Inquiries in Social Construction series – serie

`This is a wonderful volume, powerfully written, timely, insightful, and filled with major pieces; the passion, intellectual rigor and sense of history found here promises to shape this field in the decades to come. This volume sets the agenda for the future' - Norman K Denzin, University of Illinois

`A beautifully crafted manuscript which re-invigorates the rather stale debate between the traditionalists and the anti-psychiatry schools of thought.... For all those working in mental health arenas the journeying through this text will be highly rewarding indeed. Stick with it.' - Mental Health Care

`This is a book which will apeal to those interested in theoretical debates rather than to practitioners who may find it heavey weather if they have not had the time or resources to engage with what are often quite difficult and often dense writings' - British Journal of Social Work

`This book.. present[s] a clarity that is vivid.... This book would be a good place for psychiatrists to start' - British Journal of Psychiatry

Pathology and the Postmodern explores the relationship between mental distress and social constructionism using new work from eminent scholars in the fields of sociology, psychology and philosophy.

The authors address: how specific cultural, economic and historical forces converge in contemporary psychiatry and psychology; how new syndromes, subjectivities and identities are being constructed and deconstructed in technological, culturally mediated and hyper-reflexive contexts; and what new critiques of positivism and new understandings of `pathology' seem viable, given these still emerging scenarios.

Building upon work in such areas as labelling theory, feminist studies, linguistics, and post-structuralism, the twelve chapters engage the cultural, historical and political conditions that should be implicated in our understanding of contemporary mental suffering.

`This is a wonderful volume, powerfully written, timely, insightful, and filled with major pieces; the passion, intellectual rigor and sense of history found here promises to shape this field in the decades to come. This volume sets the agenda for the future' - Norman K Denzin, University of Illinois

`A beautifully crafted manuscript which re-invigorates the rather stale debate between the traditionalists and the anti-psychiatry schools of thought.... For all those working in mental health arenas the journeying through this text will be highly rewarding indeed. Stick with it.' - Mental Health Care

`This is a book which will apeal to those interested in theoretical debates rather than to practitioners who may find it heavey weather if they have not had the time or resources to engage with what are often quite difficult and often dense writings' - British Journal of Social Work

`This book.. present[s] a clarity that is vivid.... This book would be a good place for psychiatrists to start' - British Journal of Psychiatry

Pathology and the Postmodern explores the relationship between mental distress and social constructionism using new work from eminent scholars in the fields of sociology, psychology and philosophy.

The authors address: how specific cultural, economic and historical forces converge in contemporary psychiatry and psychology; how new syndromes, subjectivities and identities are being constructed and deconstructed in technological, culturally mediated and hyper-reflexive contexts; and what new critiques of positivism and new understandings of `pathology' seem viable, given these still emerging scenarios.

Building upon work in such areas as labelling theory, feminist studies, linguistics, and post-structuralism, the twelve chapters engage the cultural, historical and political conditions that should be implicated in our understanding of contemporary mental suffering.

`This brief and powerful book has very important things to say to a wider audience; to health care professionals, to therapists, and also to social scientists who deal with questions of femininity, the body, and poststructuralism' - Journal of Health Psychology

`A readable book that contains simplified information of some complicated concepts. It will prove of benefit to those readers in the field of women and social studies' - European Eating Disorders Review

The concepts presented in this book are carefully argued, succinctly organized, and genuinely stimulating.... It provokes clinicians to think about treatment and the effect of diagnostic practices, it provokes researchers to ask different questions, and it provokes students to read beyond dominant and conventional texts. This is a timely and important publication that deserves to feature prominently in the ongoing study of anorexia nervosa' - Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology

`This book is intelligent, well-written and thought provoking addition to current literature on eating disorders' - Feminism and Psychology

In this wide-ranging book, Julie Hepworth casts a critical light on our contemporary understanding of anorexia nervosa. She locates contemporary discourses of anorexia nervosa within their historical context, showing how current practices continue to be influenced by medicine, psychology, ideology and politics. She argues that anorexia nervosa must be considered within the political, social and gendered relationships that continue to contribute to its definition. The book demonstrates the need for a new conceptualization of anorexia nervosa which would draw on the insights of discourse theory, feminism and postmodernism to create new understandings of anorexia nervosa within contemporary health care practices.

This book charts a clear and accessible path through some of the key debates in contemporary psychology. Drawing upon the wider critical and discursive turn in the human sciences, Social Constructionism, Discourse and Realism explores comprehensively the many claims about what we can know of `reality' in social constructionist and discursive research in psychology.

