Beyond the oversocialized conception of the subject in psychology: Desire, conflict, and the problem of social order

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (6) ◽  
pp. 768-785
Author(s):  
Suzanne R. Kirschner
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Positioning Theory ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Symbolic Interactionist ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Psychological Phenomena ◽  
The Subject

The question of how individual human beings achieve stable and collaborative social relations, given that they also have diverging desires and interests, remains important for any psychology or psychological metatheory concerned with the study of individuals in social life. Yet, many influential sociocultural psychologies have, in effect, denied that question’s validity. Discursive, hermeneutic, relational, and some critical psychologies overemphasize the constitutive force of social interactivity and cultural meanings for individual subjectivity, emotion, and other putative psychological phenomena. Using the case of positioning theory, I argue that sociocultural approaches, while of great value, take those “oversocialized” assumptions too far and do not adequately account for the moral complexities and tragic existential realities of human individual and social life. Those dimensions can be more fully theorized and studied using a cultural psychology that retains cultural–phenomenological and symbolic interactionist elements but also includes a set of broadly psychodynamic assumptions and methods.

Cultural psychology and human development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nandita Chaudhary ◽  
Sujata Sriram ◽  
Jaan Valsiner
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Psychology ◽  
Developmental Psychology ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Open Systems ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Personal Meanings ◽  
Psychological Phenomena ◽  
Time Space ◽  
Separate Branch

Cultural psychology is a theoretical approach that treats human beings as intimately intertwined with the surrounding social world, which is filled with meanings conveyed through signs. It is based on the axiom that cultural contexts and psychological phenomena are assumed to be mutual, inseparable, and co-constructive. This focus fits the general scientific status of all open systems, which exist only due to the continuous exchange of materials with the environment. Cultural psychology is an integrated approach to psychology rather than a separate branch, as is sometimes believed, since psychology and culture “make each other up.” This involves constructive internalization (intra-mental construction of personal meanings) and equally constructive externalization (changing the environment in the direction specified by the internal meanings). As a collaborative, multidisciplinary perspective, cultural psychology is closely linked with disciplines like anthropology, sociology, linguistics, literature, and others. Cultural psychology focuses on the study of cultural—sign-mediating—processes within the mind. A common misconception relates to the fact that the term “cultural” refers to the study of similarities and differences between various communities. Rather than focusing on static comparisons, meaning-making and dynamic organization of personal and collective reality are studied. Differences between societies are important only as illustrations of the possible patterns of human psychological variation as they emerge in a particular time-space coordinate. Thus, another important axiom is that there can be no psychology without culture. Culture is constructed by goal-oriented human actions and involves continuous thought, action, and emotion in the face of uncertainty. Thus, the centrally important feature of cultural psychology is the inclusion of personal, interpersonal, and collective processes as they make up the different layers of meaning in irreversible time. Culture is both inside a person’s mind, as a personal manifestation, and also a shared system or collective set of customs. Cultural psychologists tend to treat the person as a whole rather than as separate different domains of activity because a comprehensive and multidimensional approach to a person within context is believed to be the key to meaning. Cultural psychology attempts to bring the notion of context into the central focus in psychology and the notion of person back into ethnography, as these are believed to be constructive. Context is viewed in two ways—as inevitably and inseparably linked with the phenomenon and as external social setting (e.g., home, school) in which human activities take place. Another important feature is that “cultural psychology is inherently a developmental discipline and developmental psychology is inherently cultural” (Shwartz, et al. 2020, p. 2). All levels of culturally organized human ways of living—persons, communities, societies—are constantly developing systems.

