Being faithful: Bakhtin and a potential postmodern psychology of self

2011 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Cresswell
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Mikhail Bakhtin ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
Embodied Self ◽  
Individual Self ◽  
Core Self

Postmodern critique has found its way into the psychology of self largely by way of Gergen’s form of social constructionism. This view treats self as socially constructed and changeable, such that a notion like faithfulness to oneself, which is generally thought to belong in the domain of a true core self, is rendered futile. However, Mikhail Bakhtin offers a view of embodied and lived self that expands social constructionist work. It offers a way to think about faithfulness to oneself while not undermining the importance of sociality. This approach enables us to account for the experiential compellingness – which is currently missing in constructionist theorizing – that is bound up with self. The paper first discusses dialogue to show how Bakhtin inspires an understanding of how community shapes the embodied self in a way that calls for a return to the notion of faithfulness to oneself. Then the notion of authorship is addressed in order to show how he could inspire a way of thinking about self-creation (authoring individual self) and the concomitant struggle experienced in being faithful to one’s self.

scholarly journals Ethical realism before social constructionism

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 220-236
Author(s):  
Tore Dag Bøe
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Emmanuel Levinas ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ethical Aspect ◽  
Ethical Aspects ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Ethical Realism ◽  
Ways Of Being

In this article, I explore the idea that there is a fundamental ethical aspect that precedes social constructionism. I suggest that within social constructionism we can identify a development from seeing knowledge as socially constructed ( epistemological social constructionism) to seeing not only knowledge, but also corporeal ways of being as socially constructed ( ontological social constructionism). As a next step, I propose incorporating what I refer to as ethical realism in social constructionist perspectives. In the encounter with the other human being, I argue that there is a real ethical impulse that precedes social constructionism and puts it in motion. This impulse is real in the sense that it is neither constructed within, nor is it dependent upon, any particular social–cultural–historical context. In this paper I consider the ethical aspects of human encounters that allow for a constructionist epistemology and ontology to emerge in the first place. I make use of ideas from Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Rancière and consider how these thinkers are used in the work of Gert Biesta. The ideas are discussed in relation to findings from a previous study by the author and his colleagues exploring the experiences of adolescents taking part in mental health services.

A Noisy Road or Noisy Resident?: A Demonstration of the Utility of Social Constructionism for Analysing Environmental Problems

1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 536-563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Burningham
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Environmental Problem ◽  
Environmental Sociology ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Environmental Disputes ◽  
Socially Constructed

Within the developing field of environmental sociology the use of social constructionist approaches has often been criticised for detracting attention from the severity of environmental problems and for failing to contribute to attempts to manage them. While there are is a number of published social constructionist analyses of how various environmental problems have come to prominence, few of these address the criticisms which have been levelled at the approach. This paper attempts to contribute to this gap in the literature by providing a reflective case study of the use of social constructionism to analyse a specific environmental problem – the noise generated by a new road. The case study discussed is of the A27 road between Havant and Chichester. The results illustrate that treating environmental problems as socially constructed is often the most valid approach given that the existence and character of these problems, as well as how best to address them, are often contested. In addition it is suggested that the results of social constructionist analyses can make a practical contribution to the management of environmental disputes.

Race on Both Sides of the Razor

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence D. Keel
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Political Correctness ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
Social Activists ◽  
Continued Use ◽  
Biological Differences

The proliferation of studies declaring that there is a genetic basis to health disparities and behavioral differences across the so-called races has encouraged the opponents of social constructionism to assert a victory for scientific progress over political correctness. I am not concerned in this essay with providing a response to critics who believe races are expressions of innate genetic or biological differences. Instead, I am interested in how genetic research on human differences has divided social constructionists over whether the race concept in science can be used for social justice and redressing embodied forms of discrimination. On one side, there is the position that race is an inherently flawed concept and that its continued use by scientists, medical professionals, and even social activists keeps alive the notion that it has a biological basis. On the other side of this debate are those who maintain a social constructionist position yet argue that not all instances of race in science stem from discriminatory politics or the desire to prove that humans belong to discrete biological units that can then be classified as superior or inferior. I would like to shift this debate away from the question of whether race is real and move instead toward thinking about the intellectual commitments necessary for science to expose past legacies of discrimination.

Early career development in the public sector: Lessons from a social constructionist perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-51
Author(s):  
Todd Bridgman ◽  
Annie De’ath
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Recent Graduates ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Collective Construction

This article explores the contribution a social constructionist paradigm can make to the study of career, through a small-scale empirical study of recent graduates employed in New Zealand’s state sector. A social constructionist lens denies the possibility of an individualised, generalised understanding of ‘career’, highlighting instead its local, contingent character as the product of social interaction. Our respondents’ collective construction of career was heavily shaped by a range of context-specific interactions and influences, such as the perception of a distinctive national identity, as well as by their young age and state sector location. It was also shaped by the research process, with us as researchers implicated in these meaning-making processes. Social constructionism shines a light on aspects of the field that are underplayed by mainstream, scientific approaches to the study of career, and therefore has valuable implications for practitioners, as well as scholars.