Relativist versus realist tensions go to the heart of current theoretical and methodological issues, not only within psychology but across the social and human sciences. By mapping the connections between theory, method and politics in social research and placing these within the context of the broader social constructionist and discursive debates, the internationally renowned contributors offer the reader an invaluable survey of the debates.

Much discussion in recent years has centred on the status of the self, identity and subjectivity in the light of powerful arguments about the social origins of personhood. The Social Self presents many dimensions of the debate, spanning psychology, philosophy, politics and feminist theory, and provides a critical overview of the key themes involved.

The internationally renowned contributors examine the senses in which we are `social selves' whose very identities are intimately bound up with the communities and cultures in which we live. Drawing on Wittgenstein, Marx, Foucault, Bakhtin, Gilligan and MacIntyre, among others, the chapters show the diversity of influences that have shaped this exciting and controversial issue.

This major book offers a comprehensive overview of key debates on subjectivity and the subject in psychological theory and practice. In addition to social construction's long engagement with social relations, this volume addresses questions of the body, technology, intersubjectivity, writing and investigative practices.

The internationally renowned contributors explore the tensions and opposing viewpoints raised by these issues, and show how analyzing the psychological subject interrelates with reforming the practices of psychology. Drawing on perspectives that include feminism, dialogics, poststructuralism, hermeneutics, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and cultural or social studies of science, readers are guided through pivotal debates in the field.

`A smart, thoughtful, and well-written book that takes social memory studies in a bold new direction and will attract an audience from across the social sciences for years to come' - Theory & Psychology

What informs the process of remembering and forgetting? Is it merely about our capability to store and retrieve experiences in a purely functional sense? What about 'collective memories', not just those of the individual - how do these manifest themselves in the passages of time?

The authors present a new, fascinating insight into the social psychology of experience drawing upon a number of classic works (particularly by Frederick Bartlett, Maurice Halbwachs & Henri Bergson) to help develop their argument. The significance of their ideas for developing a contemporary psychology of experience is illustrated with material from studies focused on settings at home and at work, in public and commercial organizations where remembering and forgetting are matters of concern, involving language and text based communication, objects and place.

As their argument unfolds, the authors reveal that memories do not solely reside in a linear passage of time, linking past, present and future, nor do they solely rest within the indidvidual's conciousness, but that memory sits at the very heart of 'lived experience'; whether collective or individual, the vehicle for how we remember or forget is linked to social interaction, object interaction and the different durations of living that we all have. It is very much connected to the social psychology of experience.

This book is written for advanced undergraduate, masters and doctoral students in social psychology. However, it will also be of particular value on courses that deal with conceptual and historical issues in psychology (in cognate disciplines as well) and supplmentary reading in cognitive science.

The old model of lesbianism as a pathological affliction has largely given way to a liberal social scientific one which presents it as an alternative lifestyle, a way of loving, a sexual preference, or a source of personal fulfilment.

This controversial book argues that the shift from `pathological' to `gay affirmative' research merely substitutes one depoliticized construction of lesbianism for another. The author contends that the gay affirmative model is fundamentally incompatible with radical feminist theory in which lesbianism is a political statement representing the bonding of women against male supremacy.

This volume was awarded a 1989 Distinguished Publication Award by the Association for Women in Psychology.

The old model of lesbianism as a pathological affliction has largely given way to a liberal social scientific one which presents it as an alternative lifestyle, a way of loving, a sexual preference, or a source of personal fulfilment.

This controversial book argues that the shift from `pathological' to `gay affirmative' research merely substitutes one depoliticized construction of lesbianism for another. The author contends that the gay affirmative model is fundamentally incompatible with radical feminist theory in which lesbianism is a political statement representing the bonding of women against male supremacy.

This volume was awarded a 1989 Distinguished Publication Award by the Association for Women in Psychology.

Profoundly challenging the traditional view of memory as the product and property of individual minds, Collective Remembering is concerned with remembering and forgetting as socially constituted activities. The starting point is a conceptualization of remembering and forgetting as forms of social action. Individual memories cannot be understood as `internal mental processes' which occur independently of the interpretive and communicative practices which characterize a particular society or culture. Individuals `read', account for and negotiate their memories within the pragmatics of social life. Contributions also explore the collective processes through which communities' social memories are created, sustained and transformed - in families, other groups and cultures, organizations.