Functioning of Mentality in Society: Socio-Cultural Hypothesis

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Губанов ◽  
N. Gubanov ◽  
Губанов ◽  
Nikolay Gubanov
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Reproductive Activity ◽  
Integral Characteristic ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Multiple Challenges ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Mental Characteristics

Category of mentality has additional heuristic capabilities as compared to traditional categories of the mental life. Firstly, it serves as an integral characteristic of the uniqueness of the man’s mental world, and secondly, gives an understanding of the specific type of perception of the world by the subject, thirdly, it explains the distinct way of subject’s activity – his behavior, communication, performance. Because the mentality determines the mode of activity of a social group or an individual; the human activity orientation and it’s specificity, so the mentality can be interpreted as a core for the group and personal culture, also as a strategic cultural program of the subject. One of the basic clashes of society has the form of a contradiction between the mentality, containing new cultural forms, and the social relations. In the course of the individual cultural creativity development as a response to the multiple challenges of history, new mental characteristics are generated in the mentality of the intellectual elite representatives. They represent innovative programs of human being activity – performance, behavior, communication. The new mental characteristics spread in society and become components of group mentalities. This accrued contradiction between the mass mentality and the old social relations generates a constructive tension; negotiation the tension through the reproductive activity of subjects can establish the more progressive social relations. Old elements of mentality, in turn, inherent social inertia and conservatism. They can obstruct the new social relations establishment. Therefore, mentality has the contradictory nature, embodying the dual opposition of tradition and innovation. In the same time mentality is a social progress stimulating factor, and a factor that holds back excessively large and excessively rapid social changes. There is a difference between the mentality of the creators of innovative cultural meanings and the mentality of the masses. In the mentality of the creators that make up the intelligent elite of the society, the innovational component is more intense than the traditional. In the mentality of the masses is vice versa - the traditional component dominates over the innovational. There are many driving motives of the society development: changes in a way of material production, in the culture in general and in education in particular, in engineering, in science. But the most significant force, apparently, displays the changes in mentality that generate new forms of reproductive activity of the subject in the economic, political, social and mental spheres.

scholarly journals Evaluation information within the culture of social and humanities research

2020 ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Valerii Valerievich Sutuzhko
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Government Regulation ◽  
Philosophical Analysis ◽  
Philosophical Study ◽  
Research Use ◽  
Practical Activity ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Evaluation Information

  The modern social and humanities research use evaluation information, therefore the key task of the scientific-methodological culture of a researchers is to philosophically substantiate the veracity of research results of the object (conducted by the subject), which represents evaluation information on properties of the objects. This determines the undeniable relevance of this work. The subject of philosophical study is the evaluation-value problematic. The goal consists in formation of socio-philosophical representation on the problems of application of evaluation information in the culture of social and humanities research. The scientific novelty consists in philosophical analysis of the evaluation-value problems within the culture of social and humanities cognition. The objectivity of cognition is to subjectively (this is the only way) reveal all properties of the object. Moreover, in not only actual science, but also social life, objectivity is defined subjectively by the means of evaluation. The ideas contained in this article may become the conceptual framework for social and humanities theories, as well as practical activity of the institutions of government regulation of social relations.  

scholarly journals MAKNA BUDAYA DALAM MITOS DI MINAHASA (MEANING OF CULTURE IN MYTHS IN MINAHASA)

Kadera Bahasa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-119
Author(s):  
Nontje Deisye Wewengkang
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Basic Element ◽  
Social Structures ◽  
Cultural Meaning ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
The Past

Myth is a medium of understanding and inheriting cultural values that are believed by society in the past and also influences people’s mindsets in the present. In this study, myth is a reflection of social structures and social relations in which there are basic feelings commonly shared by human beings, such as love, , or revenge. This study aims to (1) describe the mythical myths Minahasa and (2) express the cultural meanings of the Minahasa people contained in Minahasa myths. The benefits of this study are in the form of disclosing the concepts of cultural meaning possessed by the Minahasa tribe so that they can broaden the horizons of thought about Minahasa society and culture. The method used in this study is the expository description method. Lévi-Strauss states that myths are formed by units of basic elements, in which the basic element units have a dual structural structure, namely historical and ahistorical at the same time whose elements are combined or connected to one another to produce meaning.

scholarly journals Modernitetens modsigelser. Konfigurationskonflikter og samfundstænkning i Grundtvigs »Om Mennesket i Verden«

