Peter Marris – författare

Originally published in 1964 The Experience of Higher Education reports the findings of about 400 intensive interviews with final year undergraduates at three universities – Cambridge, Leeds and Southampton – and a College of Advanced Technology in London. The discussion concentrates upon the aims and expectations with which students enter higher education; the relationship between teacher and pupil; the influence of residential patterns; and the students sense of the relevance of their education in a wider social context. The final chapter is a more personal reflection, in the light of the enquiry, upon the ideals and purposes of higher education.

Originally published in 1964 The Experience of Higher Education reports the findings of about 400 intensive interviews with final year undergraduates at three universities – Cambridge, Leeds and Southampton – and a College of Advanced Technology in London. The discussion concentrates upon the aims and expectations with which students enter higher education; the relationship between teacher and pupil; the influence of residential patterns; and the students sense of the relevance of their education in a wider social context. The final chapter is a more personal reflection, in the light of the enquiry, upon the ideals and purposes of higher education.

First published in 1987, Meaning and Action’s central theme is the difficulty of matching an understanding of social problems to effective strategies, in a time of endemic fiscal constraints and profound changes in economic structure. Peter Marris explores the relationship between the way we conceive problems and the possibilities of action by examining two British policies – the National Community Development Project and the redevelopment of London’s dockland. Drawing on both American and British experiences and policies, Marris shows how, as community planners and organizers became disillusioned with the assumptions underlying existing policies, they searched for a more comprehensive understanding of urban social structure. At the same time, this understanding became almost impossible to translate into practicable strategies of action. The book sets this analysis into a broader framework, showing how the pressures of inflation, rising taxes and unemployment undermined a liberal conception of urban policy and the supportive context it had provided for more radical improvements. It illuminates the ideological dilemma underlying the emergence of the Thatcher and Reagan administrations and the disarray of leftwing political parties. The final chapters discuss the alternative, new conceptions of social theory that are emerging and examines how the metaphors we use to represent social reality, such as structure or reproduction, can help or hinder our ability to re-integrate meaning and action.

First published in 1987, Meaning and Action’s central theme is the difficulty of matching an understanding of social problems to effective strategies, in a time of endemic fiscal constraints and profound changes in economic structure. Peter Marris explores the relationship between the way we conceive problems and the possibilities of action by examining two British policies – the National Community Development Project and the redevelopment of London’s dockland. Drawing on both American and British experiences and policies, Marris shows how, as community planners and organizers became disillusioned with the assumptions underlying existing policies, they searched for a more comprehensive understanding of urban social structure. At the same time, this understanding became almost impossible to translate into practicable strategies of action. The book sets this analysis into a broader framework, showing how the pressures of inflation, rising taxes and unemployment undermined a liberal conception of urban policy and the supportive context it had provided for more radical improvements. It illuminates the ideological dilemma underlying the emergence of the Thatcher and Reagan administrations and the disarray of leftwing political parties. The final chapters discuss the alternative, new conceptions of social theory that are emerging and examines how the metaphors we use to represent social reality, such as structure or reproduction, can help or hinder our ability to re-integrate meaning and action.

In The Politics of Uncertainty Peter Marris examines one of the most crucial and least studied aspects of social relationships: how we manage uncertainty, from the child''s struggle for secure attachment to the competitive strategies of multinational corporations. Using a powerful synthesis of social and psychological theory, he shows how strategies of competition interact with the individual''s sense of personal agency to place the heaviest burden of uncertainty on those with the fewest social and economic resources. He argues that these strategies maximize uncertainty for everyone by undermining the reciprocity essential to successful economic and social relationships. At a time when global economic reorganisation is undermining security of employment, The Politics of Uncertainty makes a convincing case for strategies of co-operation at both personal and political levels to ensure our economic and social survival in the twenty-first century.

In The Politics of Uncertainty Peter Marris examines one of the most crucial and least studied aspects of social relationships: how we manage uncertainty, from the child''s struggle for secure attachment to the competitive strategies of multinational corporations. Using a powerful synthesis of social and psychological theory, he shows how strategies of competition interact with the individual''s sense of personal agency to place the heaviest burden of uncertainty on those with the fewest social and economic resources. He argues that these strategies maximize uncertainty for everyone by undermining the reciprocity essential to successful economic and social relationships. At a time when global economic reorganisation is undermining security of employment, The Politics of Uncertainty makes a convincing case for strategies of co-operation at both personal and political levels to ensure our economic and social survival in the twenty-first century.

First published in 1974, then reissued in 1986 with a long introduction by the author, which developed the analysis in the light of recent theory and related it to work done in the field since its first publication.

The late Peter Marris shows how understanding grief can help us to understand processes of change, both personal and social, and to handle them with more compassion for ourselves and others. He sees grieving as the working out of a psychological reintegration, whose principles are essentially similar whether the ‘structures of meaning’ of our life fall apart from the loss of a personal relationship, of a predictable social context or of an interpretable world. Marris draws on his wide-ranging research to develop his argument. A study of widows, a description of the devastating effects of urban renewal projects on people whose familiar neighbourhoods are destroyed, an analysis of the activities of tribal associations in Nigeria, and reflections on the analogies between scientific and political revolutions are a few of the studies Marris weaves together in tracing the meaning of change and loss in human life.