Showing papers on "Social psychology (sociology) published in 1997"

Towards an Interactive Acculturation Model: A Social Psychological Approach

Abstract: The first part of this paper proposes a continuum of ideological premises that seeks to account for the broad range of immigrant integration policies adopted by Western democratic states. In the second part, a review of Social Psychological models of immigrant acculturation strategies demonstrates the need to explain more clearly the interactive nature of immigrant and host community relations. The Interactive Acculturation Model (IAM) presented next proposes that relational outcomes are the product of the acculturation orientations of both the host majority and immigrant groups as influenced by state integration policies. The model makes predictions regarding the acculturation combinations most likely to produce consensual, problematic, and conflictual relational outcomes between immigrants and members of the host community. Social psychological research is needed to test the validity of the IAM model empirically. La premiere partie de cet article propose un continuum des premisses ideologiques qui anime...

The social psychology of protest

Abstract: Social psychological research has taught us a lot about why people protest. This article provides a theoretical and empirical overview. Discussed are grievances, efficacy, identification, emotions and social embeddedness, followed by the most recent approaches, which combine these concepts into dual pathway models. Finally, two future directions are discussed: (1) to shed light on the paradox of persistent participation, and (2) to clarify how perceptions of sociopolitical context affects protest participation.

Rethinking Genre in School and Society: An Activity Theory Analysis.

Abstract: This article attempts to expand and elaborate theories of social "context" and formal schooling, to understand the stakes involved in writing. It first sketches ways Russian activity theory in the tradition of A. N. Leont'ev may expand Bakhtinian dialogism, then elaborates the theory in terms of North American genre research, with examples drawn from research on writing in the disciplines in higher education. By tracing the relations of disciplinary genre systems to educational genre systems, through the boundary of the classroom genre system, the analyst/reformer can construct a model of the interactions of classroom practices with wider social practices. Activity theory analysis of genre systems may offer a theoretical bridge between the sociology of education and Vygotskian social psychology of classroom interaction, and contribute toward resolving the knotty problem of the relation of macro- and microstructure in literacy research based on various social theories of "context." ***** What makes one conversation more meaningful than another? For either an individual, a dyad, a collective, or even a culture? When three African American students who hope to be doctors some day sit down on one particular day to write a laboratory report in a college cell biology course, what are the stakes involved in those marks on a screen? For the students and their families and their neighborhoods and churches? For the instructor and his university and his profession of biology? For the profession of medicine and its patients and its government regulators? How can a student or teacher or researcher understand the meaningfulnessthe stakesof some (act of) writing. Vygotsky and his immediate successors did not use genre as a category of analysis. But in the last decade, a number of Vygotskian theorists have incorporated into their work various theories of genre. I will propose a synthesis of a number of elements from these theories, drawing most heavily on Charles Bazerman's (1994) analysis of genre as systems of speech acts within an overarching framework of Vygotskian activity theory (Leont'ev, 1981; Engestrom, 1987, 1993). The goal is to move toward a theory of writing useful in analyzing how students and teachers within individual classrooms use the discursive tools of classroom genres to interact (and not interact) with social practices beyond individual classroomsthose of schools, families, peers, disciplines, professions, political movements, unions, corporations, and so on. In other words, I am attempting to expand and elaborate theories of social "context" and formal schooling, to understand the stakes involved in writing. Literacy, Brandt (1990) persuasively argues, is "not the narrow ability to deal with texts but the broader ability to deal with other

The social psychology of music

Abstract: This text provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the social contexts in which people create, perform, perceive, understand and react to music. It represents the first attempt to define the field since Farnsworth's book of the same title published in 1969, including the newer areas of medicine, marketing, and education in which the social psychology of music has direct applications in the real world. After an opening review chapter, the remaining 14 chapters are divided into six sections: individual differences; social groups and situations; social and cultural influences; developmental issues; musicianship; and real world applications.

Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology

Abstract: 1. The Sociology of the Mind 2. Social Optics 3. The Social Gates of Consciousness 4. The Social Division of the World 5. Social Meanings 6. Social Memories 7. Standard Time 8. Conclusion Notes Further Reading Author Index Subject Index

The social psychology of stereotyping and group life

Abstract: Acknowledgements. List of Contributors. 1. Introduction: The Social Psychology of Stereotyping and Group Life. Russell Spears, Penelope J. Oakes, Naomi Ellemers and S. Alexander Haslam. 2. Stereotypes as Explanations: A Subjective Essentialistic View of Group Perception. Vincent Yzerbyt, Steve Rocher and Georges Schadron. 3. Asking the Accuracy Question: Is Measurement the Answer?. Penelope J. Oakes and Katherine J. Reynolds. 4. Changing the Stereotype of the Stereotype. Stephen Worcel and Hank Rothgerber. 5. Stereotype Construction as a Strategy of Influence. Stephen Reicher, Nick Hopkins and Susan Condor. 6. Stereotyping and Social Influence: Foundations of Stereotype Consensus. S. Alemxander Haslam. 7. Stereotype Formation: Beyond Illusionary Correlation. Craig McGarty and Anne--Marie de la Haye. 8. Stereotyping and the Burden of Cognitive Load. Russell Spears and S. Alexander Haslam. 9. Stereotyping in Social Context. Naomi Ellemers and Ad van Knippenberg. 10. Categorization, Recategorization and Common Ingroup Identity. Phyllis Anatasio, Betty Bachman, Samuel Gaertner and John Dovidio. 11. Stereotyping under Threat: The Role of Group Identification. Bertjan Doosje and Naomi Ellemers. 12. Interdependence, Social Identity and Discrimination. Richrad Y. Bourhis, John C. Turner and Andre Gagnon. 13. The Self--esteem Hypothesis Revisited: Differentiation and the Disaffected. Karen Long and Russell Spears. 14. Self and Group in Modern Society: Ten Theses on the Individual Self and the Collective Self. Bernd Simon. 15. Commentary: Individual, Group and System Levels of Aanlysis and their Relevance for Stereotyping and Intergroup Relations. Charles Stangor and John T. Jost. References. Author Index. Subject Index.

Computation and human experience

Abstract: From the Publisher: This book offers a critical reconstruction of the fundamental ideas and methods of artificial intelligence research. Through close attention to the metaphors of AI and their consequences for the field's patterns of success and failure, it argues for a reorientation of the field away from thought in the head and toward activity in the world. By considering computational ideas in a philosophical framework, the author eases critical dialogue between technology and the humanities and social sciences. AI can benefit from new understandings of human nature, and in return, it offers a powerful mode of investigation into the practicalities and consequences of physical realization.

Producing Guanxi: Sentiment, Self, and Subculture in a North China Village

Abstract: Throughout China the formation of guanxi, or social connections, involves friends, families, colleagues, and acquaintances in complex networks of social support and sentimental attachment. Focusing on this process in one rural north China village, Fengjia, Andrew B. Kipnis shows what guanxi production reveals about the evolution of village political economy, kinship and gender, and local patterns of subjectivity in Dengist China. His work offers a detailed description of the communicative actions - such as gift giving, being a host or guest, participating in weddings or funerals - that produce, manage, and deny guanxi in a specific time and place. Kipnis also offers a rare comparative analysis of how these practices relate to the varied and variable phenomenon of guanxi throughout China and as it has changed over time. "Producing Guanxi" combines the theory of Pierre Bourdieu and the insights of symbolic anthropology to contest past portrayals of guanxi as either a function of Chinese political economics or an unchanging Confucian social structure. In this analysis guanxi emerges as a purposeful human effort that makes use of past cultural logics while generating new ones. By exploring the role of sentiment in the creation of self, Kipnis critiques recent theories of subjectivity for their narrow focus on language and discourse, and contributes to the anthropological discussion of comparative selfhood. Navigating a path between mainstream social science and abstract social theory, Kipnis presents a more nuanced examination of guanxi than has previously been available and contributes generally to our understanding of relationships and human action. His findings will interest students of Chinese society as well as scholars across the fields of anthropology, cultural studies, gender studies, and social psychology.

