Synopses & Reviews
A tour de force. As a comprehensive review, it stands out as a unique resource not matched by any recent treatment of the group literature.--Marilyn Brewer, Professor of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles.
This advanced-level textbook analyzes how social psychology conceptualizes group cohesiveness and solidarity. Since 1950, the dominant perspective on this topic has been exposed through the concept of group cohesiveness: a concept tied to interpersonal processes among small interactive aggregates of people. Although repeatedly challenged, this perspective still thrives.
In the first part of the book, Michael Hogg describes in detail the origins and nature of this concept, showing precisely how it has been modified, simplified, and ultimately reduced to personal attraction. A critique of reductionism in social psychology frames his central argument that problems with the group cohesiveness concept are due to its reduction of group processes to interpersonal processes.
This critique sets the scene for the second part of the book, which presents an alternative, positive conceptualization of group cohesiveness and solidarity. This new perspective centers on social and self-categorization theories and presents current research in detail. Hogg uses new conceptual and methodological developments in social psychology to present an account of group cohesiveness more sophisticated and more complete than those based on a traditional understanding. The book ends with an examination of implications for our understanding of phenomena such as groupthink, social loafing, and group performance.
Synopsis
What role does theory play in academia today? How can feminist theory be made more relevant to the very real struggles undertaken by women of all professions, races, and sexual orientation? How can it be directed into more effective social activism, and how is theory itself a form of practice?
Feminist theory and political activism need not—indeed cannot—be distinct and alienated from one another. To reconcile the gulf between word and deed, scholar-activists from a broad range of disciplines have come together here to explore the ways in which practice and theory intersect and interact. The authors argue against overly abstract and esoteric theorizing that fails its own tests of responsible political practice and suggest alternative methods by which to understand feminist issues and attain feminist goals. They also examine the current state of affairs in the academy, exposing the ways in which universities systematically reinforce social hierarchies and offering important and intelligent suggestions for curricular and structural changes.
Is Academic Feminism Dead? marks a significant step forward in relating academic and social movement feminism. It recognizes and examines the diverse realities experienced by women, as well as the changing political, cultural, and economic realities shaping contemporary feminism.
About the Author
MICHAEL A. HOGG is currently Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. He is the author (with Dominic Abrams) of Social Identification, and coeditor of Social Identity Theory and Group Motivation. He is also the author (with Turner, Oakes, Reicher, and Wetherell) of Rediscovering the Social Group.