Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2011
Published In
Oxford Handbook Of The Self
Abstract
This article evaluates the view that the self is social constructed. It explains that a social constructionist approach to the self is critical insofar as it targets many of the traditional conceptions of self under discussion in this volume. It analyses the primary use of the term self in psychological and mental discourse, suggesting many ways in which the sources of knowledge about the realm of the mental are open to question. It cites the work of Michel Foucault and others who develop a sustained critique of what may be the dark side of the construction of the self as an autonomous, alienated entity differentiated from the other.
Keywords
self, social construction, psychological discourse, mental discourse, Michel Foucault, alienated entity
Published By
Oxford University Press
Editor(s)
S. Gallagher
Recommended Citation
Kenneth J. Gergen.
(2011).
"The Social Construction Of Self".
Oxford Handbook Of The Self.
633-653.
DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199548019.003.0028
https://works.swarthmore.edu/fac-psychology/975
Comments
This material was originally published in The Oxford Handbook Of The Self edited by Shaun Gallagher, and has been reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press. For permission to reuse this material, please visit http://global.oup.com/academic/rights.
Reproduced with permission of the Licensor through PLSclear.