Sex Offender Registration: Implications and Difficulties for Ireland

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie McAlinden
Keyword(s):  
Sex Offenders ◽  
Sexual Offenders ◽  
Sex Offender ◽  
Sexual Offending ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Sex Offender Registration ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Justice Process ◽  
Criminal Justice Process ◽  
The Media

This paper explores the implications and difficulties of a system of sex offender registration for the two jurisdictions of Ireland. From the orthodox perspective, registration appears justified. Sexual offending has increase and this is used by the media to generate a ‘moral panic’. However, in terms of Blumer's (1971) developmental perspective, sexual offenders in the community have been socially constructed in Ireland, as a problem requiring specific action. This perspective most adequately explains the formulation of legislation. Arguments expounded in favour of registration include the supposedly high recidivism among sex offenders, the inadequacy of supervision provisions and the resulting need to ‘track’ the offender for public protection. Yet a plethora of obstacles which were not considered at the time the legislation was being formulated, such as cost and inadequate policing resources, may impede its effectiveness in aiding law enforcement and reduce it to symbolic significance only. Given these difficulties, I argue that registration is not an appropriate response to the problem of released sexual offenders in Ireland. Rather, from the social constructionist perspective, I suggest that it is better to ‘treat’ the sex offender through less formal and stringent means in the community, away from the criminal justice process.

Social Constructionism and the Role of the Unconscious in Hypnotic Responding: A Single Case Experiment

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 156-163
Author(s):  
David P. Fourie
Keyword(s):  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Cognitive Process ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Wide Acceptance ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Unconscious Mind

AbstractThere seems to be wide acceptance by both professionals and lay people that hypnotic and especially hypnotherapeutic responding is based on the long-standing but still hypothetical dichotomy between the conscious and unconscious minds. In this simplistic view, hypnotic suggestions are considered to bypass consciousness to reach the unconscious mind, there to have the intended effect. This article reports on a single-case experiment investigating the involvement of the unconscious in hypnotherapeutic responding. In this case the subject responded positively to suggestions that could not have reached the unconscious, indicating that the unconscious was not involved in such responding. An alternative view is proposed, namely that hypnotherapeutic responding involves a cognitive process in which a socially constructed new understanding of the problem behaviour and of hypnosis, based on the client's existing attribution of meaning, is followed by action considered appropriate to the new understanding and which then confirms this understanding, leading to behaviour change.

Sociology of normal ageing

2012 ◽  
pp. 1512-1516
Author(s):  
Sarah Harper
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Good Health ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Narrative Psychology ◽  
Normal Ageing ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
Disengagement Theory

Research on the sociology of normal ageing has focused on understanding the paradigms of ‘successful ageing’. In an apparent reaction to ‘disengagement theory’ which proposed that to withdraw from roles and relationships in old age was normal, a new conceptual framework was developed in the late 1960s and 1970s which attempted to explain how individuals adapted to the constraints of ageing and old age. This has been variously measured in terms of good health, high levels of physical and mental functioning, and active engagement with one's social and physical environment. While post-modernism and critical gerontology have attempted to refocus the debate, the emphasis of most research and writing has remained within the framework of understanding, explaining, and even facilitating, ‘success’ in old age. There is also a body of research which recognizes the importance of the life course perspective, and that throughout an individual's life, he or she is faced with continuities and discontinuities which have to be negotiated and resolved. Old age is but part of this life-long process. Changes which occur in later life, such as retirement and widowhood, will lead to discontinuities in roles and relationships, other aspects of our lives will undergo little change allowing continuity. Alongside this, perspectives from anthropology, history and the social constructionist school of thought have also been recently influential. This chapter will discuss concepts of age, generation, and cohort. It will consider the contribution of the life course approach to understanding ageing, and the manner in which other perspectives, such as social constructionism, narrative psychology and anthropology, have contributed to the sociology of normal ageing.

scholarly journals O LEITOR QUE ME TORNEI: EXPERIÊNCIAS E CONCEPÇÕES DE FUTUROS PROFESSORES DE INGLÊS SOBRE A LEITURA

Revista X ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael Leonardo Da Silva ◽  
Simone Reis
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Prospective Teachers ◽  
English Language ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
State University ◽  
Academic Texts ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Leisure Reading ◽  
Transformative Action