`An interesting collection of the state of the art of social constructionism and therapy, and a major contribution to reflection on therapeutic theory and practice' - Changes

`The chapters are interesting as windows into wider debates beyond therapy to those within the human sciences over the organization of meaning and change in culture... the value of this book is that it makes it possible for the reader to step back and think that therapy may mean different things to different communities, that therapy is not the touchstone but only one of many social constructions' - British Psychological Society Counselling Psychology Review

This volume explores the exciting possibilities for the therapeutic process of adopting a social constructionist perspective. A key concern is with socially constructed lives. Our senses of self, identity and life purpose are socially and culturally embedded, but no single cultural `script' proves all-powerful. In social constructionist therapy, client and therapist work to co-create new, more satisfactory `stories' in ways which recognise their social, relational character.

The book firstly examines the theoretical basis for this process. It also looks at the implications for client-therapist relationships and discusses various approaches in practice, including `irreverent therapy', the `not-knowing therapist' and the role of reflexivity. A number of case studies are presented. The final section offers an exhilarating mix of overview, self-critique and agenda for the future.

This accessible text introduces the key elements of a discursive approach to psychology. This focuses on how discourse - naturally occurring talk and text - can be studied and understood as the accomplishment of social action. Building on discourse analysis, the authors present an integrated discursive action model which leads to a radical reworking of some of psychology's most central concepts - language, cognition, truth, knowledge and reality.

The implications of a discursive perspective for such topics are explored alongside a sustained argument against the perceptual-cognitivist emphasis that currently dominates psychology. A particular theme is the reconceptualization of memory and attribution. The authors examine the communicative and interactional work performed when individuals, with interests, describe and explain past events, construct factual reports and attribute mental states. They draw on a wide range of empirical materials to demonstrate the methods and analysis underpinning their approach.

Reframing fundamental issues of language and mind as social practices realized in discourse, Discursive Psychology offers a profound challenge to existing orthodoxies while also establishing an exciting new agenda in the social and human sciences.

This groundbreaking book is the first to explore the implications of postmodernist ideas for psychology. It examines central themes of postmodernism as they relate to psychology - for example, the nature of the self, locally situated rather than universal knowledge and the pivotal role of language in social life.

The contributors outline the new possibilities for psychology, setting theoretical reformulations alongside implications for psychological practice and method. The book presents critique as well as support for postmodern perspectives, from feminist critique of postmodern `deconstruction' to argument with the usefulness of sharp distinctions between a `modern' and `postmodern' psychology.

This book investigates the complex strands that inextricably link gender and power relations, demonstrating how gender is constructed through the practices of power.

The contributors argue that `female' and `male' are shaped not only at the micro-level of everyday social interaction but also at the macro-level where social institutions control and regulate the practice of gender. Power/Gender explores: how theorizing on power is affected when gender is taken into account; post-Foucauldian theory of gender and power; whether it is possible to separate gender and power; the connections between gender and the practice of power in political contexts, and how these connections work in the specific contexts of women's lives; and whether the construction of sex or gender is an expression of power relations.

This comprehensive volume explores the concrete implications of social constructionist theory, and provides a clear overview of how to do social constructionist research and analysis.

Leading psychologists and sociologists ground theory with practical examples to clearly illustrate the view that human beings are principally social agents rather than passive reactors or information processors. Each chapter analyzes the historical and cultural contexts implicit in a wide range of key issues including anxiety, the family, intelligence, ageing and depression.

This imaginative and original book challenges the traditional scientific view that naturally occurring psychological and sociological `realities' are to be discovered underlying appearances. Instead, it claims that such orderly realities are both socially constructed and sustained within the context of people's disorderly, everyday conversational activities.

John Shotter's interdisciplinary analysis highlights the socially contested but imaginary nature of many of the `things' we talk about in social life and illuminates the processes of their construction. He offers a broad-ranging exploration of the rhetorical, argumentative nature of conversational communication, using examples from psychotherapy, management and everyday life.

This major book offers a comprehensive overview of key debates on subjectivity and the subject in psychological theory and practice. In addition to social construction's long engagement with social relations, this volume addresses questions of the body, technology, intersubjectivity, writing and investigative practices.

The internationally renowned contributors explore the tensions and opposing viewpoints raised by these issues, and show how analyzing the psychological subject interrelates with reforming the practices of psychology. Drawing on perspectives that include feminism, dialogics, poststructuralism, hermeneutics, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and cultural or social studies of science, readers are guided through pivotal debates in the field.