Enhancing Communication between Marketing and Engineering: The Moderating Role of Relative Functional Identification:

Abstract: Using research in social psychology, the authors illustrate how two key routes to improve communication between marketing and engineering are dependent on the strength of managers’ psychological co...

Structural social work : ideology, theory, and practice

Abstract: This second edition has been substantially rewritten and includes new sections on globalized capitalism, modernism and postmodernism, and a new chapter on oppression as the source of social problems and the focus of structural social work. This book is intended for introductory social work and/or social welfare courses. Upper level courses on social work theory.

The New Blackwell Companion to Social Theory

Abstract: The book guides the student and scholar through the vast array of approaches and frameworks that shape contemporary analysis of social reality. The principal focus is on post-classical modern social theory, but while major post-classical thinkers such as Habermas, Foucault and Derrida are examined, they appear within the context of a classical tradition developed by figures such as Parsons, Goffman and Elias. Organized by themes rather than theorists, 18 essays by the world's leading social theorists provide insights to the traditions of classical social thought as well as the major debates and developments in contemporary social theory. Extensive bibliographies, meanwhile, provide a guide to the current literature.

Ethnic Conflict: Commerce, Culture, and the Contact Hypothesis

Abstract: The social sciences offer many insights into the causes of the intense ethnic conflicts that characterize the close of the twentieth century, but they also create obstacles to understanding these baffling problems, contends H. D. Forbes in this important book. Forbes takes a critical look at the "contact hypothesis"-the assumption commonly held by social scientists that increased contact between different ethnic groups gives each group more accurate information about the other and thus reduces friction. By distinguishing aggregate from individual relations, Forbes suggests a way out of the perplexities induced by current social science literature on prejudice and discrimination. Drawing on studies of the contact hypothesis in sociology and social psychology and on the literature on nationalism and ethnic conflict, this book provides the most thorough review of contact theory available. Scientific research suggests that increased contact between culturally distinct groups in some cases gives rise to more intense conflict. Yet individuals who get to know each other better generally like each other better. Can these apparently conflicting generalizations both be true? asks Forbes. They are, he argues, and he takes contemporary social science to task for failing to show how and why this is possible. The author clarifies the weaknesses of contact theory, develops an alternative "linguistic model" of ethnic conflict, and concludes with penetrating reflections on the politics and methodology of the social sciences today.

Collective Memory of Political Events : Social Psychological Perspectives

Abstract: Contents: J.W. PennebakerIntroduction. Part I:The Life of Collective Memories. J.W. Pennebaker, B.L. Banasik, On the Creation and Maintenance of Collective Memories: History as Social Psychology. M.A. Conway, The Inventory of Experience: Memory and Identity. H. Schuman, R.F. Belli, K. Bischoping, The Generational Basis of Historical Knowledge. J. Igartua, D. Paez, Art and Remembering Traumatic Collective Events: The Case of the Spanish Civil War. N.H. Frijda, Commemorating. Part II:Social and Emotional Processes of Collective Memories. B. Rime, V. Christophe, How Individual Emotional Episodes Feed Collective Memory. D. Paez, N. Basabe, J.L. Gonzalez, Social Processes and Collective Memory: A Cross-Cultural Approach to Remembering Political Events. G.D. Gaskell, D.B. Wright, Group Differences in Memory for a Political Event. C. Finkenauer, L. Gisle, O. Luminet, When Individual Memories Are Socially Shaped: Flashbulb Memories of Sociopolitical Events. G. Bellelli, M.A.C. Amatulli, Nostalgia, Immigration, and Collective Memory. Part III:The Construction, Distortion, and Forgetting of Collective Experiences. E. Lira, Remembering: Passing Back Through the Heart. L. Iniguez, J. Valencia, F. Vazquez, The Construction of Remembering and Forgetfulness: Memories and Histories of the Spanish Civil War. J. Marques, D. Paez, A.F. Serra, Social Sharing, Emotional Climate, and the Transgenerational Transmission of Memories: The Portuguese Colonial War. R.F. Baumeister, S. Hastings, Distortions of Collective Memory: How Groups Flatter and Deceive Themselves.

