Social psychology of and for world-making

Power, Séamus A.; Zittoun, Tania; Akkerman, Sanne; Wagoner, Brady; Cabra, Martina; Cornish, Flora; Hawlina, Hana; Heasman, Brett; Mahendran, Kesi; Psaltis, Charis; Rajala, Antti; Veale, Angela; Gillespie, Alex

Social psychology of and for world-making

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Power-2023-Social-psychology-of-and-for-world-.pdf(277.52 KB)

Published version

Date

2023-01-11

Authors

Power, Séamus A.

Zittoun, Tania

Akkerman, Sanne

Wagoner, Brady

Cabra, Martina

Cornish, Flora

Hawlina, Hana

Heasman, Brett

Mahendran, Kesi

Psaltis, Charis

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Publisher

Sage

Published Version

10.1177/10888683221145756

Abstract

Social psychology’s disconnect from the vital and urgent questions of people’s lived experiences reveals limitations in the current paradigm. We draw on a related perspective in social psychology1—the sociocultural approach—and argue how this perspective can be elaborated to consider not only social psychology as a historical science but also social psychology of and for world-making. This conceptualization can make sense of key theoretical and methodological challenges faced by contemporary social psychology. As such, we describe the ontology, epistemology, ethics, and methods of social psychology of and for world-making. We illustrate our framework with concrete examples from social psychology. We argue that reconceptualizing social psychology in terms of world-making can make it more humble yet also more relevant, reconnecting it with the pressing issues of our time.

Keywords

Cultural psychology , Ethics , Imagination , Methodological pluralism , Social psychology , World-making

Citation

Power, S.A., Zittoun, T., Akkerman, S., Wagoner, B., Cabra, M., Cornish, F., Hawlina, H., Heasman, B., Mahendran, K., Psaltis, C., Rajala, A., Veale, A. and Gillespie, A. (2023) ‘Social psychology of and for world-making’, Personality and Social Psychology Review, (15 pp). https://doi.org/10.1177/10888683221145756.