RESUMO:Este artigo analisa dados do projeto de pesquisa Pensamento Crítico para Ação Transformadora, que visa contribuir para o desenvolvimento da área de pesquisa de Letramento Crítico em língua estrangeira no Brasil. Adotamos visão construcionista social do conhecimento (SCHWANDT, 2006). Tal visão é subjetiva, e considera a linguagem um instrumento de poder construído socialmente. No presente artigo, narrativas de futuros professores são analisadas a respeito de suas experiências de leitura desde a infância até sua entrada no curso de graduação de Letras - Inglês e Respectivas Literaturas da Universidade Estadual de Londrina. Tais narrativas foram uma tarefa escrita da disciplina intitulada Leitura em Língua Inglesa no ano de 2012. Procuramos identificar (1) a relação destes alunos com a leitura, (2) os gêneros que eles leem, bem como (3) experiências que eles têm em comum. Nossa interpretação aponta para influências externas aos leitores em seu desenvolvimento e sua visão positiva sobre a leitura na infância como fator determinante para o desenvolvimento deste hábito. Mostra, também, que enquanto os alunos exercem agência através de suas escolhas de leitura na adolescência, é nesta fase e na vida adulta, neste caso, na universidade, que as leituras obrigatórias parecem não ser tão apreciadas. Enquanto a leitura recreativa na vida adulta se torna quase inexistente nas narrativas analisadas, a leitura de textos acadêmicos é considerada importante e/ou necessária para o desenvolvimento profissional. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Educação de professores de inglês; educação de leitores; narrativa.ABSTRACT: This article analyses data from the research project “Pensamento Crítico para Ação Transformadora” (Critical Thinking for Transformative Action), which aims at contributing to the development of the research area of Critical Literacy in foreign language in Brazil. We adopt a social constructionist view of knowledge (SCHWANDT, 2006). This view is subjective, and assumes language to be a socially constructed power instrument. In this paper, narratives of prospective teachers are analyzed in regard with their reading experiences since childhood until their entrance in the undergraduate course of English Language and Literature from the State University of Londrina, Brazil.. Such narratives were a writing assignment of the course subject entitled, Leitura em Língua Inglesa (Reading in English language) in the year of 2012. We aim at identifying (1) the relationships of the students with reading, (2) the genres which they read, as well as (3) experiences which they have in common. Our interpretation points to external influences to the readers in their development and their positive view about reading in childhood as a determining factor for the development of such habit. It also shows that while students exert agency by means of their choices of reading in adolescence, it is in this phase and in adulthood, namely at university, that compulsory reading seems to be not that much appreciated. While leisure reading in adulthood becomes almost non-existent in the narratives analyzed, reading of academic texts is accounted for as important and or necessary for professional development. KEYWORDS: English language teacher education; reading education; narrative.

The Social Construction of Human Kinds

Hypatia ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 716-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ásta Kristjana Sveinsdóttir
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
The Social ◽  
Metaphysical Claim ◽  
Human Kinds ◽  
Response Dependence ◽  
Human Kind

Social construction theorists face a certain challenge to the effect that they confuse the epistemic and the metaphysical: surely our conceptions of something are influenced by social practices, but that doesn't show that the nature of the thing in question is so influenced. In this paper I take up this challenge and offer a general framework to support the claim that a human kind is socially constructed, when this is understood as a metaphysical claim and as a part of a social constructionist debunking project. I give reasons for thinking that a conferralist framework is better equipped to capture the social constructionist intuition than rival accounts of social properties, such as a constitution account and a response‐dependence account, and that this framework helps to diagnose what is at stake in the debate between the social constructionists and their opponents. The conferralist framework offered here should be welcomed by social constructionists looking for firm foundations for their claims, and for anyone else interested in the debate over the social construction of human kinds.

The Pain of Endo Existence: Toward a Feminist Disability Studies Reading of Endometriosis

Hypatia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 554-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cara E. Jones
Keyword(s):  
Disability Studies ◽  
Social Constructionism ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
Medical Treatments ◽  
Medical Models ◽  
Feminist Disability Studies ◽  
Models Of Disability ◽  
Provide Pain Relief ◽  
The Common ◽  
Constructionist Approach

Disability scholars have critiqued medical models that pathologize disability as an individual flaw that needs treatment, rehabilitation, and cure, favoring instead a social‐constructionist approach that likens disability to other identity categories such as gender, race, class, and sexuality. However, the emphasis on social constructionism has left chronic illness and pain largely untheorized. This article argues that feminist disability studies (FDS) must attend to the common, chronic gynecological condition endometriosis (endo) when theorizing pain. Endo is particularly important for FDS analysis because the highly feminized and sexualized nature of endo pain is a major source of disability. Because medical treatments of endo enhance fertility rather than provide pain relief, those with endo must not only have access to medical services to manage their pain, but also demand better medical management of their pain as well as disability accommodations for their pain. Thus, I propose a pain‐centric model of disability that politicizes pain through social‐constructionist and medical models of disability by attending to the lived experiences of pain.

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