Gergen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Kenneth J. Gergen (born 1. Americanpsychologist and professor at Swarthmore College. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University (1. Ph. D. He had three brothers, one of whom is David Gergen, the prominent political analyst. After completing public schooling, he attended Yale University.
New York: Basic Books. Gergen and Gergen, Narratives of the Self, 1997.pdf. Kenneth Gergen asks whether in the midst of a techno. Gergen, “Technology and the Self. The Saturated Self is possibly his most important contribution in a string. Gergen's The Saturated Self is an extremely important book for postmodern psychology. Taking Social Constructionism Seriously. His major works are The Saturated Self. Gergen emphasises that SC both functions as a metatheory.
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Graduating in 1. 95. U. S. He then returned to graduate school at Duke University, where he received his Ph. D in psychology in 1. His dissertation advisor was Edward E. Gergen went on to become an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Relations at Harvard University, where he also became the Chairman of the Board of Tutors and Advisors for the department and representative to the university. At various intervals he served as visiting professor at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Marburg, the Sorbonne, the University of Rome, Kyoto University, and Adolfo Ibanez University. At Swarthmore he spearheaded the development of the academic concentration in Interpretation Theory.
In an attempt to link his academic work to societal practices he collaborated with colleagues to create the Taos Institute in 1. He is currently a Senior Research Professor at Swarthmore, the Chairman of the Board of the Taos Institute, and an adjunct professor at Tilburg University.
Gergen is married to Mary M. Gergen, Professor Emeritus at Penn State University, and a major contributor to feminist psychology and performance inquiry. She is the author of over 5. Ken Gergen) of . In the article, he argues that the laws and principles of social interaction are variable over time, and that the scientific knowledge generated by social psychologists actually influences the phenomena it is meant to passively describe.
The article proved contentious, receiving criticism e. The developing dispute became known as the . Weick later took Warren Thorngate's contribution to that dispute to formulate Thorngate's postulate of commensurate complexity - a theorem revolving around research methodology in social sciences. Gergen's work is associated with social constructionism. He has been particularly concerned with fostering a . As an experimental social psychologist, his earliest studies challenged the presumption of a unified or coherent self.
He then raised questions about the value of altruism, by exploring the ways in which helping others leads to the recipient. However, it was his 1. Here he argued that most of the behavior patterns studied by social psychologists were historically perishable. Further, because of the implicit values embedded in psychological theory and description, the dissemination of knowledge had the potential to alter patterns of social activity. To study obedience to authority, for example, might reduce the likelihood of obedience. In effect, social psychology was not fundamentally a cumulative science, but was effectively engaged in the recording and transformation of cultural life. These arguments created broad controversy and the article subsequently won an award for the volume of its citations.
Also contributing to what was called . Here he proposed that because theoretical suppositions were not so much recordings of social life as creators, theory should not be judged by their accuracy so much as their potential to open new spaces of action. Combining these ideas with developments in literary and critical theory, along with the history of science, Gergen went on to develop a radical view of socially constructed knowledge.
This view was proposed as a successor project to what Gergen considered an inherently flawed empiricist conception of knowledge. It is from relationships that humans derive their conceptions of what is real, rational, and good. From this perspective scientific theories, like all other reality posits, should not be assessed in terms of Truth, but in terms of pragmatic outcomes. Such assessments are inevitably wedded to values, and thus all science is morally and politically weighted in implication. As he saw it, this same form of assessment also applies to social constructionist theory.
The question is not its accuracy, but its potentials for humankind. This latter conclusion informed most of Gergen. In one form or another, this work is concerned with transforming social life. For the most part, the preferred direction of change is toward more collaborative and participatory relationships. Writings in the areas of therapy and counseling, education, organizational change, technology, conflict reduction, civil society, and qualitative inquiry all bear this mark. Dialogues with practitioners have also been facilitated by Gergen. Most of these developments are summarized in Relational Being, Beyond the Individual and Community.
However, this volume opens up new territories both theoretically and practically. It attempts to rewrite psychology, in demonstrating that what are considered mental processes are not so much . It also attempts to answer charges of moral relativism with a non- foundational morality of collaborative practice. A way is also opened for bringing science together with concerns for the sacred.
Notable concepts. The moral and political effects on cultural behavior of disseminating scientific knowledge.
By constructing the world, and particularly individuals, in terms of problems, there is an objectification of deficit and a suppression of positive possibilities. As a result, they seek help from the mental health professions, which are in turn, expanded in numbers. With the expansion of the mental health industry, new diagnostic categories are developed and disseminated. The society becomes progressively infirmed. To unsettle the modernist value placed on progress, the proposal that for every change that is effected in societal life, the repercussions will unsettle multiple conditions that people define as positive.
With multiple groups proclaiming their own good, the stage is set for interminable conflict. Second order morality is achieved through practices that bring otherwise embattled groups into a condition of positive collaboration. At the same time, another. All human intelligibility emerges not from individual actors but through co- action. What is commonly viewed as the individual subject is the common intersection of multiple relationships. His work has merited awards from the American Psychological Association, the National Communication Association, the Constructivist Psychology Network, the University of Buenos Aires, and Adolfo Ibanez University in Santiago. He has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, and the Alexander Humboldt foundation.
He also holds honorary degrees from Tilburg University, Saybrook Graduate School, and the University of Athens. Bibliography. New York: Springer- Verlag, 1. Second Edition, London: Sage, 1. ISBN 9. 78- 0- 3. Historical social psychology. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum 1. M. ISBN 9. 78- 0- 8.
The social construction of the person. New York: Springer- Verlag, 1. K. ISBN 9. 78- 0- 3.
The saturated self, Dilemmas of identity in contemporary life. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 0- 4. 65- 0. Therapy as social construction. ISBN 9. 78- 0- 8. Realities and relationships, Soundings in social construction. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
ISBN 9. 78- 0- 6. Relational responsibility. Thousand Oaks, CA.: Sage. Mc. Namee ISBN 9.
An invitation to social construction. ISBN 0- 8. 03. 9- 8. Therapeutic realities, collaboration, oppression and relational flow. Chagrin Falls, OH: Taos Institute Publications.
ISBN 9. 78- 0- 7. Relational Being. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9. 78- 0- 1. Social Construction in Context. ISBN 0- 7. 61. 9- 6. Gergen, Kenneth J., & Thatchenkery, Tojo Joseph (2.
First published 1. Chia, In the Realm of Organisation: Essays for Robert Cooper, London: Routledge, ISBN 0- 4. June 2. 01. 0 ISBN 0- 2. Adobe e. Reader Format).
Essay originally published 1. See article listing below. Gergen, Kenneth J. Relational Being. New York: Oxford University Press, 2.
Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2: 1. Refiguring Self and Psychology: Kenneth J. Gergen, Hampshire: Dartmouth Publishing.
Stroebe, W. Social psychology at epistemological cross- roads: On Gergen. European Journal of Social Psychology, 1.
Wallach, L. Gergen versus the mainstream: Are hypotheses in social psychology subject to empirical test? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 6.