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2003 - 2004
S0CIAL PSYCHOLOGY:
SELF, BIOGRAPHY AND RELATIONSHIPS
Ken Plummer and Dan O Neill
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW
There are really 'two social psychologies'. One is found in psychology departments and
mainly focuses on issues such as 'attitudes' and group conformity and usually does so through
the experimental method. The other is found in sociology departments and tends to focus on
two major intellectual traditions - the symbolic interactionist and the psycho-dynamic. This
course is of the latter kind. It is primarily a social psychology course for sociologists. The
course is concerned with the relationships between people and society, between our ‘inner
world’ and the outside world. Self, biography and relationship serve as bridges into these
issues.
Term One:
The first term focuses on the nature of the self, its structure and its development, the way in
which we experience ourselves and construct stories about our lives and our identities. We
start from the assumption that the self is both a social product - the result of our experiences
that come the wider society - and the result of psychological processes - what we do with
what comes to us from the outside world. Notions of 'Identity' and 'Self' have become central
to much recent social thought. The prime focus of this course will be to review debates
around 'identity' ( to sense that they are not really all that new!) ; to pose a series of analytic
questions around the idea; to inspect the relevance to understanding issues of ‘a late modern
world.’; and to examine a series of case studies of identity - but especially those focusing on
gender and sexualities.
The main themes to be developed will focus upon how we 'invent ourselves' at century's turn?
It will ask such questions as : what is identity - is there even such a thing? ?What might be
‘identity strands’? how are these socially constructed, maintained and transformed? how has
identity evolved across time and space? What are its historical forms - is there a modern
identity, a late modern identity, a post-modern identity? What are its cross cultural forms - is
there a globalizing self, and what is a post colonial self? How does it become transformed
across the life span? How do we tell an identity - is identity a life story? is it a narrative?
What role does identity politics play in current political change and how is it linked to social
movements? How does the self link to moral issues?
Term Two:
The focus changes this term to the range of relationships that we engage in at different times
in our lives. In the main, these will be relationships that we enter into voluntarily, rather than
those that follow from work roles, for example. The juxtaposition of interactionist and
psychoanalytic interpretations that was developed during the first term will be continued in
an examination of the functions of different kinds of relationships and the processes that
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occur within them. The course will aim to identify a number of links between these
microsocial contexts and processes, and the macrosocial environment. At the end of the
course, students should have a better understanding of their own and others relationships and
be able to critically evaluate the contibution of psychoanalytic theory and symbolic
interactionism to the study of relationships.
Given that we are all in the position of having experience of past and present relationships,
students will be encouraged to contribute their experiences, opinions and questions to the
discussion. The lecture schedule is set out below, and an outline for the tutorial sessions
follows; however, the tutorials will allow for some flexibility to pursue students interests, if
they are not covered in the core material.
There are a number of themes that will run through the course, including communication
within relationships, the joint construction of meaning by participants, the dynamic nature of
relationships, autonomy and power. In addition to the theoretical understanding from a
constructionist perspective, there will be major contributions from psychoanalytic theory – in
particular, the work of Melanie Klein.
GENERAL COURSE OUTLINE
Term One (by weeks)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
An introduction to the course
An introduction to Park, Mead & Symbolic Interactionism
An introduction to Freud
The nature of the self
Goffman and the workings of the self
The biographically evolving self
The narrative self
The historically changing self: traditional to post-modern
The gendered and sexual self
(if time) The embodied self
Term Two (by weeks)
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
Introduction to the study of relationships
Earliest relationships
Early attachment experience
Peer relationships
Liking and loving
Long term relationships
Family relationships
Attachment in later life
Dysfunctional and abusive relationships
When can I cu :-) ? Relationships and the internet
Term Three
There will be several revisions sessions to be announced later
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‘AIMS AND OBJECTIVES’
Ian Craib, who used to run this course, said some interesting things about the learning
process and we thought we would repeat them here. They are very acute.
(1) What is taught is never quite the same thing as what is learnt - each of you will pick
up something different from each lecture and there is no ‘definitive version’, and
certainly no definitive version that you can reproduce and hand back in essay form.
(2) The best courses (and degree schemes) are effective because they produce a degree
of anxiety and confusion in students - it is the anxiety and confusion that motivates
learning; if it were a matter of memorising by rote and regurgitating what the teacher
wants, you would learn nothing.
(3) The best courses are those that increase our knowledge of how little we know - there
is a sense in which, at the end of course, you should be more aware of your ignorance
than you are at the beginning.
(4) The best courses challenge what you already believe about the world and yourself;
the sometimes painful process of dealing with such challenges is a central part of
learning.
(5) At the end of the course you should know something about theories that have been
discussed and the substantive topics that have been covered. But this is only a very basic
starting point. Much more important is the ability to think with and about the issues - to
develop arguments that can take account of evidence and develop in a rational way; and
the ability to explore the substantive topics employing different and even contradictory
ideas.
ASSESSMENT
The course will be assessed by three pieces of work and an exam:
The Essays:
I essay from list A, dealing with the first term’s work
I essay from list B dealing with the second term’s work.
The Exam:
There will also be the usual three hour exam in the summer term.
DEADLINES: YOU MUST MEET THE DEPARTMENTAL DEADLINES (SEE THE
GREEN BOOK)
Extensions can only be given by the Director of Undergraduate Studies directly or on the
advice of one of the department advisors
Handing in Essays
Assignments should be handed in to the General Sociology Office 6.339. A
form needs completing and a receipt should be received.
You should hand in two typed copies. (Hand-written essays are not
acceptable) One essay will be returned to you.
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Return of Essays
Essays will be returned within at least a month (or in week 2 of a subsequent
term, if handed in during the last week of term). One copy of your essay
will be returned with comments - either via us or through your mail box. No
comments will be provided if the essay is late. One essay will be retained in
our files.
KEY TEXTS
Anthony Giddens:
Ken Plummer
(2001,Sage)
John Hewitt
Modernity and Self Identity (1992: Polity)
Documents of Life 2 : An Invitation to a Critical Humanism -2
Self and Society (2001: Allyn and Bacon)
THE YEAR'S PROGRAMME AND READING LIST
WEEK 2 (OLD WEEK 1)
Introduction to the Course : Self and Identity in Social Theory
The session will start with an introduction of ourselves, to each other and the course. Ken and
Dan will preview what the course hopes to achieve in some detail, along with the work
requirements and the reading. Students will introduce themselves to each other. Suggestions
and discussion on class format. General expectations of what we all hope to get from the
course will be considered. Work loads will be allocated.
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What is social psychology?
How does psychological social psychology differ from the sociological version?
What are the different traditions of sociological social psychology?
How might you bridge the social world and the inner world.
WEEK 3 (Old week 2)
Introduction to Symbolic Interactionism
One major background to the theory of the self is symbolic interactionism. This hundred year
old tradition has recently been 'revitalised' and a number of developments and problems
within this history will be considered. Look at some of the following if you can - because
they provide both a history and a contemporary update of the theory:
Key texts are:
H. Blumer
Symbolic Interactionism
(And for an account of this see Plummer, in Stones Key Sociological Thinkers).
For general background, see :
Nancy Herman & Larry Reynolds
Joel Charon
Symbolic Interaction
Symbolic Interactionism, 7th edition 2000
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John P Hewitt
Ken Plummer (ed)
Norman K Denzin
Self and Society, 8th edition, 2002
Symbolic Interactionism Vols 1 and 2
Symbolic Interactionism and Cultural Studies
And for good modern examples, see
Carolyn Ellis & Michael Flaherty eds
Investigating Subjectivity
On Mead, see :
G.H.Mead
David Miller
John Baldwin
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Mind, Self and Society
Mead: Self, Language and World
George Herbert Mead (Sage)
What are the key themes of symbolic interactionism?
Analyse the versions of self in the work of James and Mead
Trace the emergence of symbolic interactionism.
What is the I and the Me?
Is the self socially constructed?
WEEK 4
Introduction to Psychoanalytic Ideas
This week will discuss some foundational elements of psychoanalytic study, beginning with a
broad sense of Freud’s work
Four short introductions may be useful: try and read one of them. The first three are very
basic indeed:
Ruth Berry
Freud : A Beginners Guide (Headway;2000)
Richard Appignanesi
Introducing Freud (Icon, 1999).
Richard Osborne
Freud for Beginners
Anthony Storr
Freud: A very short introduction (Oxford, 2001)
Freud's own work is voluminous but you should try and look at
Sigmund Freud
Introductory Lectures on Pychoanalysis
See also:
S. Freud
Two Short Accounts of Psychoanalysis
The Interpretation of Dreams Chaps 6 & 7
New Introductory Lectures
Two vigorous critiques of Psychoanalysis:
Jeffrey Masson
E. Gellner
Against Therapy
The Psychoanalytic Movement
An interesting modern case study is:
Marie Cardinale
The Words to Say It
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Briefly trace the development of Freud's ideas
Suggest core features of the inner world of identity?
Is the self constructed socially, within the inner world, or both?
How does the unconscious work in Freud's world?
What makes sociological identity differ from interactionist identity?
WEEK 5.
The Nature of the Self
This session will see the discussion of the self fully under way. It will aim to provide a wide
discussion of the meaning of identity and self in social life (but also within moral theory).
The mini lecture will set out some definitions of the idea of self and identity, and go on to
briefly trace their history and links to different theoretical paradigms.
You should try to consider one of the following discusssions:
General
John P Hewitt
Ian Burkitt
Norbert Wiley
Self and Society, 8th edition, 2002
Social Selves
The Semiotic Self
See also:
Jaber Gubrium
Thomas K. Fitzgerald
Robert J Lifton
The Self We Live By (Oxford, 2000)
Metaphors of Identity (SUNY 1993)
The Life of the Self
Much more philosophical and ambitious is :
Charles Taylor
Sources of the Self
(NB This is only recommended if the topic really interests you at a philosophical level).
Other Traditions of studying the self
Another ‘tradition’ has emerged over the past twenty years or so which is attached to Cultural
Studies and bridges Foucault, the work of Stuart Hall, and allied groupings such as Queer
theorists, Feminist Theorists and Post-Colonial Theorists. For some reading in these areas ,
see:
Kathryn Woodward ed
Identity and Difference (1997: Sage)
Stuart Hall & Paul du Gay ed
Questions of Cultural Identity (1996: Sage)
Nikolas Rose
Inventing our Selves (1998) Cambridge
There are other backgrounds to the theory of the self - like humanistic psychology. This will
not be a focus of this course, but if you are interested see:
C. William Tageson
Carl Rogers
Humanistic Psychology : A Synthesis
The Carl Rogers Reader, 1989.
Also influential have been the ideas of Foucault, though again he will not be a prime focus.
For a review of his work, see:
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Alan Sheridan
the most accessible texts are:
Foucault : The Will To Truth
Discipline and Punish
The History of Sexuality
Finally, it will be helpful to grasp from the outset the variability of the self across cultures.
See:
Brian Morris
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Anthropology of the Self
Critically compare the interactionist theory of self and identity with any one other theory
of self. Do they complement each other?
How far is symbolic interactionism a postmodern social theory?
What is the Focauldian notion of the ‘self’?
Compare different ways of studying and getting at the self.
WEEK 6.
Goffman and the workings of the self
This week will focus on a discussion of the dynamics of the self. We will focus primarily on
the day to day workings of the self, including issues of disclosure and secrecy; a key figure
will be that of Goffman, and the readings will include :
Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman
The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
Asylums
Encounters
Relations in Public
See also:
Charles Lemert &
Ann Branaman eds
Jason Ditton ed
Paul Drew et al
Phil Manning
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The Goffman Reader
The View from Goffman
Erving Goffman
Erving Goffman
Analyse the work of Erving Goffman on the construction of a self.
Examine how daily life gets assembled through interaction.
Can there ever be a secret self?
Discuss the strategies by which a self may be hidden and then revealed?
Take a slice of your own everyday interaction and consider how far Goffman helps you
understand it.
WEEK 7 (OLD WEEK 6)
The biographically evolving self
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The focus this week will be on the life story and it’s the way it evolves Again a prime
concern will be with the ways in which pa and si theories approach this differently. We will
look especially at
Ken Plummer
Documents of Life 2: An Invitation to Critical Humanism
See also:
Anselm Strauss
Robert Kegan
Jay Gubrium
Erik Erikson
N. Levinson et al
Gail Sheehy
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Mirrors and Masks
The Evolving Self
Beyond Maturity
The Life Cycle Completed
Season's of a Man's Life
New Passages
What is the value of a life story?
What stages might a life pass through?
How would you consider a life to be a 'success'?
Is radical change in adult life possible?
WEEK 8
The Self We Live By: The Narrative Reconstruction of the Self:
The notion of narrative is becoming increasingly popular amongst sociologists working in
this area. This raises questions about whether there is a difference between peoples’ accounts
of their lives, and their ‘real lives’ - the life as told and the life as lived. This section of the
course will discuss the problem of biography, text and narrative. The dynamics of 'reading
the self' will be explored, and a social model of reading considered. You will be asked to
‘raid’ a biography in some medium - book, video, newspaper - and to see how identities are
assembled through narrative work. Again, a general guide to this will be:
Ken Plummer
Humanism
Documents of Life 2: An Invitation to Critical
See also:
Dan McAdams
Dan McAdams
Making of the Self (1993): Guildford
Gary Kenyon & William Randall
Liz Stanley
Laura Marcus
Norman Denzin
Ken Plummer
Jerome Bruner
J.Potter and M.Wetherall
Theodore Sarbin
Catherine K Riessman
Power, Intimacy and the Life Story
The Stories we Live By: Personal Myths and the
Restorying Our Lives (1996) Praeger
The Auto/biographical I (1992) Manchester UP
Auto/biographical Discourses (1994) Mancheseter
Interpretive Biography
Telling Sexual Stories
'Life as Narrative', Social Research, 1987,Spring.
Discourse and Social Psychology
Narrative Psychology
Narrative Analysis
For instances of life history/biography , see :
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Clifford Shaw
The Jack Roller
Robert Bogdan
Jane Fry : the Autobiography of Being Different
Michel Foucault
Herculine Barbine.
Norman K. Denzin
'Harold and Agnes: A Feminist Narrative Undoing'
Sociological Theory (1990), Vol 8, No 2, p198-216.
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Selecting any one life story - in video, letters, autobiography etc.- consider how ‘Identity
is a Life story’.(McAdams).
Discuss the ‘narrative turn’ in sociology. Can it help in an understanding of Identity?
Therapeutic Narratives
We may also this week, if there is time, consider how narratives of lives enter therapy:
Michael White & David Epston
David Payne
Rhetoric
Roy Schafer
Psychoanlysis
Sheila McNamee & Ken Gergen
Arthur Kleinman
David Spence
Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends
Coping with Failure : The Therapeutic Uses of
Retelling a Life : Narration and Dialogue in
Therapy as Social Construction
The Illness Narratives
Narrative Truth and Historical Truth
Three case studies are:
Anne Schaef
E. Sue Blumer
Judith Lewis Herman
When Society Becomes an Addict
Secret Survivors
Trauma and recovery
For critical commentaries, see:
Wendy Simonds
Wendy Kaminer
Anthony Giddens
Edwin Schur
bell hooks
Gary Greenberg
Women and Self Help Culture
I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional
Modernity and Self Identity
The Awareness Trap
Sisters of the Yam
The Self on the Shelf
WEEK 9
The Historical Transformation of the Self: Classical, Modern and Postmodern
conceptions of Identity
This week will focus upon the transformation of the self, from a presumed classical or
traditional model of the self towards a distinctively different one in the modern period. It will
ultimately pose the question as to whether we are moving into a new world of postmodern
identities- which we will then adddress through the case studies of gender/sexuality
Key reading for this week will be:
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Anthony Giddens
Kenneth Gergen
Modernity and Self-Identity
The Saturated Self
On traditional identity and modern identity, see also
Roy Baumeister
Identity : Cultural Change and the Struggle for Self
John P Hewitt
Dilemmas of the American Self
David Riesman
The Lonely Crowd
Peter Berger
The Homeless Mind
Louis Zurcher
The Mutable Self
Robert Bellah et al
Habits of the Heart
Diane Bjorklund
Interpreting the Self: Two hundred years of
American Autobiography (1999: Chicago)
As modernity turns to postmodernity, or late modernity, identity is once again the topic of
much analysis. For useful guides to all this, see :
V. Kavolis
Scott Lasch,J.Friedmann
Steinar Kvale ed
Madan Sarup
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'Postmodern Man' Social Problems, Vol 17 p435-48
Modernity and Identity
Psychology and Postmodernism
Identity,Culture and the Postmodern World
Is there a post-modern self?
Trace the historical transformations of the self during the ‘Industrial Period’. What
problems do you encounter in attempting such an exercise?
WEEK 10 (OLD WEEK 9)
Gender and Sexual Identities
Having examined a number of general theories and conceptualisations of self and identity
over the past eight weeks, the last two weeks of the term will be given over to discussions of
how gender and sexuality is linked to self, and how self and identity become incorporated in
to political actions. This week the focus will be on gender and sexuality.
The Making of Gender Identity
S. Freud
Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality
Carol Gilligan
In A Different Voice
Nancy Chodorow
The Reproduction of Mothering
Judith Butler
Gender Trouble
Barrie Thorne
Gender Play: Girls and Boys in Schools
Mairtin Mac An Ghail
The Making of Men
Chris Haywood & Mairtin Mac an Ghaill Men and Masculinities (2003) Open University
R.W.Connell
Masculinities
The Making of Sexual Identity
L. Segal
Jonathan Katz
Gil Herdt
'Sexualities' in K. Woodward Identity and Difference
The Invention of Heterosexuality
Guardians of the Flute
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Peter Nardi and Beth Schneider eds
Richard Troiden
Social Perspectives on Lesbian and Gay
Lesbian and Gay Identity
Queered Identities
Steven Seidman ed
Arlene Stein
Nicki Sullivan
Eve Kasofsky Sedgwick
Judith Halberstam
Queer theory/Sociology
Sisters, Sexperts & Queers
A Critical Introduction to Queer Theory
Epistemology of the Closet : Axiomatic
Female Masculinities
WEEK 11 (OLD WEEK 10)
Gender Identities and the Politics of Identity
A major concern over identity in recent years has been the rise of new social movements
around identity politics. This session will review the rise of NSM’s (New Social Movements)
and the range of theories that have emerged to look at them. The Politics of Identity will then
be discussed.
See.
K. Woodward ' Concepts of Identity and Difference' in K. Woodward ed Identity and
Difference Ch 1
Craig Calhoun
Social Theory and The Politics of Identity
Shane Phelan
Identity Politics
Cornel West
'The New Cultural Politics of Difference',in R.
Ferguson et al eds Out There : Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures
Eric Hobsbawn
‘Identity Politics and the Left’ New Left Review,
May 1996 p38-47
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What is the politics of identity?
With reference to the Women’s , Gay, Black, or Nationalist Movements, examine the rise
of a politics of identity and consider how successful such a political strategy has been for
this group?
Discuss the ways in which ‘identities’ are connected to debates on citizenship.
WINTER VACATION
WEEKS 12 -15
15 DEC -12TH JAN
WEEK 16
Introduction to the study of relationships.
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As well as establishing what is meant by ‘a relationship’, the first session will review some of
the main trends in relationship research over the last few decades. Much of the work that has
been done has focussed on social interaction rather than interpersonal relationships;
however, this large body of ‘mainstream’ work sets the context for more recent research, as
well as helping us to understand human relationships.
READING
Miell & Dallos, Ch 2
Others to follow.
Tutorial topic:
TBA
WEEK 17:
Earliest relationships
By way of scene setting, there will be a brief overview of pre and peri-natal psychology to
establish an appreciation of the capabilities of newborn infants. The emergence of
communication and the attribution of meaning to actions will be key themes. The second part
of the session will introduce the work of Klein and others who have sought to understand the
internal world of pre-verbal children.
READING
Any introductory child / developmental psychology textbook.
Miell & Dallos, Ch 3
Craib, I. Psychoanalysis: a critical introduction Ch 7 & 8
Other papers to follow
Tutorial topic: Melanie Klein and Object Relations Theory
WEEK 18
Early attachment experience
This session will explore attachment theory and its relationship with psychoanalysis, before
moving on to the development of attachment relationships. Some of the wider implications of
both the theory, and consequences of attachment will be discussed, including the relationship
between parental characteristics and quality of attachment. Meins’ theory of ‘mindmindedness will also be discussed.
READING
Cowie, H
Bowlby, J.
Bowlby, J
Meins, E. (1997).
Other papers to follow
Personal, Social and Emotional Development of Children, Ch 1 (a
good introduction to some of the main ideas)
Attachment
A Secure Base – Clinical Applications of Attachment Theory
Security of attachment and the social development of cognition
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Tutorial topic: A woman’s place?
WEEK 19
Peer relationships
This lecture will deal with aspects of relating in school age children, from early friendships
through group memberships and rivalries, and the increasing importance of these peer
relationships as the child matures towards adolescence. In keeping with the desire not to
present an altogether rose-tinted view of relationships, this session will also introduce the
subject of bullying.
READING
Durkin, K.
Duck, S
Developmental social psychology. Blackwell. Chapter 4
Human Relationships pp112 - 121
Other suitable references to be included
Tutorial topic: Are relationships good for us?
(You will need to have read Langford, W.
You make me sick Women, men and
romantic love, Journal of Contemporary Health, no. 5. 52-55.)
WEEK 20
Liking and Loving
“Although most adolescents and young adults may already have learned to love, most still
have a great deal to learn about how to love.”
Adolescence may be characterised (or caricatured?) as a time of stormy emotions, conflict
and weakening of bonds with parents, but it is also the time when many people form their
first long lasting friendships and romantic attachments.
The main topic this week will be distinguishing between friendships and love relationships,
and including a discussion of behaviour and communication between lovers.
READING
Miell & Dallos Ch 5, pp 213-229
Duck, S
Human Relationships Ch 2
Goffman, E.
The presentation of self in everyday life
Waters, Hamilton and Weinfeld
The Stability of Attachment Security from Infancy to Adolescence and Early
Adulthood:General Introduction Child Development, May /June 2000, Volume 71, Number
3, Pages 678-683
Hanoch Flum & Michal Lavi-Yudelevitch:
Adolescents’ relatedness and identity formation: A narrative study
Giddens, A. (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, love and Eroticism,
Cambridge, Polity Press, Chapter 3, Romantic love and other attachments, ps. 37-48.
Giddens, A. (1992) The Transformation of Intimacy: Sexuality, love and Eroticism,
Cambridge, Polity Press, Chapter 4, Love, commitment and the pure relationship, ps. 49-63.
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Other reading to follow
Tutorial topic: Are homosexual relationships different?
WEEK 21
Long term relationships
The transition to being ‘a couple’ can be a watershed in the lives of many people
READING
Miell & Dallos Ch 4pp + pp 143-7, 129-31, 350-55
Duck, S
Human Relationships Ch 4
Berger & Kellner
Marriage and the construction of reality in Drietzel: Recent
Sociology, Vol 2
Klein, M
Love, Guilt and Reparation
Tutorial topic: Sibling rivalry
WEEK 22
Family relationships
Most of us are raised and live in families, and may have first hand knowledge that the
environment can be far from idyllic. The dynamics of family life will be discussed, as will
the concepts of the family life-cycle, communication and the construction of meaning in
families. Time will also be given to discussing some of the causes of conflict within families,
and processes for resolving this – including ‘conflict detouring’.
READING
Miell & Dallos Ch 5, pp 232-237, 250-260
Duck, S
Human Relationships Ch 4 (especially if you didn’t read it last week!)
Other interesting / useful references will be added at a later stage.
Tutorial topic: Attachment and caring in later life
WEEK 23
Attachment in later life
In recent years there has been increasing interest in the links between early attachment
experiences and relating in later life.This session will look at one of the methods that has
been used to try to understand the link – the Adult Attachment Interview, and discuss the
relationship between attachment and psychoanalysis. The interaction between parenting
styles and quality of attachment , and dysfunctional relationships will also be explored
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READING
Klein, M
‘Our adult world and its roots in infancy’, in Melanie Klein,
Writings, vol. III, 247-263.
Waters, Hamilton and Weinfeld
The Stability of Attachment Security from Infancy to Adolescence
and Early Adulthood:General Introduction Child Development, May
/June 2000, Volume 71, Number 3, Pages 678-683
Ross and Spinner
General and specific attachment representations in adulthood: Is
there a relationship? Journal of Social and Personal Relationships,
Vol. 18(6): 747–766.
Steele, H.
State of the art: Attachment theory, The Psychologist Vol 15 No 10,
October 2002, 518
Waters, E.
A Secure Base From Which To Explore Close Relationships
http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/ewaters/on-line_PDF/cd2000final.PDF
Fonagy, P
Points of contact and divergence between psychoanalytic and
attachment theories: is psychoanalytic theory truly different?
http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/psychoanalysis/zipped/michigan3.rtf
Fonagy, P.
The validity of the psychoanalytic model in the light the scientific
paradigms in the coming century
http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/psychoanalysis/zipped/valencia.rtf
Tutorial topic:
Is it only women who love too much?
WEEK 24
Dysfunctional and abusive relationships
We know that relationships exist where we think (and say) “ S/he would be better off out of
it” – but why do some people stay in dysfunctional or abusive relationships – or seem to go
from one such relationship to the next? Although this session will mainly focus on the issue
of domestic violence, time (and student interest) permitting, the links between abuse and
abusing will also be discussed in the context of child abuse.
READING
Babcock et al
Bears, L.
Coid et al
Attachment, Emotional Regulation, and the Function of Marital
Violence. Journal of Family Violence, Vol. 15, No. 4, 2000
The romanticization of abuse in popular culture. European Journal
of Cultural Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, ps. 191-207. 1999
Relation between childhood sexual and physical abuse and risk of
revictimisation in women: a cross-sectional survey. Lancet 2001;
358: 450–54
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Gavey, N.
Technologies and Effects of Heterosexual Coercion. From
Wilkinson, S. & Kitzinger, C. (1993) Heterosexuality: A feminism
and Psychology Reader,
London: Sage., pp 93-119.
Williamson, G. and Silverman, J.