1998 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-156
Author(s):  
Henning Eichberg
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Life ◽  
The Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Time Space ◽  
The World ◽  
The One

Contradictions of Modernity. Conflicting Configurations and Societal Thinking in Grundtvig's »The Human Being in the World«A Worm - a God. About the Human Being in the World. Ove Korsgaard (ed.). With contributions of Niels Buur Hansen, Hans Hauge, Bosse Bergstedt, Uffe Jonas and Knud Bjarne Gjesing. Odense Universitetsforlag 1997.By Henning EichbergIn 1817, Grundtvig wrote »Om Mennesket i Verden« which can be regarded as a key to the understanding of his philosophy and psychology, but which is difficult to place in relation to his later folkelig, societal engagement. A recent reedition of this text together with some actual comments by Grundtvig researchers is an occasion to quest deeper about this relation.However, it is not enough to ask - as Grundtvig research has done for a long time - what Grundtvig wanted to say, but his text can be regarded as a document of how modem orientation in the world is characterized by conflicting linguistic and metaphorical patterns, which sometimes may tell another story than intended.On the one hand, Grundtvig's text speaks of a lot of dualistic contradictions such as life vs. death, light vs. darkness, truth vs. lie, God vs. devil, human fall vs. resurrection, body vs. spirit, nature vs. history and time vs. eternity. In contrast to the author's intention to produce clarity and lucidity - whether in the spirit of Christianity or of modem rationality - the binary constructions give rather a confusing picture of systematical disorder where polarity and polemics are mixed, antagonism and gradual order, dichotomy and exclusive either-or, paradoxes and dialectical contradictions. On the other hand,Grundtvig tries again and again to build up three-pole imaginations as for instance the threefold human relation to time, space and truth and the three ages of spiritual seeing, feeling and conceptualization resp. of mythology (childhood), theology (youth) and history (adult age). The main history, Grundtvig wants to tell in his text, is built up around the trialectic relation of the human being to the body, to the spirit and to itself, to the living soul.The most difficult to understand in this relation seems to be what Grundtvig calls the spirit, Aanden. Grundtvig describes it as Aandigt Samfund mellem Menneske og Sandhed, »the spiritual community between the human being and the truth«, and this may direct our attention towards samfund, meaning at the same time association, togetherness and society. Aanden is described by threefold effects - will, conscience and faith, all of them describing social relations between human beings resp. their psychological correlate. The same social undertone is true when Grundtvig characterizes three Aande-Livets Spor (»traces of spiritual life«): the word, the history and love. If »the spirit« represents what is larger or »higher« than the single human being and what cannot be touched by his or her hand, then this definition fits exactly to society or the sociality of the human being. Social life - whether understood as culture, social identity or folk (people) - is not only a quantitative sum of human individuals, but represents another quality of natural order. Thus it has its logic that Grundtvig places the human being in between the realms of minerals, plant and animal life on the one hand and the »higher« order on the other, which can be understood as the social existence.In this respect, the societal dimension is not at all absent in his philosophy of 1817. However, it is not enough to state the implicite presence of sociality as such in the earlier Grundtvigian thinking before his folkelig break-through. What was the sociality, more concretely, which Grundtvig experienced during the early modernity? In general, highly dichotomous concepts are dominating the modem discourse as capitalism vs. feudalism, materialism vs. idealism, modernity vs. premodemity, democracy vs. absolutism or revolution vs. restoration; Grundtvig was always difficult to place into these patterns. Again, it might be helpful to try a trialectical approach, transcending the dualism of state and market by civil society as a third field of social action. Indeed, it was civil society with its farmers' anarchist undertones which became the contents of Grundtvig's later folk engagement.