Connectionism, Parallel Constraint Satisfaction Processes, and Gestalt Principles: (Re)Introducing Cognitive Dynamics to Social Psychology

Abstract: We argue that recent work in connectionist modeling, in particular the parallel constraint satisfaction processes that are central to many of these models, has great importance for understanding issues of both historical and current concern for social psychologists. We first provide a brief description of connectionist modeling, with particular emphasis on parallel constraint satisfaction processes. Second, we examine the tremendous similarities between parallel constraint satisfaction processes and the Gestalt principles that were the foundation for much of modern social psychology. We propose that parallel constraint satisfaction processes provide a computational implementation of the principles of Gestalt psychology that were central to the work of such seminal social psychologists as Asch, Festinger, Heider, and Lewin. Third, we then describe how parallel constraint satisfaction processes have been applied to three areas that were key to the beginnings of modern social psychology and remain central to...

Participatory action research : psychology and social change

Abstract: Participatory Action Research provides psychologists with a way of putting their skills and training to work in support of positive social change while still contributing to the important work of knowledge generation within the field. This article summarizes the development of Participatory Action Research and reviews the theoretical justification for this practice as a valid form of social research. The basic tenets and practices of this approach are discussed and the potential role of Participatory Action Research in psychology is considered.

Modern Social Theory: Key Debates And New Directions

Abstract: Outline of the theory of social domain the contours of everday life the social fabric examined power and control in modernity understanding social interaction lifeworld and system theory creativity and constraint in social life theory and empirical research.

The Emergence of Dynamical Social Psychology

Abstract: Interpersonal thought and action represent highly dynamic and complex phenomena. Because of these defining qualities, social psychology has proven resistant to integrative understanding and unqualified prediction within traditional theoretical and empirical approaches. These same qualities, however, make social psychology highly amenable to understanding and investigation within the framework of dynamical systems theory (DST). In the target article, we establish the relevance of this emerging scientific metatheory for theory construction and research in social psychology. We introduce key insights, theoretical notions, and paradigmatic features of the dynamical perspective, map these ideas onto established social psychological phenomena, and suggest new areas of investigation that reflect these ideas. In so doing, we outline the means by which complex interpersonal phenomena can be understood in terms of simple models involving principles and mechanisms common to a wide variety of dynamical systems. We co...

Emotions, the Social Bond, and Human Reality: Part/Whole Analysis

Abstract: Introduction Part I. Theory and Method: 1. Part/whole morphology: single case and comparative methods 2. The limits of literary analyses of texts Part II. Generating Theory: The Social Bond: 3. Punishment, child development, and the crime 4. Boy's talk, girl's talk: a theory of social integration 5. Origins of the First World War: integrating small parts and great wholes Part III. Generating Theory: Emotions and Conflict: 6. Gender wars: love and conflict in Much Ado About Nothing 7. Microanalysis of discourse: the case of Martha Johnson and her therapist 8. Conflict in family systems 9. Conclusion: integrating the human sciences.

The message of social psychology: Perspectives on mind in society.

