Academic practitioners of social psychology have traditionally adopted a liberal position against the extremes of capitalist and socialist ideology. But recently this middle position has become extremely precarious, and the fundamental crisis in social psychology can no longer be ignored. The purpose of this book is to repair the severed connection between social psychology, the culture of everyday life and the structure of society, along the lines of the Frankfurt School's critique of knowledge.
Philip Wexler places both conventional social psychology and the emergence of an alternative in their historical context, revealing the ideological character of conventional social psychology and emphasizing the social basis of an alternative. He describes the foundations of this alternative, critical psychology, by analysis of theory and research on questions of self, social interaction and intimate or personal relations. This analysis proceeds through an historical and conceptual critique of concepts and paradigms, toward their social-cultural basis, and then back again to an alternative paradigm. In presenting a coherent theoretical social psychology, and by introducing Marxist categories such as commodity fetishism, exploitation and alienation, the author enables social psychologists to overcome their cultural isolation.
Philip Wexler places both conventional social psychology and the emergence of an alternative in their historical context, revealing the ideological character of conventional social psychology and emphasizing the social basis of an alternative. He describes the foundations of this alternative, critical psychology, by analysis of theory and research on questions of self, social interaction and intimate or personal relations. This analysis proceeds through an historical and conceptual critique of concepts and paradigms, toward their social-cultural basis, and then back again to an alternative paradigm. In presenting a coherent theoretical social psychology, and by introducing Marxist categories such as commodity fetishism, exploitation and alienation, the author enables social psychologists to overcome their cultural isolation.
"In graduate school I read this book at least three or four times - not because it was difficult, but because it vibrated with an intensity that shook everything else I was reading. Wexler opened up the possibility for a radical sociology that is just now unfolding at the margins, and the book is still a powerful introduction to a critical social psychology." (Allen Shelton, Author of 'The Sign of the Burger: Double Takes on McDonalds')
"The same Philip Wexler who reinvigorated ethnographic research with his 1992 'Becoming Somebody', who demolished Marxist curriculum theory in his 1987 'Social Analysis of Education', in this volume reconceives social psychology. Wexler is simply astonishing - his accomplishment extraordinary." (William F. Pinar, St. Bernard Parish Alumni Endowed Professor, Louisiana State University)
"The same Philip Wexler who reinvigorated ethnographic research with his 1992 'Becoming Somebody', who demolished Marxist curriculum theory in his 1987 'Social Analysis of Education', in this volume reconceives social psychology. Wexler is simply astonishing - his accomplishment extraordinary." (William F. Pinar, St. Bernard Parish Alumni Endowed Professor, Louisiana State University)