Sufism, Spirituality and Sustainability / Rethinking Islamic Mysticism through Contemporary Sociology

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kubilay Akman
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
Ecological Crisis ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Modern Life ◽  
Life Styles ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Contemporary Context ◽  
Modern Sense

People are looking for therapeutic ways to deal with the damaging rhythms and handicaps of modern life styles which threaten the physical, social and psychological endurance of human-beings. Reconsideration of "old" philosophies, ancient wisdom and spiritual/mystical paths in a contemporary context was among the solutions that were launched to overwhelm the modern sense of alienation in the second half of 20th Century and this tendency is still going on nowadays no comma at the first decade of 21st Century. Sufism has been one of the traditions from which modern individuals expected answers to their ontological dilemmas produced in daily life by the society, social relations, media and finally by themselves. The purpose of this paper is to discuss sociologically whether Sufism, the mystical, peaceful and tolerant way of Islam could be an answer to the social problems of modern societies. What is the social alternative of Sufi traditions regarding the contemporary issues such as: social and technological alienation, sustainable development and environmental/ecological crisis? This paper is an attempt to emphasize the possibilities of Sufism beyond spirituality, with a discussion based on the sociological conception of the subject.

scholarly journals Penerapan Athiti Krama Dalam Peningkatan Mutu Pendidikan Agama Hindu Pada Pasraman Dharma Bhakti Gianyar

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
I Gusti Ayu Oka Silantari ◽  
I Ketut Mardika
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Learning Process ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Advanced Society ◽  
The People ◽  
The World

<p><em>In human nature, apart from being individual beings as well as social beings who have their own culture. Culture arises in humans due to reason and thought in the human being itself. Humans will be able to live perfectly when they live together with other humans, in relation to other humans, certain norms or rules are needed. In the regulation, one of them was written about the procedure for honoring guests called Athiti Krama. Athiti Krama gives motivation in human life because through this human being can foster good relations between humans one with other human beings in harmony. The implementation of Athiti Krama can be found in societies everywhere in the world, both in the advanced society and the people who are still modest in their civilization.<br /> In social life, everyone should behave well so as to create happiness for themselves and the community, because in the teachings of Hinduism, Athiti Krama teachings are basically contained which can bring people to achieve harmony in social order in society. The basis of Athiti Krama's teachings is the ethics or morality that many of the Vedic scriptures have mentioned, one of which is Tri Kaya Parisudha. Considering the importance of Athiti Krama as a social guide in people's lives. So it should be known to be applied in the learning process in Pasraman Dharma Bhakti.</em><strong><em></em></strong></p>

scholarly journals Values of Akhlak Education Based on Suluk Tareeqa Naqsyabandiyah Kholidiyah

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-220
Author(s):  
Setyo Pambudi ◽  
Ahmad Wahyu Hidayat
Keyword(s):  
Moral Education ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Qualitative Method ◽  
Boarding School ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Structured Analysis ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

This study raises the theme of the values ​​of Moral-Based Moral Education in the Naqsyabandiyah Kholidiyah Islamic Boarding School of Al-Manshur Popongan Klaten. The research method used is qualitative method, using the one used is phenomenology, the subject is the Murshid of the Naqshabandiyah Khalidiyah Order, the Naqshyabandiyah Khalidiyah Congregation and religious figures around the popongan Islamic boarding school, analyzing the data using structured analysis methods, monitoring, and triangulation of data. The results of his research are: 1) Moral Education in the Procession of Suluk Tarekat Naqsyabandiyah Kholidiyah Boarding School Al-Manshur Popongan Klaten. Based on the content of the requirements and the harmony of the above, that in the procession of suluk it takes the values ​​of moral education that is able to improve the quality of human beings to be perfect beings. And in it there are morals towards Allah SWT, Teachers, Students and Fellow. The implementation of suluk can also be actualized in social life, 2) Values ​​of moral education in the Suluk Naqsyabandiyah Kholidiyah pesantren Al-Mansur Boarding School in Klongan. That contains moral education which includes: 1. Morals towards God, namely Repentance, Gratitude, Tawakal, and Ikhlas. 2. Morals towards Teachers, namely Ridho, Ta'dzim, Obedience and Amanah. 3. Morals towards Yourself, namely Sidiq, Mujahadah, Istiqomah and Wara '. 4. Morals towards Others, C) Implementation of Suluk Naqsyabandiyah Kholidiyah in Community or Daily Life. 1. Ukhuwah Islamiyah, 2. Tawadhu ’, 3. Ta'awun and 4. Husnudzan

scholarly journals Architectural objects as elements of the social space of the city in the subject field of social sciences