Abstract: Introduction and a short history of social psychology, C. McGarty and S.A. Haslam the theory of cognitive dissonance - the evolution and vicissitudes of an idea, E. Aronson discursive, rhetorical and ideological messages, M. Billig on the social origins of human nature, M.B. Brewer organizing social psychological explanations - W. Doise predicting, understanding and changing socially relevant behaviours - lessons learned, M. Fishbein let social psychology be faddish or, at least, heterogeneous, S.T. Fiske and J-Ph. Leyens social psychology as social construction - the emerging vision, K.J. Gergen social life as rule-governed patterns of joint action, R. Harre beliefs, knowledge and meaning from the perspective of the perceiver - need for structure-order, O.J. Harvey three lessons from social psychology - multiple levels of analysis, methodological pluralism and statistical sophistication, M. Hewstone biases in social cognition - aboutness as a general principle, E.T. Higgins dynamic social impact - the societal consequences of human interaction, B. Latane going beyond limitation of Bubbapsychology - a perspectivist social psychology, W.J. McGuire situations, belongingness, attitudes and culture - four lessons learned from social psychology, A.S.R. Manstead non-material beliefs - theory and research in cultural social psychology, A. Pepitone evolution of persuasion theory - from single to multiple, R.E. Petty the relevance of language for social psychology, G.R. Semin integrating the psychological and the social to understand human behaviour, E.R. Smith and D.M. Mackie "in the beginning there is society" - lessons from a sociological social psychology, S. Stryker the social psychology of "Invictus" - conceptual and methodological approaches to indomitability, P. Suedfeld a cross-cultural perspective on social psychology, H.C. Triandis the socially structured mind, J.C. Turner and P.J. Oakes.

Critical Social Psychology

Abstract: Introduction - Russell Spears Why a Critical Social Psychology? - Tom[ac]as Ib[ac]a[ti]nez Going Critical? - Rex Stainton Rogers and Wendy Stainton Rogers Discourse and Critical Social Psychology - Jonathan Potter Does Critical Social Psychology Mean the End of the World? - Wendy Stainton Rogers and Rex Stainton Rogers Laying the Ground for a Common Critical Psychology - Stephen Reicher Postmodernism, Postmodernity and Social Psychology - Martin Roiser And So Say All of Us? Some Thoughts on 'Experiential Democratization' as an Aim for Critical Social Psychologists - Susan Condor Discourses, Structures and Analysis - Lupicinio [ac]I[ti]niguez What Practices? In Which Contexts? The Unconscious State of Social Psychology - Ian Parker Postmodernity, Subjectivity and the Media - Valerie Walkerdine Prioritizing the Political - Sue Wilkinson Feminist Psychology Reflexively Recycling Social Psychology - Ian Lubek A Critical Autobiographical Account of an Evolving Critical Social Psychological Analysis of Social Psychology Differentiating and De-Developing Critical Social Psychology - Erica Burman Critical Social Psychology - Mike Michael Identity and De-Prioritization of the Social What Scientists Do - Karin Knorr Cetina Participant Status in Social Psychological Research - Ivan Leudar and Charles Antaki

Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Testing the Circumplex Structure of Data in Personality and Social Psychology

Abstract: Circumplex representations of data have enjoyed widespread popularity in personality and social psychological research. In this article we review the conceptual assumptions implied by circumplex representations and we discuss the limitations of traditional statistical methods for testing these assumptions. A relatively nontechnical overview of a new covariance structure modeling approach to testing circumplex structure is provided. The use of this approach is illustrated with two published data sets. The advantages and disadvantages of this approach relative to more traditional statistical approaches are discussed. The conclusion is that the covariance structure modeling approach has significant advantages in that it provides a closer conceptual match to the theoretical assumptions of circumplex representations, supplies information more directly relevant to circumplex representations and permits more precise and flexible testing of hypotheses derived from circumplex representations.

