The linguistic turn and social psychology
This article investigates some of the implications of the linguistic turn in modern philosophy for the development of social psychology. The linguistic turn, according to which language does not primarily mirror reality or our experience but is co-constructive thereof, gave rise to productive devel...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of the Free State
2001-12-01
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| Series: | Acta Academica |
| Online Access: | https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/647 |
| _version_ | 1797270944803192832 |
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| author | Desmond Painter Wilhelmina Theron |
| author_facet | Desmond Painter Wilhelmina Theron |
| author_sort | Desmond Painter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This article investigates some of the implications of the linguistic turn in modern philosophy for the development of social psychology. The linguistic turn, according to which language does not primarily mirror reality or our experience but is co-constructive thereof, gave rise to productive developments in social psychology. Wittgenstein’s insight that the meaning of words depends on their use value in specific language games made it possible
to see social cognition as an interactive and social achievement, rather than as a selfenclosed mental process merely directed at the social environment. Post-structuralist developments like those of Derrida and Foucault, based on the structuralist linguistics of De Saussure, make the psychological subject, experience, social institutions and knowledge products of more fundamental textual processes. Despite contradictions these approaches underlie the development of what may be called a discursive social psychology: a discipline focusing on the different discursive aspects of social psychological life, which refuses to restrict that life to individual levels of analysis.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T04:43:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ebd6b781cf6c4636a98c9bf20cf7eae1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0587-2405 2415-0479 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-25T02:12:19Z |
| publishDate | 2001-12-01 |
| publisher | University of the Free State |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Acta Academica |
| spelling | doaj.art-ebd6b781cf6c4636a98c9bf20cf7eae12024-03-07T11:14:24ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Academica0587-24052415-04792001-12-01333The linguistic turn and social psychologyDesmond Painter0Wilhelmina Theron1Rhodes UniversityStellenbosch University This article investigates some of the implications of the linguistic turn in modern philosophy for the development of social psychology. The linguistic turn, according to which language does not primarily mirror reality or our experience but is co-constructive thereof, gave rise to productive developments in social psychology. Wittgenstein’s insight that the meaning of words depends on their use value in specific language games made it possible to see social cognition as an interactive and social achievement, rather than as a selfenclosed mental process merely directed at the social environment. Post-structuralist developments like those of Derrida and Foucault, based on the structuralist linguistics of De Saussure, make the psychological subject, experience, social institutions and knowledge products of more fundamental textual processes. Despite contradictions these approaches underlie the development of what may be called a discursive social psychology: a discipline focusing on the different discursive aspects of social psychological life, which refuses to restrict that life to individual levels of analysis. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/647 |
| spellingShingle | Desmond Painter Wilhelmina Theron The linguistic turn and social psychology Acta Academica |
| title | The linguistic turn and social psychology |
| title_full | The linguistic turn and social psychology |
| title_fullStr | The linguistic turn and social psychology |
| title_full_unstemmed | The linguistic turn and social psychology |
| title_short | The linguistic turn and social psychology |
| title_sort | linguistic turn and social psychology |
| url | https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/647 |
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