Ordering Information
Table
of Contents And Preface
Table
of Contents
Preface
Part I
Psychology, Culture, Politics, Science
Introduction to Macro
Cultural Psychology
1. Mainstream psychology
vs. cultural psychology
2. Culture comprises the
explanatory constructs of psychological phenomena
3. Culture
4. Macro
cultural-psychology
5. Ontological principles
a. Dialectics
b. Functionalism
6. Differences between
macro cultural-psychology and other approaches to culture and psychology
a. Cross-cultural
psychology
b. Cultural psychology
7. Methodology
8. Macro Cultural
Psychology, Social Reform, and Personal Growth: Integrating Science, Politics,
and Therapy
9. Intellectual origins of
macro cultural-psychology
Chapter Two
Macro Culture
1. Enumerating and defining
macro culture
2. Macro cultural factors
are more than aggregates of individuals
3. The principles and
objectives which unify and direct a macro factor may not be in the thoughts and
motives of individuals who function within it
4. The social, physical,
and conceptual characteristics of macro factors are consciously administered
and enforced by social bodies because they are pivotal to social regularity
5. In most societies, macro
factors are normally regulated and promulgated by a powerful elite
6. Individuals introduce
certain variations as they implement macro factors. However, variations must be
limited if social regularity is to be maintained
7. Macro cultural factors
are specific to particular societies
8. Macro cultural factors
are integrated within a system
9. Within a social system, certain macro
factors are more influential than others
10. The components of a social system are
distinct at the same time that they are integrated
11. Macro
cultural factors unify the behavior and psychology of disparate individuals
12. Macro
cultural factors are the product of social struggle
13. Macro
cultural factors are actual practices, not official pronouncements and policies
Part II Principles of
Macro Cultural-Psychology
Chapter Three The Dialectical Integration of
Psychological Phenomena and Macro Cultural Factors
1. Macro cultural factors were the impetus for
humans to develop psychological capacities
2.
Macro cultural factors are the "operating system" of the mind
3. Psychological phenomena are part of
macro cultural factors
4. Macro cultural factors organize
psychological phenomena
a. As a goal, or telos, of
psychology
b. As structuring
frameworks of psychological phenomena
c. As resources which
individuals draw upon
d. The cultural organization
of psychology is not a
mechanical
process, but depends upon subjective activity
5. Macro cultural factors imbue
psychological phenomena with concrete characteristics
6. Cross-cultural similarities in
psychology are compatible with the cultural nature of mind
7. Psychological phenomena promote macro
cultural factors
8. Psychology is a macro cultural factor
9. The relation of psychology to other
macro cultural factors is a unity of differences.
10. Psychology
mediates reactions to other cultural factors
11. Society is composed of diverse macro
cultural factors which generate diverse psychological characteristics among
individuals and within a given individual
12. Macro Cultural Factors Act on
Psychological Phenomena in Complex Ways
a. One macro
factor may be composed of several associated elements which collectively affect
psychological phenomena
b.
One macro factor may affect many psychological phenomena
c.
Several macro cultural factors may contribute to one psychological phenomenon
d.
Psychological
effects which appear in one macro cultural factor may be a function of other
macro factors
13. Macro cultural factors
are explanatory constructs of psychological phenomena
14. Macro
cultural-psychology is a distinctive, universal social science
Part III Applications of Macro
Cultural-Psychology To Research Methodology, Social Reform, and Personal Growth
Chapter Four: Research Methodology for Macro
Cultural-Psychology
The cultural
character of psychology can only be discerned in the lived psychology of people
Research on the macro cultural
organization of psychological phenomena emphasizes concrete qualities of macro
cultural factors and psychological phenomena
Qualitative methodology is necessary for
investigating the macro cultural organization of psychology
Positivistic methodology, employed in
cross-cultural psychology, has limited value for macro cultural-psychology
Chapter Five Macro Cultural-Psychology, Social Reform, and
Psychological Change
The Need for Social Reform in Order to
Enhance Psychological Functioning
Evidence That Changing Macro Cultural
Factors Alters Psychological Functioning
A Psychological Perspective on The
Direction for Social Reform
The Possibility of Social Reform
The Need for Comprehensive Social Reform
Psychological Change Is Necessary to
Facilitate Social Reform
Chapter Six Macro Cultural-Psychology and Personal Growth
Chapter Seven Scientific and Political
Deficiencies of Psychological Theories/Constructs That Minimize Macro Culture
Traditional Psychological Constructs
Evolutionary Psychology
Individualistic Cultural Psychology
Epilogue: A Philosophy Of Science and
A Social Philosophy For Macro Cultural-Psychology
Social Constructionism
Ontological and
epistemological principles
Social philosophy
Critical Realism
Ontological and epistemological principles
Social philosophy
References
Notes
Name Index
Subject Index
This book aims to help resolve two urgent needs of our era:
the need to develop a scientific comprehension of human psychology, and the
need to reform society in order to solve pressing social ills. I seek to
accomplish this dual objective by developing a cultural theory of human
psychology.
