Toward Transformation in Social Knowledge / Edition 2

by Kenneth J. Gergen

Overview

Critical resistance to traditional empirical methods and the quest for foundational knowledge of human action is widespread. Recognition of theoretical and methodological inadequacies has sparked a search for a more robust conception of human science.

This fascinating and carefully reasoned book develops the argument for human science as social construction. Demonstrating that descriptions of human action can neither be derived from nor corrected by scientific observation, Gergen provides a bold interdisciplinary challenge to traditional views, thus clearing the way for significant alterations in scientific practice. In the preface to the Second Edition, Gergen describes the major movements taking place since the First Edit

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803989726
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	03/07/1994
Series:	Social Psychology Series
Edition description:	Second Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.61(d)

About the Author

Kenneth J. Gergen is a Senior Research Professor at Swarthmore College, USA, and President of the Taos Institute. He has been the recipient of many awards throughout the world. His major works include Realities and Relationships: Soundings in Social Construction; The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life; and Relational Being: Beyond Self and Community.

Table of Contents

Traditional Science in a World of Change
The Communal Basis of Social Knowledge
Generative Theory and Degenerative Metatheory
The Turning Point in Life-Span Study
The Historical Context of Transformation