Gender and Identity: The Intersection of Structure, Content, and Context

Abstract: The purpose of the present study was twofold: (1) to review empirical studies published between 1966-1995 utilizing J. E. Marcia's [(1966) “Development and Validation of Ego Identity Status,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 3, pp. 551–558] identity status paradigm for the purpose of observing any patterns of gender difference on issues related to identity structure, content, and context; (2) to present results of a single empirical study that examined the question of possible gender differences in how relationships are used in the identity formation process. Results of the review indicated few gender differences in identity structure, content, developmental process, and context; only the domains of sexuality and family roles may hold greater salience for women than men. Results from the single empirical investigation found identity status, rather than gender, to be associated with how relationships were used in the identity formation process. A discussion of possible future research directions on gender and identity status is presented.

A Comparison of Single-Sex and Coeducational Catholic Secondary Schooling: Evidence From the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988

Abstract: Three questions were addressed using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988. First, are there differences between single-sex and coeducational Catholic secondary school students in academic and social psychological outcomes? Second, do these differences especially favor young women in single-sex schools? Third, can student pre-enrollment differences account for apparent sector effects? The results indicated that single-sex Catholic secondary schools were not especially favorable academic settings and that any advantages of attending these schools only benefited boys. However, any sector differences in student achievement test scores were explained by pre-enrollment differences in measured background and prior achievement. Recent changes in the demographic make-up of all Catholic high schools may account for the differences between our findings and prior research.

Social Psychology As Social Construction: The Emerging Vision

Abstract: My commitment to social psychological inquiry has now exceeded three decades; the commitment has been a passionate one throughout. However, the nature of this passion the sense of the inquiry and its significance has changed substantially over this period. The "message" of the discipline, as it initially kindled my excitement, now seems deeply mistaken in certain respects even injurious to the society. Because the various assumptions that grounded this message were (and continue to be) the assumptions of the vast majority of the discipline, my evolving writings drew strong criticism. For some the emerging writings seemed anti-science, antipsychological, and even nihilistic. Yet, while I no longer find the traditional views of science and psychology compelling, I am far from pessimistic about the future of the discipline. In light of critical reflection and continuing dialogue within various sectors of the field and within the social sciences more generally, I find myself more excited by the prospects for social psychology than ever before. For present purposes, then, it is propitious to proceed autobiographically. I shall proceed to lay out some of the traditional assumptions and reasons for my abandonment of them. More importantly, I shall explore the contemporary vision of the field growing from this soil of discontent, and describe some of its special promises. These promises can be placed under the more general rubric of social constructionism.

Towards a Theory of Social Work Expertise

Abstract: Jan Fook is a social worker and Professor of Social Work at Deakin University. She has taught social work and welfare students over the past fifteen years. Most of her research work is on social work practice, and she is probably best known for her work on structural and feminist perspectives on direct practice. She is the author of Radical Casework (Allen and Unwin) and editor of The Reflective Researcher (Allen and Unwin). Martin Ryan is a Senior Lecturer in the Graduate School of Social Work at La Trobe University. As well as practice research on the skill and knowledge development of social workers, he has also researched consumer bankruptcy, palliative care social work and a number of areas in social work education. He is the author of The Last Resort: A Study of Consumer Bankrupts (Avebury) and Social Work and Debt Problems (Avebury). Linette Hawkins is currently employed in field education programmes for social work, welfare and community development students at Royal Melbourne Institute of Techno logy, Deakin and La Trobe Universities. She also works as a 'freelancer' in a broad range of community service projects. SUMMARY This paper begins by summarizing the results of a qualitative exploratory study of thirty experienced social workers which was undertaken in order to identify some characteristics of social work expertise. Some of the features identified include a confidence with professional identity and an ability to deal with complexities. Partici pants were also able quickly to prioritize relevant factors and were aware of constraints and resources, but made conscious use of formal theory only minimally. The full results of this study are reported elsewhere (Fook et al., in press). The main purpose of this paper is to explore the implications of these results in developing a theory of social work expertise. The issues examined include the debates around the relationship between theory and practice in social work, the generic versus the specialist nature of social work, the relevance of existing theories of expertise to social work, and the affirmation of artistic elements of social work practice.