It may sound odd to propose that scientific psychology and
social reform have anything to do with each other, and that they can be jointly
advanced by one activity. However, this is indeed the case. Both scientific
psychology and social reform are only viable to the extent that they understand
the cultural nature of human psychology. The cultural nature of human
psychology binds scientific psychology and social reform together.
The discipline of psychology will only become scientific when
it develops concepts and methods that explicate cultural aspects of
psychological phenomena. The discipline must explain the nature of
psychological phenomena that makes them susceptible to cultural influence, how
psychological phenomena become culturally organized, the important cultural
factors and processes that organize them, and the ways in which psychological
phenomena reflect, support, and disturb culture.
These issues are equally vital to social reform. To be
successful in improving human life, social reform must strive to enhance
psychological functioning along with health care, education, child care,
material well-being, and family integration. Social reform directed at
psychological functioning must understand why it is open to cultural influence
that will improve it. Social reform must understand ways that psychology is
affected by cultural factors. It also identifies particular cultural factors
that need to be expanded to generate fulfilling psychological functioning, and
cultural factors that need to be modified or eliminated to limit unfulfilling
psychological functioning. Social reform also needs to know how new social
factors will enhance psychological functioning, and the ways this improvement
will be manifested. Social reformers also need to know how to make social
reform palatable to individuals with a given psychology. All of these issues
concern the cultural nature of psychology.
Psychological science and social reform both need to
comprehend the cultural nature of psychology in order to be successful in their
respective domains. We may say that psychological science and social reform are
two sides of the same coin. They address cultural psychology from different
starting points (theoretical-academic vs. political) and with different
objectives (understanding vs. practical improvement). However, they enrich
(cross-fertilize) each other. Without the other, each is deprived of vital
information that it needs.
This book elucidates a systematic cultural-psychological
theory that contributes to scientific psychology and social reform.
I outline a theory which explains that psychological
phenomena have cultural origins, characteristics, and functions. I name this
theory "macro cultural-psychology." It emphasizes that broad macro
cultural factors, such as social institutions, artifacts, and cultural
concepts, are the basis of psychological phenomena, organize the form and
content of psychological phenomena, and are the function, or telos, of
psychological phenomena. I present evidence which substantiates these
propositions.
Regarding psychology as tied to macro
factors has the greatest significance for social reform and psychological
change. For the more deeply that psychology is embedded in culture, and the
more profoundly culture is embodied in psychology, the more necessary it is to
understand culture in order to understand psychology, and the more necessary it
is to reform culture in order to enhance psychological functioning. Conversely,
the less central culture is to psychology, the less necessary it is to
understand and reform culture in order to comprehend and enhance psychology. If
psychology is primarily individually or interpersonally constructed with great
individual variations, or if psychology is primarily determined by biological
mechanisms, then there is little need to understand and reform culture in
relation to psychological issues.
The political and scientific goals which inform this book
complement each other. The political understanding and reforming of macro
culture contributes to the scientific goal of understanding macro culture's
importance for psychology. A political orientation does not necessarily impede
scientific objectivity. Of course, politics does not supplant science. We need
science to test the plausibility of political analyses. However, the political
motive is quite central to emphasizing macro culture for psychology. Until more
psychologists develop a political orientation to question and reform macro
culture, they will fail to include macro issues in their academic study of
psychology.
