Henri Tajfel – författare

This study of intergroup relations remained for long on the periphery of mainstream social psychology. However, fresh research and thinking did much to overcome this neglect of one of the fundamental issues of our time, so that it became a clearly visible and major trend of research within European social psychology. Originally published in 1982, this book represented some of the facets of these developments, and aimed to provoke further discussion of important empirical and theoretical issues. The contributors examine the relations between social groups and their conflicts, the role played in these conflicts by the individuals' affiliation with their groups and the psychological processes responsible for the formation of groups. This book discusses key issues which will be of interest to students, teachers and researchers in social psychology and all related disciplines concerned with a better understanding of social conflict and intergroup attitudes and our social reality.

First published in 1981, this volume presents studies on the social psychology of the relations and conflicts between social groups. Henri Tajfel played a central role in the development of social psychology in Europe, both in his own research and in his sponsorship of other European research. He has been particularly influential through his publications on various aspects of inter-group behaviour and a good deal of what he has written remains dispersed in a large number of different publications. This book presents a synthesis of some of this work, edited and structured to demonstrate its continuity and its cumulative importance. The book will be indispensable for social psychologists and should interest a wide range of political and social scientists.

The two volumes of The Social Dimension present a comprehensive survey of the major developments in social psychology which took place in Europe during the very active 1970s and 1980s. They aim to capture the diversity and vitality of the discipline, stress the growing emphasis on fully social analyses of social psychological phenomena - hence 'the social dimension' - and to provide a valuable resource for researchers in the future. Although comprehensive in scope, the volumes are not written in the formal style of a reference handbook. Instead, the authors of the thirty-three chapters, drawn from more than a dozen mainly European countries and all experts in their own fields, were invited to present their own personal overviews of the issues in social psychology on which they were actively working. Both volumes are organized into three main Parts. Volume 1 is concerned with the social development of the child, interpersonal communication and relationships, and the social reality, group processes, and intergroup relations. This ambitious enterprise has produced a distinctive yet authoritative summary and evaluation of the growth points of social psychology in Europe which will interest and influence not only social psychologists but many readers from related disciplines.