Theorizing Political Psychology

Doing Integrative Social Science Under the Condition of Postmodernity

Bibliographic Data

ID8975477
AuthorsShawn W Rosenberg, Shawn Rosenberg (0000-0002-1595-3926, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume33
Issue4
Pages427-459
Publication date2003-11-20
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal for the Theory of Social Behaviour (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8308 • E-ISSN: 1468-5914
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1046/j.1468-5914.2003.00225.x
OpenAlexW2152363490
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited62

The field of political psychology, like the social sciences more generally, is being challenged. New theoretical direction is being demanded from within and a greater epistemological sophistication and ethical relevance is being demanded from without. In response, an outline for a reconstructed political psychology is offered here. To begin, a theoretical framework for a truly integrative political psychology is sketched. In the attempt to transcend the reductionist quality of cross‐disciplinary or multidisciplinary inquiry, the theoretical approach offered here emphasizes the dually structured quality of social life as the singular product of both organizing social structures and defining discourse communities on the one hand and motivated, thinking individuals on the other. To further this theoretical effort, meta‐theoretical considerations are addressed. The modernist‐postmodernist debate regarding the status of truth and value is used as a point of departure for constructing the epistemological foundation for political psychology. In this light, structural pragmatic guidelines for theory construction, empirical research and normative inquiry are presented. While the focus remains on political psychology in particular, it is assumed that the criticisms of present research and the suggestions for future inquiry apply to the social sciences more generally

Discipline · Epistemology · Normative · Political science · Politics · Postmodernism · Postmodernity · Reductionism · Social science · Sociology · Sophistication · Academic and Historical Perspectives in Psychology · Critical Realism in Sociology · Social Representations and Identity