Carl Ratner
Biographic Data
| ID | 3674091 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Carl Ratner |
| GIVEN NAMES | Carl |
| FAMILY NAME | Ratner |
| SIGNATURE | RATNER C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Cal Poly Humboldt |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 42 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 175 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 42 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1967 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
O legado conceitual da Teoria Histórico-Cultural no pensamento de Carl Ratner: Entrevista ao laboratório de Psicologia Histórico-Cultural da Universidade Estadual de Maringá
O presente texto representa o trabalho de formação de protagonistas na Psicologia Histórico-Cultural. Este protagonismo se inicia com a formação de alunos do curso de Psicologia da Universidade Estadual de Maringá que participam do Laboratório de Psicologia Histórico-Cultural, um projeto de ensino e extensão, em que os professores coordenadores mobilizam ações formativas para os futuros profissionais. Com fundamentos no materialismo histórico-dia…
Fetishizing Racism, Racist Psychology, Race, Inequality, and Equality
Introduction: The Science–Emancipation Dialectic or Mobius Strip
The Scientific Theory of Macro-cultural Psychology
Racist Psychology, Slavery, Capitalism
How Can Scientific Psychology Contribute to Social and Psychological Emancipation?
Racist Psychology and Racism as Macro Cultural Phenomena
The Emancipatory Character of Macro-cultural Psychology and the Conservative Character of Alternative Approaches to Cultural Psychology
Political Errors in Racial Social Justice Movements
Cultural Psychology, Racism, and Social Justice
Cultural Psychology, Racism, and Social Justice
Psychology’s Contribution to Socio-Cultural, Political, and Individual Emancipation
The discrepancy between macro culture and individual, lived psychology: An ethnographic example of Chinese moral behavior
This paper seeks to explain the fact that particular cultural structures, artifacts, policies, and values often do not generate corresponding individual behavior/psychology that they are expected to produce. This discrepancy is troubling to the science of cultural psychology/sociocultural activity theory that seeks to understand the cultural organization of psychology; and it it is troubling to policy makers who strive to organize behavior (relig…
The Generalized Pathology of Our Era: Comparing the Biomedical Explanation, the Cultural-Political Explanation, and a Liberal-Humanistic-Postmodernist Perspective
This article seeks to problematize the issue of pathology and to render it intelligible. I elucidate a cultural-political model of a) why pathology is prevalent in numerous forms and social domains, and b) interventions for ameliorating widespread pathology, and ultimately eradicating it. This model draws on the work of Eric Fromm that articulates how pathology is characteristic of normal social, psychological activity in many or most societies. …
Vygotsky and Marx: Toward a Marxist Psychology
Vygotsky and Mark : towards a Marxist psychology fills two interrelated gaps in the field of psychology, first by developing a Marxist orientation to psychology and second by explaining how psychological pioneer Lev Vygotsky contributed greatly to this trend. Through outlining core principles in Marxist psychology, the book offers a framework for continuing Vygotsky’s Marxist legacy in new areas of the field. It first documents the neglect in Vyg…
Culture-Centric Vs. Person-Centered Cultural Psychology and Political Philosophy
My work in cultural psychology – i.e., sociocultural theory – has two branches. One is the study of psychological phenomena as cultural phenomena. The other is the study of the discipline of cultural psychology as a cultural phenomenon. By this I mean the concepts and methods and interventions that the discipline employs, and the cultural factors that shape them. The discipline of cultural psychology is as culturally shaped as the psychology of t…
Cooperatives
This entry discusses cooperatives; the latter follow foundational principles articulated by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). It addresses the growing popularity and presence of cooperative enterprises around the globe, the institutional changes that present an opportunity for structuring supportive social and economic relations among co‐op participants, and argues that the current definition of a cooperative confuses a cooperative wi…
Classic and Revisionist Sociocultural Theory, and their analyses of expressive language
This article articulates two approaches to sociocultural theory, Vygotsky’s classic approach and a contemporary revisionist approach. We examine: (1) their principle tenets for understanding psychology in relation to culture; (2) how they characterize and explain language in particular; and (3) how they characterize and explain a sample linguistic specimen of two dialogues from a middle-class child and a lower-class child. I utilize a critical di…
Neoliberal Co-optation of Leading Co-op Organizations, and a Socialist Counter-Politics of Cooperation
Many people think of cooperatives as small, locally owned businesses, such as groceries, cafes, or bicycle shops, where people can work in an equal and participatory non-capitalist organization. In reality, the U.S. co-op movement is tied to federal agencies whose agenda is promoting neoliberalism, both domestically and abroad, and the co-op movement itself has neoliberal leaders. Many co-ops in name are profit-driven capitalist corporations in p…
Pathological normalcy: A construct for comprehending and overcoming psychological aspects of alienation