This book is not a
compilation (handbook) of psychological variations in different societies. A
great deal of social science research already demonstrates that
psychological phenomena vary with cultural factors. The more important task is
to understand why and how cultural variations in psychology
occur. That is the objective of this book. I seek to understand the nature of
human psychology, the nature of culture, the nature of the relation between
them, the processes by which psychology comes to be culturally organized and
variable, the ways in which the cultural organization of psychology is
manifested, how psychology influences culture, and the role of agency,
subjectivity, creativity, and personal responsibility in forming and re-forming
culture and psychological phenomena.
"Why" and
"how" questions are the central questions that science seeks to
answer. Describing what occurs, or observing that something
occurs does not qualify as science. Science is not content to compile facts. It
uses facts as representatives of essential, unobservable explanatory principles
and properties. This book follows this direction. It seeks to elucidate an
explanatory science of human psychology by articulating the relationship
(processes, or mechanisms) between psychology and culture.
This book also contributes to multicultural understanding and
communication. It sensitizes us to the ways that psychological phenomena are
organized differently in different ethnic groups. It helps us understand
psychological differences which lead to different behaviors. It enables us to
communicate more effectively by taking psychological differences into account.
The book additionally explains how macro cultural-psychology can aid people on
an individual level to examine and enhance their personalities, emotions,
perceptions, reasoning and learning strategies.
In addition to articulating a general theory of psychology,
this book articulates methodological principles for investigating the
relationship of cultural factors and psychology. These methods enable us to
apprehend cultural factors embedded in psychological phenomena. They also
enable us to perceive contradictions between culture and psychology which
emanate from their distinctness. I emphasize qualitative methodology as the
most objective and useful methodology for cultural-psychological research. I
explain how it is more scientific, objective, and useful than positivism.
Macro cultural-psychology challenges definitions, explanatory
constructs, theories, and research procedures which have been designed to study
non-cultural aspects of psychological phenomena. It also challenges
individualistic approaches to culture, social reform, and psychotherapy. To
study macro cultural aspects of psychological phenomena, culture, social
reform, and psychological change, we need a new conception of culture,
psychology, and their interrelation. Simply adding variables to mainstream
psychology is insufficient. Macro cultural-psychology requires audacious,
impertinent, critical, passionate thinking that does not shy from controversial,
unpopular, radical, heretical ideas. These are attributes which generate all
revolutionary scientific advances. They are sorely needed if psychological
science, therapy, and social reform are to understand and enhance human
psychology.
This book is a synthesis and extension of my earlier work
into a systemic approach. It articulates a richer, more adequate definition of
culture, a deeper integration of psychology and macro factors, and detailed
principles of this relationship. This book goes beyond my earlier works in emphasizing the political dimension of
psychology, applying cultural psychology to social reform and personal growth,
outlining a philosophy of science and a social philosophy for macro cultural psychology,
and comparing macro cultural- psychology with individualism, subjectivism,
naturalism, and positivism.
This book is unique in discussing a wealth of psychological
phenomena (emotions, sexuality, aggression, eating disorders, terrorism,
adolescence, cognition, memory, perception, learning, self-personality,
religion, mental illness, developmental processes, defense mechanisms, and
language), psychological theories (mainstream psychology, evolutionary
psychology, cultural psychology, cross-cultural psychology, psycho-biology,
Vygotsky's cultural-historical psychology, activity theory, Piaget's theory of
cognitive stages, and Freudiain psychoanalysis), social theories
(functionalism, structuralism, feminism, Marxism, the Annales school of
historiography, Dilthey's Verstehen and hermeneutics, Boasian
anthropological theory, the Frankfurt school, micro sociology), and
philosophies of science (postmodernism, social constructionism, dialectics,
critical realism, positivism, naturalism, subjectivism).
The diverse issues
that this book addresses will be useful to psychologists, educators,
historians, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, and others interested
in social theory, culture, psychology, and the individual. Another audience
will be policy makers and practitioners in public health and social service.
The increasing numbers of citizens concerned with social reform should find
this book helpful in understanding the reasons for social-psychological
problems, and for identifying directions which effective social activism can
take.
I have written this book in a straightforward, jargon-free
style that is accessible to the educated layperson and students in social
science, social policy, and philosophy. It would serve very well as a
supplemental text in many areas within psychology, in social science theory and
methodology, cultural studies, social policy, social philosophy, philosophy of
science, and biological aspects of human psychology.