Shared Beliefs in a Society : Social Psychological Analysis

by Daniel Bar-Tal

• ISBN13: 9780761906599
• ISBN10: 0761906592
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-07-06
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc

Summary

Shared Beliefs in a Society is a much-needed contribution to societal psychology, a new emerging subfield of social psychology, which studies societies from a social psychological perspective. Daniel Bar-Tal presents his work of the last 15 years on shared beliefs in societies under one conceptual framework from which to identify beliefs held in common by entire societies and nations. Using examples form the history, politics, sociology, culture, and education from different societies, the author offers that social psychology can provide a unique perspective on society, but it can also benefit from integrating contributions from other social sciences into its own theorizing effort.

Author Biography

Daniel Bar-Tal is Professor of Psychology at the School of Education, Tel Aviv University

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Introduction	xi
Beliefs	xii
Societal Beliefs and Ethos	xiii
Society as a Unit of Analysis	xvi
Structure of the Book	xvii
Sharing Beliefs in Groups	1	(14)
The Social Nature of Beliefs	1	(1)
Sharing Beliefs in Groups	2	(2)
Social Identity and Sharing Beliefs	4	(2)
Consequences of Sharing Beliefs in a Group: A Model	6	(9)
A History of the Study of Shared Beliefs	15	(24)
Early Studies of Mental Sharing	16	(4)
Sharing Beliefs in Modern Social Psychology	20	(4)
Moscovici's Social Representations	24	(3)
Shared Beliefs in Current Social Psychology	27	(12)
The Nature of Societal Beliefs	39	(16)
The Conception of Societal Beliefs	39	(4)
The Contents of Societal Beliefs	43	(4)
The Functions of Societal Beliefs	47	(8)
Formation, Dissemination, Maintenance, and Change of Societal Beliefs	55	(18)
Formation of Societal Beliefs	55	(5)
Dissemination of Societal Beliefs	60	(6)
Maintenance of Societal Beliefs	66	(3)
Change of Societal Beliefs	69	(4)
Societal Beliefs About Patriotism	73	(14)
The Contents of Patriotic Beliefs	74	(5)
The Essentiality of Patriotism	79	(4)
The Functionality of Patriotism	83	(4)
Societal Beliefs About Security	87	(14)
The Nature of Security Beliefs	87	(3)
The Roots of Security Beliefs	90	(1)
Societal Beliefs About Security in the United States	91	(2)
Societal Beliefs About Security in Israel	93	(8)
Societal Beliefs About Siege	101	(20)
The Nature and Basis of Siege Beliefs	101	(6)
Israeli Beliefs About Siege	107	(5)
The Functions of Siege Beliefs	112	(2)
The Consequences of Siege Beliefs	114	(7)
Societal Beliefs About Delegitimization	121	(16)
The Nature of Delegitimizing Beliefs	121	(3)
The Experimential Bases of Delegitimizing Beliefs	124	(11)
The Functions of Delegitimizing Beliefs	135	(2)
The Ethos of a Society	137	(14)
The Concept of Ethos	137	(2)
The Present Conception of Ethos	139	(3)
The American Ethos	142	(1)
The Conflictual Ethos of the Jewish Israeli Society	143	(8)
Societal Beliefs and Ethos: Contribution to Societal Psychology	151	(20)
The Contribution of the Present Book	151	(5)
The Unfulfilled Promise of Social Psychology	156	(7)
The Promise of Societal Psychology	163	(8)
References	171	(26)
Name Index	197	(8)
Subject Index	205	(6)
About the Author	211