Recent attempts to challenge the primacy of reason-and its realization in foundationalist accounts of knowledge and cognitive formulations of human action-have focused on processes of discourse. Drawing from social and literary accounts of discourse, Kenneth Gergen considers these challenges to empiricism under the banner of "social construction." His aim is to outline the major elements of a social constructionist perspective, to illustrate its potential, and to initiate debate on the future of constructionist pursuits in the human sciences generally and psychology in particular.
Preface From Individual Knowledge to Communal Construction The Impasse of Individual Knowledge Crisis in Representation and the Emergence of Social Construction Constructionism in Question Social Construction and Moral Orders Criticism and Consequence Social Psychology and the Wrong Revolution The Cultural Consequences of Deficit Discourse Objectivity as Rhetorical Achievement From Self to Relationship Self-Narration in Social Life Emotion as Relationship Transcending Narrative in the Therapeutic Context The Communal Origins of Meaning Deceit: From Conscience to Community Notes References Index