Daniel Burston has made an important contribution to broadening and deepening the field of academic psychology. In “Cyborgs, Zombies and Planetary Death: Alienation in the 21st Century,” he brings
A Cultural Psychological Theory of Mental Illness, Supported by Research in Saudi Arabia
This article proposes a theory of psychological disturbance (mental illness) as a cultural phenomenon. The theory is based on – and extends-- the general cul-tural psychological theory of Vygotsky, Luria, and Leontiev, as well as the spe-cific social approach to psychopathy of Fromm, Foucault, Laing, and Rieber. We demonstrate that the psychodynamics of individual disturbances are shaped by normative, macro cultural factors, such as gender norms,…
A Macro Cultural Psychological Theory of Identity
The aim of this paper is to articulate a theory of human identity from a cultural psychological perspective. This article shall elucidate an explanation of identity as rooted in macro cultural factors such as social institutions, artifacts, and cultural concepts. This theory is called "macro cultural psychology." Understanding identity requires comprehending the history, society, and culture that affect specific ways we define ourselves. This art…
Cultural Psychology and Cross-Cultural Psychology: The Case of Chinese Psychology
This paper discusses ways that cultural psychology can complement cross-cultural psychology to achieve a deeper understanding of culture, psychology, and their relationship (see Cross-cultural psychology is accomplished in clarifying, operationalizing, and testing issues related to culture, psychology, and their relation. Cross-cultural psychology utilizes standardized tests and measures and variables most successfully when prior research has ide…
The Cultural Psychology of Oppression and Liberation
(2009). The Cultural Psychology of Oppression and Liberation. Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness: Vol. 18, No. 3-4, pp. 231-268
Harre's Social Philosophy and Political Philosophy: A Social Scientific Critique
In his article, “Saving Critical Realism,” Harre (2009 ) relates his revised philosophy of science to a social philosophy concerning the nature of society, and to a political philosophy regarding the nature of freedom and reform. I argue that his social philosophy and political philosophy rest upon an individualistic sense of society and freedom. I demonstrate that his individualism is factually and politically untenable. (I shall not comment on …
Cultural Psychology, Racism, and Social Justice
Agency and Culture
A Cultural-Psychological Analysis of Emotions
I argue that an activity theory-which regards emotions as interdependent and interpenetrating with other cultural phenomena-is central for the cultural psychology of emotions. Activity theory maintains that the cultural characteristics, development and functions of psychological phenomena are shaped by social activities and cultural concepts. I present evidence that activity theory is central for the cultural psychology of emotions. I also explai…
Activity as a Key Concept for Cultural Psychology
This paper articulates a concept of culture as practical, socially organized human activity. Culture is not simply shared conceptual understandings, as many cultural psychologists believe. The manner in which cultural activity organizes psychological functions is explored in detail. The reciprocal influence of psychological functions on culture is also described
Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Cross‐Cultural Psychology
Carl Ratner and Lumei Hui, Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Cross‐Cultural Psychology, pp. 67–93. Although cross‐cultural psychology has advanced our understanding of cultural aspects of psychology, it is marred by theoretical and methodological flaws. These flaws include misunderstanding cultural issues and the manner in which they bear on psychology; obscuring the relation between biology, culture, and psychology; inadequately definin…
Cooperativism: A Social, Economic, and Political Alternative to Capitalism
Social systems may be likened to scientific paradigms. They become consolidated and extended; they are weakened by fundamental flaws; these are patched up in awkward, inadequate ways by authorities
In Defense of Activity Theory
This paper elaborates the relationship between practical social activity and psychological phenomena. In particular, I explain how psychological phenomena dialectically contribute to social activity even as they are organized by it. I also explain how individual differences in psychology are accounted for by activity. The article answers objections which have been raised to an earlier paper I wrote on activity and cultural psychology
Three Approaches to Cultural Psychology: A Critique
This article identifies the strengths and weaknesses of three predominant schools of cultural psychology. These schools are activity theory, the symbolic approach, and an individual approach. Activity theory explains psychology as grounded in practical cultural activities. The symbolic approach explains psychology as formed by collective symbols and concepts. The individual approach emphasizes individual construction of psychological functions fr…
The Generalized Pathology of Our Era: Comparing the Biomedical Explanation, the Cultural-Political Explanation, and a Liberal-Humanistic-Postmodernist Perspective
This article seeks to problematize the issue of pathology and to render it intelligible. I elucidate a cultural-political model of a) why pathology is prevalent in numerous forms and social domains, and b) interventions for ameliorating widespread pathology, and ultimately eradicating it. This model draws on the work of Eric Fromm that articulates how pathology is characteristic of normal social, psychological activity in many or most societies. …
