Social Psychology and Everyday Life

Darrin Hodgetts, Ottilie Stolte, Christopher Sonn, Neil Drew, Stuart Carr, Linda Waimarie Nikora

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN:
  9781352009446
• Edition: 2
• eBook ISBN:
  9781350312616
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Personality in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

This ground-breaking and innovative textbook offers a uniquely global approach to the study of social psychology. Inclusive and outward-looking, the authors consciously re-orientate the discipline of social psychology, promoting a collectivist approach. Each chapter begins with an illustrative scenario based on everyday events, from visiting a local health centre to shopping in a supermarket, which challenges readers to confront the issues that arise in today's diverse, multicultural society. This textbook also gives a voice to many indigenous psychologies that have been excluded from the mainstream discipline and provides crucial coverage of the colonization experience. By integrating core social psychology theories and concepts with critical perspectives, Social Psychology and Everyday Life provides a thought-provoking introduction suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate students of social psychology and community psychology. It can also be used by students in related subjects such as sociology, criminology and other social sciences.

1	Introduction to the social psychology of everyday life

Chapter scenario

Marie and Alex met each other on the streets two years ago and have been inseparable ever since. Marie was a ward of the state since the age of 6, and at age 17 was released to fend for herself. Alex comes from a rough neighbourhood and started sleeping in a local park at age 12 to escape a violent home. Both are now aged 20 and are well accustomed to street life.

The couple have just woken up in a small nook behind a car parking facility on a typical chilly morning. They are reluctant to leave their sleeping bag and cardboard windbreak, but it is time to start the day by going to the local Mission for breakfast. They are welcomed by Louise’s smiling face as they enter the drop-in centre. Louise says, ‘Hi’ and asks, ‘Did you have a good night?’ To which Marie replies, ‘Yeah, those drunks didn’t come back to bother us again’. Louise replies, ‘That’s good to hear. We’ve got hot mince and cheese pies donated from the bakery this morning.’ Sitting down with a pie and cup of tea the couple are able to begin to shake off the chill as they catch up with those around them. A staff member, Shemana, reminds Alex that Marie has a check-up with the doc at 1:30. ‘We need to keep an eye on baby, hey.’

© Marian Stolte de Vletter

In the interim the couple go to the public library to check their Facebook accounts and catch up with what is going on in the world. After a couple of hours, they are warm enough to venture out to work. Because Marie is seven months pregnant, Alex does the window washing at a busy traffic intersection while Marie acts as a look out. The couple prefer window washing to begging, which is experienced as demeaning and often elicits disdain and abuse from passers-by and is policed to a greater extent than window washing. Most drivers either politely indicate that they are not interested in having their window washed or freely offer a small amount of money for the service. Central to this work is a game of cat and mouse. Marie spots the police and warns Alex, but it is too late. The police caution him, and they are moved on. The couple walk to an intersection about three blocks away, wait ten minutes and then resume their activities. The game continues.

After their doctor’s appointment, Marie and Alex visit their friend ‘Aunty’. She is a former homeless woman who initially mentored the couple into making a living and surviving street life. Due to illness, Aunty now resides in a social housing block but struggles to pay her rent. Alex and Marie help out where they can, giving Aunty $20 from their window washing. Aunty is excited about the impending arrival of baby and asks, ‘Have you come up with a name yet?’ Marie replies, ‘No, because I don’t know if I’m going to get to keep her’. They then discuss the need to find a place to live so that the baby is not taken into state care.

It is time for the couple to head back to their sleeping spot. Upon arrival they find that the spot has been fenced off and their sleeping cardboard has been removed. A notice states ‘No entry for rough sleepers’. The couple are tired and decide to sleep in a nearby doorway until they can set themselves up in another spot tomorrow.

Introduction

Some readers may be surprised by our opening this psychology textbook with a scenario about a day in the life of a couple who happen to be homeless. We did this to signal that our general orientation to social psychology is concerned with the plight of growing numbers of people who face poverty in the midst of affluent societies. The social psychology presented in this book speaks to such experiences and works to help resolve some of the issues around inequality, poverty and exclusion that shape the lives of people such as Marie and Alex. We will outline an orientation to social psychology that can enhance our understanding of issues such as homelessness and the broader societal processes at play. We invite you to consider how social psychologists, including you, can develop knowledge and strategies for addressing such pressing societal concerns.

Social psychologists study people’s lives together. The discipline is focused on how human beings take shape through their ongoing interactions in the world. Many social psychologists are particularly interested in understanding and seeking solutions to problems faced by increasingly diverse, multicultural and globally interconnected societies. Today, psychological phenomena such as depression, addictions, violence and criminality are often presented as being the consequences of an individual’s deficits or misfortune. Conversely, social psychologists consider how collective processes, such as low-wage insecure work, welfare retrenchment, escalating living costs and declining life chances, might contribute to these problems. Of central concern for social psychologists, such as ourselves, is the nature of human interactions, and how history, economics and intergroup relations impact lives every day. This orientation is not new. Members of the founding generation of social psychologists, including Francis Cecil Sumner (1924, 1928) and Marie Jahoda (1992; Jahoda, Lazarsfeld & Zeisel, 1933/1972) advocated similar approaches. Like many social psychologists today, these early scholars emphasized the need for social psychologists to develop understandings of people and the issues they face in the context of histories of discrimination, adversarial intergroup relations and inequitable social structures; as well as their strengths, resilience, hopes and adaptability (Hodgetts & O’Doherty, 2019).

