Reductionism
Friend or Foe of an Integrative Social Psychology
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 11326432 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Neil J Mackinnon (0000-0002-3535-8606, University of Guelph, corresponding author), Neil Mackinnon (0000-0001-8111-6651, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 85 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 6-22 |
| Publication date | 2022-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Psychology Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0190-2725 • E-ISSN: 1939-8999 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/01902725221081948 |
| OpenAlex | W4220782347 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 47 |
I begin my address by identifying three vertical directions of reductionism (upward, horizontal, and downward) with ontological (descriptive) and epistemological (explanatory) forms. Following a brief discussion of horizontal reductionism, I deal with upward reductionism in terms of postmodernist thought and its influence on social scientists. In my discussion of downward reductionism, I reject ontological (descriptive) reductionism while embracing a qualified version of epistemological (explanatory) reductionism. While admitting psychological and biological variables to explanation of social phenomena, this qualified version of explanatory reductionism maintains that individual-level variables cannot explain social phenomena without residue because such phenomena have emergent properties. I support my argument by discussing the perceived threat of neuroscience by psychologists and the lesson it holds for sociology and social psychology with respect to employing individual-level explanatory variables. Following a discussion of affect control theory and cultural sociology as examples of the qualified version of explanatory reductionism advanced in this address, I present a model of an integrative social psychology, locating different kinds of reductionism and social psychological theories in this model
Argument (complex analysis · Epistemology · Reductionism · Sociology · Cultural Differences and Values · Philosophy · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Representations and Identity
The emotional dog and its rational tail
Dual-Processing Accounts of Reasoning, Judgment, and Social Cognition
Human Nature and the Social Order
Sociological theories in progress
Readings in Philosophy of the Social Sciences
Sociological perspectives on social psychology
The Conduct of Inquiry
Operationalizing the Relation Between Affect and Cognition With the Somatic Transform
Symbolic Interactionism
Self, Identity, and Social Institutions
Realist Social Theory
Identity Theory
Contemporary Social Psychological Theories
Realism and Social Science
The Possibility of Naturalism
Continuing the Story
Culture and Social Psychology
Symbolic Interactionism as Affect Control
Behavior
Normativity and naturalism as if nature mattered
Studies in Symbolic Interaction
Beyond the Comtean Schema
A Realist Theory of Science
The social construction of reality
Exchange and power in social life
The Sociology of Georg Simmel
On the whys and wherefores of E, P, and A
Impression formation and word combination in sentences
Power and the Emergence of Commitment Behavior in Negotiated Exchange
Culture in Action
Exchange as Symbolic Interaction
The Postmodern Condition
Mining the intersections of cognitive sociology and neuroscience
Culture and choice
Status, Power and Ritual Interaction
Cultural Relativism and the Future of Anthropology
Post-Modernism and the Social Sciences
Culture and Cognition
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |