Kenneth J. Gergen

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Kenneth J. Gergen (* 1934 in North Carolina ) is an American psychologist .

Life and accomplishments

Gergen is a son of the mathematician John Jay Gergens (1903-1967) and his wife Ambigne Munger; the journalist David Gergen (* 1942) is his younger brother.

Kenneth Gergen's university education earned him the following degrees: BA from Yale University (1953–1957), Ph. D. from Duke University (1959–1962), DSS (Hon.) From Tilburg University (1987) and DHL (Hon. ) at the Saybrook Institute (1991).

He represents the theoretical direction of what he called social constructionism , a sociologically oriented variant of constructivism . He became known for his criticism of the admissibility of causal conclusions from psychological experiments . As he showed, many effects depend on the “cultural embedding”, ie on the complex contexts in which the experiments were carried out.

Gergen currently holds the Gil and Frank Mustin Professorship in Psychology at the Department of Psychology at Swarthmore College .

Fonts (selection)

author

Essays
  • together with Lynn Hoffman and Harlene Anderson : Diagnosis - a disaster? A constructionist trialogue . In: Journal for Systemic Therapy , 1997, Issue 4, pp. 224-241, ISSN  0723-9505
  • Beyond autonomy and community. Relational being . In: Klaus-Peter Köpping (ed.): The autonomous person. A European invention? Fink, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-7705-3724-6 , pp. 177-192.
  • Social construction and education in the context of global conflicts . In: Rolf Balgo (Ed.): Theory and Practice of Systemic Pedagogy . Carl Auer Systems Verlag, Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 978-3-89670-514-3 , pp. 24-44.
Monographs
  • The Saturated Self. Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life . Basic Books, New York 2000, ISBN 0-465-07186-4 (EA New York 1991).
    • German translation: The oversaturated self. Identity Problems in Today's Life . Carl Auer Systems Verlag, Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-931574-30-X .
  • Realities and Relationships. Sounding in Social Construction . 3rd ed. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1999, ISBN 0-674-74930-8 (EA Cambridge 1994).
  • An Invitation to Social Construction . Sage, London 1999, ISBN 0-8039-8377-8 .
    • German translation: Constructed Realities. An introduction to social constructionism . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-17-017102-X (with a foreword by Hans Westmeyer).
  • Social Construction in Context . Sage, London 2001, ISBN 0-7619-6545-9 .
  • Relational being. Beyond Self and Community . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2011, ISBN 978-0-19-984626-9 (EA Oxford 2009).
  • together with Mary M. Gergen: Introduction to Social Constructionism . Carl Auer Systems Verlag, Heidelberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-89670-681-2 .

editor

  • together with Klaus G. Deissler: The appreciative organization . Transcript, Bielefeld 2004, ISBN 3-89942-223-6 .

literature

  • Susanne Jacob: Social Representations and Relational Realities. Theoretical drafts of social psychology with Serge Moscovici and Kenneth J. Gergen . Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-8244-4545-X (plus dissertation, University of Jena 2002).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Klaus Jonas, Wolfgang Stroebe, Miles Hewstone: Sozialpsychologie. An introduction. 5th edition Springer, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-540-71632-7 , p. 56 f.
personal data
SURNAME Gergen, Kenneth J.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American psychologist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH North Carolina