The central focus of this book is on everyday life and the dynamic places and relationships through which social existence is played out. Core concerns are intergroup relationships and the consequences of social arrangements on the ability of people to reach their potential. Key social arrangements include those between authorities in society and protest movements, those between dominant and subordinate groups, and how the exercising of power by some shapes the lives of others. In considering these interconnected processes, this book provides a contemporary orientation to social psychology that increases our knowledge of everyday life in diverse societies.

Any attempt to introduce this vibrant disciplinary field needs to encompass a range of perspectives and topics. This book applies insights from both the physical sciences and from the human or social sciences. Both orientations offer insights into the social aspects of the human condition, and how we might promote human flourishing. Here, human flourishing refers to the conditions that afford people opportunities to participate in society, live healthy lives and reach their potential (Hodgetts & Stolte, 2017). This orientation towards human flourishing reflects our own ethical and political commitments towards building more equitable, inclusive, just and healthy societies where people can flourish.

Chapter overview

Attention is paid in this chapter to core terms such as social psychology and everyday life, and how people develop a sense of self. Our account of social psychology extends beyond human thoughts and behaviour, to also consider the importance of the material world for understanding social psychological phenomena. The first section provides more detail on our general orientation to social psychology, which emphasizes the importance of focusing on everyday life. We then explore what we mean by everyday life: the socialization of human beings and the reproduction of the social structures that shape our daily lives together. Along the way, we outline our stance regarding the socially and culturally located nature of social psychology. We also emphasize the importance of research that addresses diverse everyday realities and provide an overview of subsequent chapters that pick up on this challenge. In summary, this chapter:

• conceptualizes social psychology today

• conceptualizes everyday life as a crucial disciplinary consideration

• considers the self and processes of socialization in the context of everyday life

• outlines links between everyday knowledge, theory, research and action

• previews the contributions of each subsequent chapter to offering an engaged, and we hope engaging, social psychology of everyday life.

Core questions to consider while reading this chapter

• How is social psychology central to advancing understandings of social life and the human condition?

• Why is everyday life worthy of our attention as a primary site for human experience and the reproduction of social relations?

• Why is social transformation important to many social psychologists who work to contribute to more equitable societies that promote human flourishing?

Conceptualizing social psychology

Social psychology is applied to a range of contexts, including developing government policies and community development initiatives (Chapter 4), human interactions in shopping malls and workplaces (Chapter 6), experiences of migration and intergroup relations (Chapter 7), designing jobs that are sustainable (Chapter 8), the provision of healthcare (Chapter 9), and addressing the consequences of poverty and human conflict (Chapter 10). Today, many social psychologists focus on the problems that can haunt human lives such as conflict and social exclusion, and on the positive relationships and resources that enable people to avoid, cope with, and overcome problems (O’Doherty & Hodgetts, 2019).

When one considers the range of domains of life of interest to social psychologists, establishing a set definition for social psychology as a whole becomes challenging. Social psychology is often defined as the scientific study of individuals in society. In this vein, one of the most prominent social psychologists from the United States, Gordon Allport (1985, p.5) (Key Theorist 1.1), proposed that social psychology attempts to explain the ways in which the thoughts, feelings and behaviour

… of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings. The term ‘implied presence’ refers to the many activities the individual carries out because of his [sic] position (role) in a complex social structure and his membership in a cultural group.

Key Theorist 1.1

Gordon Allport

Gordon Allport (1897–1967) was born in Indiana, USA, into a family with a strong Protestant work ethic. Allport emphasized the value of social service throughout his life, involving himself in volunteer work and research of social significance. He served in the First World War and subsequently graduated from Harvard College with a PhD in psychology in 1922. He then studied in both Germany and England before returning to Harvard University and Dartmouth College. During his career, Allport published more than 200 articles and twelve books on such broad topics as personality, rumour, religion and prejudice (Bowman, 1995; Allport, 1954). He was a hugely influential figure in the development of social and personality psychology and taught many notable scholars in the United States, including Stanley Milgram and Jerome Bruner. He was one of the first social psychologists to develop a trait (personal characteristic) theory of personality (Allport, 1937, 1955, 1961). The concept of personality refers to the amalgamation of characteristics that make up a person’s idiosyncratic character. Allport drew on personality theory to study individual differences in a manner that accounted for situational influences on human development. He also emphasized the need for diversity in approaches in social psychology and proposed that our theories, research and actions need to be tailored to the specific subject matter and sociocultural contexts in which they are situated (Lubek & Apfelbaum, 2000).

Allport was not locked into one definition of our discipline. He recognized the need for social psychology to evolve in response to the needs of people and society. He was acutely aware that social psychology needs to overlap with other social science disciplines because interesting work is occurring outside of our own journals. We need to also draw on insights produced in history, economics, sociology and anthropology, theology, communication science, geography, literary studies, linguistics, anthropology and so on (c.f., Tajfel, 1981). Social psychology “thrives best when cross-cultivated in a rich and diversified intellectual garden” (Allport, 1968, p.19). Following Allport’s lead, we will draw on social psychological material from across the social sciences throughout this book.

This f...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Titlepage
• Copyright
• Brief Contents
• Long Contents
• Features
• About the Authors
• Preface
• Author Acknowledgements
• Publisher Acknowledgements
• Guide to Learning Features
• Guide to Online Learning and Teaching Resources
• 1 Introduction to the social psychology of everyday life
• 2 Histories of social psychology
• 3 Indigenous psychologies
• 4 Pro-social practices and critical humanism
• 5 Making sense of everyday knowledge
• 6 Social psychology and place
• 7 Immigration, acculturation and settlement
• 8 Work and livelihoods
• 9 Health and illness
• 10 Social justice
• 11 Media and daily practice
• 12 Towards social psychologies of everyday life
• References
• Author index
• Subject index