Neoliberal Co-optation of Leading Co-op Organizations, and a Socialist Counter-Politics of Cooperation
Many people think of cooperatives as small, locally owned businesses, such as groceries, cafes, or bicycle shops, where people can work in an equal and participatory non-capitalist organization. In reality, the U.S. co-op movement is tied to federal agencies whose agenda is promoting neoliberalism, both domestically and abroad, and the co-op movement itself has neoliberal leaders. Many co-ops in name are profit-driven capitalist corporations in p…
Harre's Social Philosophy and Political Philosophy: A Social Scientific Critique
In his article, “Saving Critical Realism,” Harre (2009 ) relates his revised philosophy of science to a social philosophy concerning the nature of society, and to a political philosophy regarding the nature of freedom and reform. I argue that his social philosophy and political philosophy rest upon an individualistic sense of society and freedom. I demonstrate that his individualism is factually and politically untenable. (I shall not comment on …
Principles of Dialectical Psychology
There are basically three conceptualizations of how the various aspects of the universe may be related. One view — that of mechanical determinism — is that one aspect predominates over all others which are merely adjuncts of it. This aspect is said to determine the nature of the others which are subsumed in it. There is a one-way direction of influence from stronger to weaker, or from determiner to determined, with the latter making no contributi…
Commitment to self-appraisal and interpersonal evaluations
Commitment to self-appraisal and interpersonal evaluations
The Critical Psychology of R. D. Laing
The works of R. D. Laing and his colleagues must be experienced in order to be comprehended. No description can capture their depiction of the horror and forlornness of what it means for so many to be alive in western culture. Nor is it possible to convey the sense of overwhelming terror that one feels upon reading any of these volumes. One can only wonder how a man like Laing can function in daily life with his extraordinary sensitivity to the p…
Principles of Dialectical Psychology
There are basically three conceptualizations of how the various aspects of the universe may be related. One view — that of mechanical determinism — is that one aspect predominates over all others which are merely adjuncts of it. This aspect is said to determine the nature of the others which are subsumed in it. There is a one-way direction of influence from stronger to weaker, or from determiner to determined, with the latter making no contributi…
Totalitarianism and Individualism in Psychology
Totalitarianism and individualism in psychology do not simply reflect two different schools. Rather, they embody entire philosophies which have political ramifications. Indeed, the psychological issues take on significance only when understood in this larger context. Herbert Marcuse devotes a good deal of Negations to an examination of the cultural and philosophical aspects of individualism and totalitarianism. In the lead essay, “The Struggle Ag…
Considerations on Western Marxism
Do the Studies On Identical Twins Prove That Schizophrenia Is Genetically Inherited
Ten studies on identical twins reared apart are reviewed to determine if they substantiate a genetic component of schizophrenia. These studies have not eliminated likely social causes of schizophrenia in the twins, and therefore the origins of schizophrenia remain unsolved. Adherents of the theory that schizophrenia is genetically inherited, point to studies on iden tical twins reared apart as verifying their position. These studies have found se…
Sociohistorical psychology and human nature
Concretizing the concept of social stress
The concept of social stress, as adapted from Selye's work on biology, is insufficient to explain psychological functioning. To be useful, social stress must include enduring social practices characteristic of particular social systems that violate socially generated as well as biological needs. Some of these stressful events are gender role, poverty, and societal practices such as extreme competition, individualism, and materialism
Solidifying Qualitative Methodology
Activity as a Key Concept for Cultural Psychology
This paper articulates a concept of culture as practical, socially organized human activity. Culture is not simply shared conceptual understandings, as many cultural psychologists believe. The manner in which cultural activity organizes psychological functions is explored in detail. The reciprocal influence of psychological functions on culture is also described
In Defense of Activity Theory
This paper elaborates the relationship between practical social activity and psychological phenomena. In particular, I explain how psychological phenomena dialectically contribute to social activity even as they are organized by it. I also explain how individual differences in psychology are accounted for by activity. The article answers objections which have been raised to an earlier paper I wrote on activity and cultural psychology
Three Approaches to Cultural Psychology: A Critique
This article identifies the strengths and weaknesses of three predominant schools of cultural psychology. These schools are activity theory, the symbolic approach, and an individual approach. Activity theory explains psychology as grounded in practical cultural activities. The symbolic approach explains psychology as formed by collective symbols and concepts. The individual approach emphasizes individual construction of psychological functions fr…
