Feminist Reconstructions in Psychology : Narrative, Gender, and Performance

by Mary Gergen

• ISBN13: 9780761911500
• ISBN10: 0761911502
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-10-03
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Inc

Summary

Feminist Reconstructions in Psychology introduces a distinctive new mode in doing psychology. This psychology is based on an increasingly popular range of ideas called social constructionism. Within the book, new forms of theory and methods of inquiry relating social constructionism to feminist topics are introduced. Each chapter highlights different topics of special concern within gender studies, especially the psychology of women.The book draws from the central tenets of postmodern inquiry, as played out in the positive framework of social constructionism. Emphasized are reflexivity, the social basis of reality making, the breakdown of traditional narrative forms, the loss of objectivity as a scientific standard, and the possibilities for new forms of doing research. In this respect, the book is unique and serves to provide a point of view on an intriguing movement that is gaining momentum across the social sciences and humanities.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
PART I. Straight Talk: An Introduction	1	(166)
The Emergence of Feminist Postmodern Psychology	9	(43)
Life Stories: Pieces of a Dream	52	(20)
Gendered Narratives: Bodies Under Construction	72	(17)
Talking About Menopause: A Dialogue	89	(33)
Social Ghosts: Opening Inquiry on Imaginal Relationships	122	(23)
Gaze and the Naked Maja: Si(gh)tes for Controversy	145	(22)
PART II. Performative Psychology: Whys and Whereabouts	167	(26)
Woman as Spectacle, or Facing Off: Cavorting With Carn-ival Knowledge	172	(9)
Against Mod Mascu-linity and Post-Mod Macho: A Feminist End-Game	181	(12)
PART III. A Closing: Invitations to Commence	193	(2)
References	195	(26)
Index	221	(8)
About the Author	229