Kenneth J. Gergen

Kenneth J. Gergen ( born 1934 in North Carolina) is an American psychologist.

Life and achievements

Gergen is a son of the mathematician John Jay Gergen (1903-1967) and his wife Ambigne Munger; journalist David Gergen (* 1942) is his younger brother.

Kenneth Gergen's university education brought him the following degrees: BA at Yale University ( 1953-57 ), Ph. D. Duke University ( 1959-62 ), DSS ( Hon ) from the University of Tilburg (1987) and DHL ( Hon. ) at the Saybrook Institute ( 1991).

It represents the direction of the theory he called social constructionism, a sociological oriented variant of constructivism. He became famous for his criticism of the legitimacy of causal inference from psychological experiments. As he showed, hang many effects of the " cultural embeddedness " from, that of the respective complex contexts in which the experiments were performed.

Currently Gergen holds the Gil and Frank Mustin Professor of Psychology at the Institute of Psychology of Swarthmore College.

Writings (selection )

As author

  • Together with Lynn Hoffman and Harlene Anderson: Diagnostics - a disaster? A constructionist trialogue. In: Journal of Systemic Therapy, 1997, Issue 4, pp. 224-241, ISSN 0723-9505
  • Beyond autonomy and community. Relational being. In: Klaus -Peter Köpping (ed.): The autonomous person. A European invention? Fink, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-7705-3724-6, pp. 177-192.
  • Social construction and education in the context of global conflict. In: Rolf Balgo (eds.): Theory and practice of systemic pedagogy. Carl -Auer - Systeme- Verlag, Heidelberg 2006, ISBN 978-3-89670-514-3, pp. 24-44.
  • The Saturated Self. Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life. Basic Books, New York 2000, ISBN 0-465-07186-4 (EA New York 1991). German translation: The supersaturated self. Identitätsproble in contemporary life. Carl -Auer - Systeme- Verlag, Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-931574-30- X.
  • German translation: Constructed Realities. An introduction to social constructionism. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3- 17-017102 -X ( with a foreword by Hans Meyer West ).

As editor

  • Together with Klaus G. Deissler: The Appreciative Organization. Transcript, Bielefeld 2004, ISBN 3-89942-223-6.
Lynn Hoffman (family therapist) Serge Moscovici Integrated Authority File
471986
de