Culture In Psychology

Culture in Psychology Culture in Psychology breaks new ground by attempting to understand the complexity and specificity of cultural identities today. It rejects the idea that western culture is a standard, or that any culture is homogeneous and stable. Equally, it rejects the notion that culture is a mechanism that enhances reproductive fitness. Instead, it alerts psychologists to the many forms of ‘foreignness’ that research should address and to alliances psychology can make with other disciplines such as anthropology, feminism and psychoanalysis. Part I explores the origins of the new ‘cultural psychology’ in social change movements, in fields such as ethnography and cultural studies, and as a response to evolutionary psychology. Part II looks at how people create and sustain the meanings of social categories of ‘class’, gender, ‘race’ and ethnicity, while Part III examines the interaction between written and visual representations in popular culture and everyday lived culture. Part IV examines the idiosyncratic significance cultural forms have for individuals and their unconscious meanings. Written by internationally renowned researchers, Culture in Psychology will be of great appeal to students and researchers of psychology, cultural studies, psychoanalysis and gender. Corinne Squire is Senior Lecturer in Psychosocial Studies at the University of East London. Culture in Psychology Edited by Corinne Squire London and Philadelphia First published 2000 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Taylor & Francis, Inc. 325 Chestnut Street, Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2000 Selection and editorial matter Corinne Squire; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-36104-0 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-37360-X (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-21703-2 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-24354-8 (pbk) Contents Notes on contributors vi Acknowledgements x PART I Reconfiguring psychology and culture Introduction CORINNE SQUIRE 1 1 1 More than simply talk and text: psychologists as cultural ethnographers CHRISTINE GRIFFIN 17 2 Gender, genes and genetics: from Darwin to the human genome LYNNE SEGAL 31 PART II Culture and social formations 43 Introduction 43 3 Cultural contestations in practice: white boys and the racialisation of masc