargo Borges & Sheila McNameeChapter 4: Collaborative Action Research: Co-constructing Social Change for the Common Good - Ottar Ness & Dina von HeimburgChapter 5: Action Research and Social Constructionism: Community of Inquiry/Practice - Hilary BradburyChapter 6: Research as Performative Inquiry - Mary GergenChapter 7: We Are All Researchers - Sally St. George & Dan WulffChapter 8: To Know and Not to Know: Dialogic Social Inquiry - Rocio Chaveste & ML Papusa MolinaChapter 9: Transmaterial Worlding as Inquiry - Gail Simon & Leah SalterChapter 10: Researching Socio-material Practices: Inquiries into the Human/non-human Interweave - Tanya Mudry & Tom StrongPart 3: Practices in Therapeutic ProfessionsChapter 11: Curiosity and Generativity: Welcome to Practices in the Therapeutic Professions - Sally St. George & Dan WulffChapter 12: Social Construction and Social Work Practice - Stanley L. Witkin & Christopher HallChapter 13: Collaborative-Dialogic Practice: A Relational Process of Inviting Generativity and Possibilities - Harlene AndersonChapter 14: Generative Dialogues: Creating Resources and Possibilities in Therapy - Dora Fried SchnitmanChapter 15: How Symbolic Witnesses Can Help Counter Dominant Stories and Enrich Communities of Concern - Jasmina SermijnChapter 16: Contributions of Social Constructionism to Group Work - Emerson F. Rasera & Carla Guanaes-LorenziChapter 17: Constructing Social Therapeutics - Lois HolzmanChapter 18: Integrative Community Therapy: Creating a Communitarian Context of Generative and Transformative Conversations - Marilene GrandessoChapter 19: Individuals in Competition of Communities in Connection? Narrative Therapy in the Era of Neoliberalism - Jill Freedman & Gene CombsChapter 20: Post-Truth and a Justification for Therapeutic Initiative - Karl TommPart 4: Practices in Organizational DevelopmentChapter 21: When Social Constructionism Joins the Organization Development Conversation - Diana WhitneyChapter 22: Relational Ethics in Organizational Life - Gitte HasleboChapter 23: Working with Relational Leading and Meaning Making in Teams of Leaders - Lone HerstedChapter 24: Coaching: Using Ordinary Words in Extraordinary Ways - Haesun MoonChapter 25: Relational Practices for Generative Multi-Actor Collaboration - Johan Hovelynck, Marc Craps, Art Dewulf, Koen Sips, Tharsi Taillier, & Rene BouwenChapter 26: Designing Relationally Responsive Organizations - Ginny Belden-Charles, Morgan Mann Willis, & Jenny LeeChapter 27: Large Scale Appreciative Inquiry: New Futures through Shared Conversations - Amanda Trosten-Bloom & Barbara LewisChapter 28: Zooming in on the Micro-Dynamics of Social Innovation: Enabling Novelty through Relational Constructionist Practice - Danielle ZandeeChapter 29: Social Construction and the Practice of Dialogic Organization Development - Gervase Bushe & Robert MarshakPart 5: Practices in EducationChapter 30: Education as Relational Process and Practice: Introduction - Thalia DragonasChapter 31: Lifescaping: Cultivating Flourishing School Cultures - Rolla LewisChapter 32: Creating School Harmony - Gro Emmertsen LundChapter 33: Creating New Futures through Collaboration: Dropouts No More - Ingebjorg MaelandChapter 34: Collaborative, Appreciative, and Experiential Pedagogy in Educational Settings - Dawn DoleChapter 35: School Counseling - Michael Williams & John WinsladeChapter 36: Relief of Critical Educational Psychology and the Nomadism of Critical Disability Studies: Social Constructionism in Practice - Tom Billington & Dan GoodleyChapter 37: Specific Learning Difficulties as a Relational Category: Reconstruction, Redistribution and Resistance in Higher Educational Practice - Harriet CameronChapter 38: Intercultural Education: Empowering Minority Learners - Thalia DragonasChapter 39: Educational Evaluation: A Relational Perspective - Scherto Gill & Kenneth GergenPart 6: Practices in HealthcareChapter 40: Political, Collaborative and Creative: Dimensions of Social Constructionist Health Care Practices - Murilo S. MoschetaChapter 41: Collaborative Re-construction of Health Care - Ellen Raboin & Paul N. UhligChapter 42: Words Matter: Promoting Relationality in Healthcare through Narrative Medicine - Karen GoldChapter 43: Strengthening Our Stories in the Second Half of Life: Narrative Resilience through Narrative Care - William RandallChapter 44: From an Individualist to a Relational Model of Grief - Lorraine HedtkeChapter 45: Changing the Conversation: Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Practices in Healthcare - Natalie May, Julie Haizlip, & Margaret Plews-OganChapter 46: Populating Recovery: Mobilizing Relational Sources for Healing Addiction - Pavel NepustilChapter 47: Health Care Practices for LGBT People - Murilo S. Moscheta & Emerson F. RaseraChapter 48: Mindfulness as a Generative Resource in Compassionate Health - Edgardo MoralesChapter 49: Toward Relational Engagement: Poetic Reflections in Care - Arlene Katz & Kathleen Clark with Elizabeth JamesonChapter 50: Play Creates Well-being: The Contingency and the Creativity of Human Interation - Saliha BavaPart 7: Community PracticesChapter 51: Community Building from a Social Constructionist Lens - Marie L. HoskinsChapter 52: Narrative Mediation - John Winslade & Gerald MonkChapter 53: Inclusion and Community Building: Profoundly Particular - Janet NewburyChapter 54: Placemaking, Social Construction, and the Global South - Celiane Camargo-Borges & Cesar FerragiChapter 55: Re-imagining the Welfare State: From Systems Delivery to Collaborative Relationship - Jacob Storch & Carsten HornstropChapter 56: Transformative Community Conferencing - A Constructionist Approach to a More Hopeful Future - David HookerChapter 57: Relational Community Practices for Transitional Societies - Victoria LugoChapter 58: Knowing Ourselves in the Stories of Us: The Inclusive Practice of "Be-Longing" - Ilene C. Wasserman & Erin W. TaylorChapter 59: Intergenerative Community Building: Intergenerational Relationship for Co-creating Flourishing Futures - Kristin Bodiford & Peter WhitehouseChapter 60: Social Construction, Practical Theology, and the Practices of Religious Communities - Duane R. Bidwell