Social Constructionist Psychology

Notes on contributors
Preface
What's wrong with social constructionism?

/f002Part one: A critical analysis of theory

Critical reflexive humanism and critical constructionist psychology
Beyond appearances
a critical realist approach to social constructionist work
A paradigm shift? connections with other critiques of social constructionism

/f002Part two: Materiality and embodiment

Between the dark and the light
power and the material contexts of social relations
"Discourse or materiality?"
impure alternatives for recurrent debates
Discourse and the embodied person
The extra-discursive in social constructionism
Realism, constructionism and phenomenology
Taking our selves seriously

/f002Part three: A critical analysis of practice

Whose construction? points from a feminist perspective
Social constructionism
implications for psychotherapeutic practice
That's all very well, but what use is it?
Conclusion
reconstructing social constructionism
Glossary
Index.

• How can ideas about the social construction of reality be reconciled with the material and embodied aspects of our being?
• In what ways can a realist framework inform social constructionist research?
• What are the limits of social constructionism?

This accessible text draws together for the first time a wide range of emerging issues, ideas and discussions in constructionist psychology. It shows how these issues are relevant to everyday life, using carefully-chosen examples to illustrate its arguments, and provides a coherent and challenging introduction to the field.

The book explores the growing conviction that dominant 'discursive' trends in social constructionism - which deal with the analysis of language and discourse to the exclusion of the material world, embodiment, personal-social history, and power - are inadequate or incomplete and risk preventing social constructionism from maturing into a viable and coherent body of theory, method and practice. In highlighting what are seen as deficiencies in current constructionist approaches, it inevitably takes a somewhat critical stance. However, the contributing authors are committed to a constructionist analysis of the human condition - into which they seek to reintegrate the material and embodied aspects of our nature. As a result, the completion of social constructionism is brought a step closer and its continued importance is underlined.