A central concern for a psychology of culture is the question of how people come to commit themselves to ‘shared’ forms of understanding. Although the ‘shared’ or social nature of human understanding has received ample attention in different forms of cultural psychology, what is lacking is an account of the normative ‘force’ or compellingness of cultural forms. We argue that both phenomenology and social constructionism have failed to acknowledge the inherently normative dimension of social and cultural life. For an alternative grounding of cultural psychology we turn to the work of Merleau-Ponty. We show that at the end of his life Merleau-Ponty was working on a theory of meaning that acknowledges the normative dimension of our affective engagements in the world as well as the affective dimension of our normative engagements. We argue that this theory may be a powerful alternative for a social constructionist approach to culture.
Baerveldt, C. , & Verheggen, T. (1999). Enactivism and the experiential reality of culture: Rethinking the epistemological basis of cultural psychology . Culture & Psychology, 5, 183-206 .
2.
Baerveldt, C. , Verheggen, T. , & Voestermans, P. (2001). Human experience and the enigma of culture: Toward an enactive account of cultural practice. In J.R. Morss , N. Stephenson , & H. van Rappard (Eds.), Theoretical issues in psychology (pp. 49-57). Boston, MA: Kluwer .
3.
Billig, M. (1987). Arguing and thinking: A rhetorical approach to social psychology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
4.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice (R. Nice, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press . (Original work published 1972.)
5.
Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
6.
Damasio, A. (2003). Looking for Spinoza: Joy, sorrow, and the feeling brain. New York: Harcourt .
7.
Edwards, D. (1997). Discourse and cognition. London: Sage .
Edwards, D. , & Potter, J. (1992). Discursive psychology. London: Sage .
10.
Farr, R.M. (1996). The roots of modern social psychology. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell .
11.
Frijda, N.H. (1988). The laws of emotion . American Psychologist, 43, 349-358 .
12.
Gergen, K.J.1985. The social constructionist movement in modern psychology . American Psychologist, 40, 266-275 .
13.
Gergen, K.J. , & Gergen, M. (1991). Toward reflexive methodologies. In F. Steier (Ed.), Research and reflexivity (pp. 76-95). Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
14.
Gilbert, D.T. (1991). How mental systems believe . American Psychologist, 46, 107-119 .
15.
Greenwood, J.D. (1994). Realism, identity and emotion: Reclaiming social psychology. London: Sage .
16.
Harré, R. , & Gillett, G. (1994). The discursive mind. London: Sage .
17.
Husserl, E. (1960). Cartesian meditations: An introduction to phenomenology (D. Cairns, Trans.). Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff . (Original work published 1931).
18.
Husserl, E. (1970). The crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology: An introduction to phenomenological philosophy (D. Carr, Trans.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press . (Original work published 1954).
19.
Jahoda, G. (1992). Crossroads between culture and mind: Continuities and change in theories of human nature. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf .
20.
Lévi-Strauss, C. (1963). Structural anthropology (C. Jacobson & B. Schoepf, Trans.). New York: Basic Books . (Original work published 1958).
21.
Lévi-Strauss, C. (1966). The savage mind (J. Weightman & D. Weightman, Trans.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press . (Original work published 1962.)
22.
Maturana, H. (1978). Biology of language: The epistemology of reality. In G.A. Miller & E. Lenneberg (Eds.), Psychology and biology of language and thought: Essays in honor of Eric Lenneberg (pp. 27-63). New York: Academic Press .
23.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1962). Phenomenology of perception (C. Smith, Trans.). London: Routledge . (Original work published 1945).
24.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964a). Signs (R.C. McCleary, Trans.). Evanston IL: Northwestern University Press . (Original work published 1960).
25.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964b). The primacy of perception ( J. Edie , Ed.). Evanston IL: Northwestern University Press .
26.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1968). The visible and the invisible (A. Lingis, Trans.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press .
27.
Nussbaum, M.C. (2001). Upheavals of thought: The intelligence of emotions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
28.
Oxford English Dictionary. (2002). (2nd ed.) Oxford: Oxford University Press .
29.
Pinker, S. (2002). The blank slate: The modern denial of human nature. New York: Viking .
30.
Potter, J. , & Wetherell, M. (1987). Discourse and social psychology. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
31.
Radley, A. (1991). The body and social psychology. New York: Springer-Verlag .
32.
Sartre, J.-P. (1994). Sketch for the theory of emotions (P. Mairet, Trans.). London: Routledge . (Original work published 1939).
33.
Schmidt, J. (1985). Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Between phenomenology and structuralism. New York: St Martin’s Press .
34.
Schutz, A. (1967). The phenomenology of the social world. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press .
35.
Schutz, A. (1970). On phenomenology and social relations ( H.R. Wagner , Ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
36.
Soffer, J. (2001). Embodied perception: Redefining the social . Theory & Psychology, 11, 655-670 .
37.
Stich, S. (1983). From folk psychology to cognitive science: The case against belief. Cambridge, MA: Bradford .
38.
Taylor, C. (1995). Philosophical arguments. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press .
39.
Tooby, J. , & Cosmides, L. (1992). The psychological foundations of culture. In: J. Barkow , L. Cosmides , & J. Tooby (Eds.), The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the creation of culture (pp 19-123). New York: Oxford University Press .
40.
Verheggen, T. , & Baerveldt, C. (2001). From shared representations to consensually coordinated actions: Toward an intrinsically social psychology. In J.R. Morss , N. Stephenson , & H. van Rappard (Eds.), Theoretical issues in psychology (pp. 58-68). Boston, MA: Kluwer .
41.
Verheggen, T. , & Baerveldt, C. (2004). We don’t share: Toward an intrinsically social psychology. Manuscript submitted for publication.
42.
Voestermans, P. (1991). Alterity/identity: A deficient image of culture. In J. Leerssen & R. Corbey (Eds.), Alterity, identity, image: Science and others in society and scholarship (pp. 219-250). Amsterdam: Rodopi .
43.
Voestermans, P. , & Baerveldt, C. (2001). Cultural psychology meets evolutionary psychology: Toward a new role for biology in the study of culture and experience. In J.R. Morss , N. Stephenson , & H. van Rappard (Eds.), Theoretical issues in psychology (pp. 69-81). Boston, MA: Kluwer .
44.
Wittgenstein, L. (1958). Philosophical investigations (3rd ed.; G.E.M. Anscombe, Trans.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall . (Original work published 1953).
45.
Wittgenstein L. (1978). Remarks on the foundations of mathematics (3rd ed.; G.E.M. Anscombe, Trans.). Oxford: Blackwell . (Original work published 1956).