Agency and Culture
A Cultural-Psychological Analysis of Emotions
I argue that an activity theory-which regards emotions as interdependent and interpenetrating with other cultural phenomena-is central for the cultural psychology of emotions. Activity theory maintains that the cultural characteristics, development and functions of psychological phenomena are shaped by social activities and cultural concepts. I present evidence that activity theory is central for the cultural psychology of emotions. I also explai…
Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Cross‐Cultural Psychology
Carl Ratner and Lumei Hui, Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Cross‐Cultural Psychology, pp. 67–93. Although cross‐cultural psychology has advanced our understanding of cultural aspects of psychology, it is marred by theoretical and methodological flaws. These flaws include misunderstanding cultural issues and the manner in which they bear on psychology; obscuring the relation between biology, culture, and psychology; inadequately definin…
Cultural Psychology and Qualitative Methodology: Scientific and Political Considerations
An important feature of cultural psychology is its embrace of qualitative methodology. This methodology distinguishes cultural psychology from cross-cultural psychology, which embraces positivistic methodology. It is important to assess the use of qualitative methodology by cultural psychologists. However, cultural psychology consists of diverse theoretical perspectives which utilize qualitative methods differently. This article articulates a typ…
The Cultural Psychology of Oppression and Liberation
(2009). The Cultural Psychology of Oppression and Liberation. Journal of Social Distress and Homelessness: Vol. 18, No. 3-4, pp. 231-268
Harre's Social Philosophy and Political Philosophy: A Social Scientific Critique
In his article, “Saving Critical Realism,” Harre (2009 ) relates his revised philosophy of science to a social philosophy concerning the nature of society, and to a political philosophy regarding the nature of freedom and reform. I argue that his social philosophy and political philosophy rest upon an individualistic sense of society and freedom. I demonstrate that his individualism is factually and politically untenable. (I shall not comment on …
Cooperativism: A Social, Economic, and Political Alternative to Capitalism
Social systems may be likened to scientific paradigms. They become consolidated and extended; they are weakened by fundamental flaws; these are patched up in awkward, inadequate ways by authorities
A Cultural Psychological Theory of Mental Illness, Supported by Research in Saudi Arabia
This article proposes a theory of psychological disturbance (mental illness) as a cultural phenomenon. The theory is based on – and extends-- the general cul-tural psychological theory of Vygotsky, Luria, and Leontiev, as well as the spe-cific social approach to psychopathy of Fromm, Foucault, Laing, and Rieber. We demonstrate that the psychodynamics of individual disturbances are shaped by normative, macro cultural factors, such as gender norms,…
A Macro Cultural Psychological Theory of Identity
The aim of this paper is to articulate a theory of human identity from a cultural psychological perspective. This article shall elucidate an explanation of identity as rooted in macro cultural factors such as social institutions, artifacts, and cultural concepts. This theory is called "macro cultural psychology." Understanding identity requires comprehending the history, society, and culture that affect specific ways we define ourselves. This art…
Cultural Psychology and Cross-Cultural Psychology: The Case of Chinese Psychology
This paper discusses ways that cultural psychology can complement cross-cultural psychology to achieve a deeper understanding of culture, psychology, and their relationship (see Cross-cultural psychology is accomplished in clarifying, operationalizing, and testing issues related to culture, psychology, and their relation. Cross-cultural psychology utilizes standardized tests and measures and variables most successfully when prior research has ide…
Pathological normalcy: A construct for comprehending and overcoming psychological aspects of alienation
Daniel Burston has made an important contribution to broadening and deepening the field of academic psychology. In “Cyborgs, Zombies and Planetary Death: Alienation in the 21st Century,” he brings
Cooperatives
This entry discusses cooperatives; the latter follow foundational principles articulated by the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA). It addresses the growing popularity and presence of cooperative enterprises around the globe, the institutional changes that present an opportunity for structuring supportive social and economic relations among co‐op participants, and argues that the current definition of a cooperative confuses a cooperative wi…
Classic and Revisionist Sociocultural Theory, and their analyses of expressive language
This article articulates two approaches to sociocultural theory, Vygotsky’s classic approach and a contemporary revisionist approach. We examine: (1) their principle tenets for understanding psychology in relation to culture; (2) how they characterize and explain language in particular; and (3) how they characterize and explain a sample linguistic specimen of two dialogues from a middle-class child and a lower-class child. I utilize a critical di…
Sociology (31 works) · Psychology (28 works) · Social Psychology (25 works) · Political science (23 works) · Epistemology (21 works) · Social science (17 works) · Philosophy (16 works) · Politics (16 works) · Cultural psychology (15 works) · Cultural Differences and Values (14 works)