Violence against female partners: Journal of Social and Personal
Relationships, 18 (4) 535-549, 2001
Tutorial topic: “Oh you silly girl!” Abuse of older people in institutions
WEEK 25
When can I CU :-) ? Relationships and the internet
Still a new area of enquiry, the subject of relationships conducted at a distance between
people who never have (and often never will) physically meet is one which is of increasing
interest and significance. This session will explore the similarities and differences between
‘real’ and virtual relationships – after all, if much of what constitutes a relationship is
constructed in the minds of the participants through the medium of language, are there any
significant differences at all?
As well as covering transient relationships and longer-lasting friendships that work, the
discussion will also deal with the well publicised darker side of internet based relationships
READING
Given that this is a new area, it might be difficult to find a good ‘core’text, although
Amazon.com abounds with guides on how to do it, and what to do if you are doing it too
much. More references will be added to this list at a later date.
Whitty M.T.
Cyber-Flirting: Playing at Love on the Internet Theory &
Psychology, 1 January 2003, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 339-357(19) Sage
Publications
Markey P.M.; Wells S.M. Interpersonal Perception in Internet Chat Rooms
Journal of Research in Personality, April 2002, vol. 36, no. 2, pp.
134-146(13)
Elsevier Science
Bonebrake K.
College Students' Internet Use, Relationship Formation, and
Personality Correlates CyberPsychology & Behavior, 1 December
2002, vol. 5, no. 6, pp. 551-557(7)
Quayle E.; Taylor M.
Child pornography and the internet: perpetuating a cycle of abuse
Deviant Behavior, 1 July 2002, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 331-361(31)
Miller, H.
The Presentation of Self in Electronic Life: Goffman on the Internet
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Sannicolas, N.
Erving Goffman, Dramaturgy, and On-Line Relationships Cybersoc:
Issue 1
The regular lectures and tutorials will be followed by one or more sessions to discuss
approaches to the exam, revision and anxiety management!
PROVISIONAL ESSAY LISTINGS
LIST A
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
Trace the emergence of symbolic interactionism and critically appraise its key themes.
How does the unconscious work in Freud's world?
What makes sociological identity differ from interactionist identity?
How far is symbolic interactionism a postmodern social theory?
Analyse the work of Erving Goffman on the construction of a self.
What is the value of a life story?
What stages might a life pass through?
How would you consider a life to be a 'success'?
Is radical change in adult life possible?
Selecting any one life story - in video, letters, autobiography etc.- consider how ‘Identity
is a Life story’.(McAdams).
Compare and contrast the accounts of the self offered by any one sociological theorist
and any one psychoanalytic theorist.
Trace the historical transformations of the self during the ‘Industrial Period’. What
problems do you encounter in attempting such an exercise?
Examine the work of Anthony Giddens on the self.
How does gender become an identity?
How does the politics of identity depend upon a theory of identity?
LIST B
5 ‘Sociologists and psychoanalysts complement each other in their understanding of
malaise which affects individuals in modern society’ Discuss.
the
6. ‘Fathers are becoming irrelevant; soon they will not be needed at all, even for purposes of
conception’. Discuss
7. Critically assess psychoanalytic attempts to understand the experience of the very young
child; what does it tell us about parenting?
8. How successful are feminists in appropriating Freud’s theories for their own purposes?
9. It seems increasingly difficult for sexual partners to maintain long term. Stable
relationships. To what can this difficulty be attributed?
10. The ageing process involves losing physical faculties, friends and relations. How can
Erikson portray the final stage of life as possibly the crowning achievement of
everything that has gone before?
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1. Klein’s work demonstrates that the human personality is built on a bedrock of madness to
which we can return at any time during our lives’ Discuss
2. ‘We might spend our lives telling stories about ourselves, or identifying ourselves with
the hero in our personal myths, but these attempts to bring order into our sense of
ourselves are doomed to failure’ Discuss
How do psychoanalysts explain the success or failure of psychoanalytic treatment? Are
their accounts adequate? Discuss in relation to any one case study
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