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 64-73
Author(s):  
Н. К. Міхно
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Symbolic Interaction ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Subject Field ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The City

The study tested that cities are studied from different perspectives: from city-to-city links, structural elements of urban space to everyday practices of cities. Among the representatives of the scientific field, which made a significant contribution to the development of the theory of urban research is to highlight J. Bodriyar, P. Bourdieu, D. Becker, D. Jacobs, C. Lynch, A. Lefevra, M. Castells, D. Garvey, A. Scott, R. Pal, J. Fischer, H. Delitz and others. Moreover interesting and thorough are the scientific works of Ukrainian researchers – V. Sereda, M. Sobolevskaya, L. Males, Y. Soroka, D. Sudin, A. Petrenko-Lisak, A. Mikheeva, L. Nagorna, O. Musiyuzdov and a number of others. In this case, the methodological position of the researchers is relevant, which states that the symbolic space of the city is formed through the ability of visual objects to translate cultural and symbolic codes with the help of geometric, semantic and aesthetic characteristics. For example, in this work, one of the key terms is «architectural landscapes» with which it is possible to analyze the combination of spatial forms in the city with meaningful cultural and ideological content. It was recorded that the signs or symbolic markers can serve as architectural buildings, monuments, memorable signs, street names, informational and promotional posters, and so on. The main objects of research in the sociology of the study of architectural forms gradually became the phenomenon of buildings and structures, as well as the development of theoretical directions in architecture, the study of the place and role of space in sociology and cultural studies. As a result in the methodological space, along with the phenomenological, anthropological, and linguistic turns, the term «architectural turn» appears. From the point of view of the system theory, architecture is not seen as the main subject of research, namely communication on architecture. Accordingly, institutional theory in sociology considers architecture as an «institutional mechanism» that firmly asks individuals a certain social order and allows for the implementation of architectural ideas. On the other hand, at the same time, open questions remain regarding the meaningful content of the meanings contained in the objects of architecture. The postmodern direction, which reveals other aspects of the study of architectural forms, deserves special attention. Discreteness Architectural of social life, «decentralization of the subject», the decomposition of reality into actual and virtual, freedom and spontaneity as characteristics of the postmodern era are reflected and read in the architecture of postmodern. The architectural space of the city is considered by a number of domestic and foreign researchers in the context of symbolic interaction between power structures and actors through architectural constructions and design of a living environment.

Behaviourism in the social sciences

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rom Harre
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Psychological Processes ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Psychological Phenomena ◽  
The Social ◽  
Dependent Variables ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Direct Reflection

Classical behaviourism has had almost no direct reflection in the social sciences, in that there has never been a behaviourist social psychology or sociology. However, various features of the cluster of behaviourist doctrines have been widespread in the human sciences. Behaviourism as it developed from its roots in the proposals of Watson, and in its transformation by Skinner, had two influential aspects, one metaphysical and the other methodological. The metaphysics of behaviourism was positivistic. It was hostile to theory, favouring a psychology the subject matter of which was limited to stimuli and responses. It was hospitable to the conception of causation as regular concomitance of events, rejecting any generative or agent causal concepts. The methodology of behaviourism was hospitable to simple experimental techniques of inquiry, seeking statistical relations between independent and dependent variables. It was hostile to descriptions of human action that incorporated the intentions of the actor, favouring a laconic vocabulary of neologisms. Metaphysically and methodologically behaviourism favoured the individual as the locus of psychological phenomena. But, in practice, the use of statistical analyses of data abstracted psychological processes from real human beings leaving only simplified automata in their place.

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