Political Psychology: A Social Psychological Approach

374 Pages·2018·6.74 MB·English

by  Chris Hewer

Political Psychology
A Social Psychological
Approach
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Political Psychology
A Social Psychological
Approach
EDITED BY
CHRISTOPHER J. HEWER
& EVANTHIA LYONS
This edition first published 2018
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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The right of Christopher J. Hewer & Evanthia Lyons to be identified as the author of the editorial
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Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Hewer, Chris, 1957– editor. | Lyons, Evanthia, editor.
Title: Political psychology / edited by Christopher J. Hewer and Evanthia Lyons.
Description: Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, 2018. | Series: BPS textbooks in psychology |
Includes index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2018013085 (print) | LCCN 2018029389 (ebook) | ISBN 9781118982389 (pdf) |
ISBN 9781118982372 (epub) | ISBN 9781118982396 (cloth) | ISBN 9781118929339 (pbk.)
Subjects: LCSH: Political psychology.
Classification: LCC JA74.5 (ebook) | LCC JA74.5 .P633 2018 (print) | DDC 320.01/9–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018013085
Cover image: The Leningrad (later Neptune) Cinema Mosaic: Gdansk, Poland by Anna Fiszer, 1957
Cover design by Wiley
Set in 11.5/13.5pt Dante by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Brief Contents
List of Contributors xv
Preface xx
CHAPTER 1 Some Historical and Philosophical Considerations 1
Christopher J. Hewer
CHAPTER 2 A Critical History of Research Methods 28
Ron Roberts and Christopher J. Hewer
CHAPTER 3 From Alienation to Estrangement: Political
Thought and Psychology 54
Ron Roberts
CHAPTER 4 The Politics of Psychological Language: Discourse
and Rhetoric 73
Simon Locke
CHAPTER 5 Identity 93
Christopher J. Hewer and Evanthia Lyons
CHAPTER 6 Narrating as Political Action 114
Brian Schiff
CHAPTER 7 Connecting Social Exclusion and Agency:
Social Class Matters 134
Sarah Jay, Orla Muldoon, and Caroline Howarth
CHAPTER 8 Migration 152
Spyridoula Ntani, Artemis M. Griva, and Xenia Chryssochoou
CHAPTER 9 Political Decision‐Making 168
Jack S. Levy
vi BRiEf ConTEnTs
CHAPTER 10 Foreign Policy and Identity 189
Emma O’Dwyer
CHAPTER 11 Social Memory and the Collective Past 207
Christopher J. Hewer
CHAPTER 12 Crowds, Social Identities, and the Shaping of 
Everyday Social Relations 231
Fergus G. Neville and Stephen D. Reicher
CHAPTER 13 State Militarism and International Conflict 253
Stephen Gibson
CHAPTER 14 Social Influence and Malevolent Authority:
Obedience Revisited 271
Ron Roberts
CHAPTER 15 Intergroup Conflict, Peace, and Reconciliation 292
J. Christopher Cohrs, Johanna R. Vollhardt, and Shelley McKeown
References 313
index 349
Contents
List of Contributors xv
Preface xx
CHAPTER 1 Some Historical and Philosophical Considerations 1
Christopher J. Hewer
When People Come Together 3
Social Psychology 4
The Development of Religious Identities 5
Intersecting Histories: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam 5
The Issue of Governance 8
Transformations in the Twentieth Century 8
The Social and Moral Order 10
The Search for Scientific Understanding 11
Psychology: A New Way of Seeing the World 12
The Influence of Political Philosophy on Social Psychology 14
Locating the Root of Human Behavior 15
Social Cognition 17
A Societal Approach to Political Psychology 18
Social Constructionism 19
The Social Construction of Reality 22
Summary 24
Glossary 24
Further Reading 26
Questions for Group Discussion 27
CHAPTER 2 A Critical History of Research Methods 28
Ron Roberts and Christopher J. Hewer
What Do We Want to Know About the World and Why? 30
How Can We Know the World? 31
Searching for Universal Laws of Behavior 32
The Computability Problem 33
viii ConTEnTs
The Historic Nature of Research Findings 35
The Origin of Statistics 37
The Construction of Norms, Normality,
and Normalcy 38
Using Statistical Measures and Models for 
Political Purposes 40
The Null Hypothesis Significance Test 43
Bayesian Methods 45
The Issue of Replication 47
The File Drawer Effect 48
A Cautionary Note on Theory 48
Conclusions 50
Summary 50
Glossary 51
Further Reading 52
Questions for Group Discussion 53
CHAPTER 3 From Alienation to Estrangement: Political
Thought and Psychology 54
Ron Roberts
Mechanistic Models 56
Karl Marx 57
Alienation 58
Erich Fromm 59
R. D. Laing 61
Mystification 61
Michel Foucault 62
Discursive Regimes, Power,
and Freedom 63
Disciplinary boundaries 63
Politics and governance of the self 64
Svetlana Boym 66
Estrangement 66
Off‐modern psychology 68
Art and dissent 69
Summary 70
Glossary 71
Further Reading 71
Questions for Group Discussion 71
viii ConTEnTs ConTEnTs ix
CHAPTER 4 The Politics of Psychological Language: Discourse
and Rhetoric 73
Simon Locke
Discursive Psychology, Rhetorical Psychology, and 
Cognitive Psychology 75
The Scientific Laboratory 76
The Validity of Experiments and Surveys 77
Language, Discourse, and Rhetoric 78
Arguing and Thinking 80
Relativism and Ideology—or the DP‐CA/RP‐CDA
Fandango 81
Ideology 83
Critical Discourse Analysis 84
The Politics of Experience 85
Conspiracy Discourse 86
A Cognitive Approach to Conspiracy 87
Reinstating the Thinking Person 88
Summary 90
Glossary 90
Further Reading 91
Questions for Group Discussion 92
CHAPTER 5 Identity 93
Christopher J. Hewer and Evanthia Lyons
Identity and Human Relations 95
Categorization 95
Self and Society 96
Occupational Identity: Roles and Performance 97
Political Mobilization: National Identity and Nationalism 98
Identity Threats 101
Identity Politics 102
Image, Images, and Appearance 104
Political Identities 106
Social Identity Theory 106
Identity Process Theory 108
Discursive Approaches to Identity 109
Narrative Identities 111
Conclusions 111
Summary 112
x ConTEnTs
Glossary 112
Further Reading 113
Questions for Group Discussion 113
CHAPTER 6 Narrating as Political Action 114
Brian Schiff
Psychology and Politics 116
Speech and Political Action 117
The Personal and Political Nature of Narrative 117
Expansive Political Narratives 118
Psychoanalytic and Personological Tradition 119
Narrative Approaches 119
Narrative Hermeneutics 120
Narrative and Narrating 120
Intensifying Persons and Social Context 121
Collective Memory 121
Repression 122
Relational Contexts 123
Meanings and Action 123
Producers and Consumers of Memory 124
Palestinians with Israeli Citizenship 124
Hiba: The Real Story 125
Lana: Torn Between the Two 128
Conclusions 130
Summary 131
Glossary 132
Further Reading 132
Questions for Group Discussion 132
CHAPTER 7 Connecting Social Exclusion and Agency:
Social Class Matters 134
Sarah Jay, Orla Muldoon, and Caroline Howarth
Class Matters 136
Cultural Capital 138
The Precariat 139
Capitalist Restructuring and Poverty 140
Stigma 141
Collective Identities 141
The Individualization of Class 142
Agency and Social Class 143
Social Capital 144