SELF AND SOCIAL CONTEXT SELF AND SOCIAL CONTEXT RAY HOLLAND St. Martin's Press New York ©Ray Holland 1977 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1977 978-0-333-19811-7 All rights reserved. For information, write: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 77-27530 ISBN 978-0-333-19812-4 ISBN 978-1-349-15789-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-15789-1 First published in the United States of America in 1978 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Holland, Ray. Self and social context. 1. Self. 2. Psychoanalysis. 3. Existential psychology. 4. Social role. I. Title. BF697.H54 155.2 77-27530 ISBN 978-0-312-71229-7 To Sue, Zed and Zoe Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements x 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Understanding, values and meaning 12 1.2 Misunderstanding and 'positive generality' 14 1.3 The interdisciplinary void 16 1.4 Reactive characteristics of theories 19 1.5 Psychoanalytic theory in Britain 20 1.6 Freud, Husser! and Marx 21 1.7 A human science of self in social context 21 2 Reaction to Freud-Social-SeH Theories 26 2.1 G. H. Mead 27 2.2 H. S. Sullivan 30 2.3 E. H. Erikson 34 2.4 A theory by inversion-S. M. Jourard 40 3 The Reaction to Behaviourism and Refusal of Alternatives 49 3.1 G. W. Allport 49 4 A Kind of Existentialism 59 4.1 G. A. Kelly 59 4.2 A. H. Maslow 60 4.3 C. R. Rogers 67 4.4 Theories in limbo 78 S Role Theory and the Human Sciences 81 5.1 Personal construct theory and role 83 5.2 Structural role theory 88 5.3 Self/other role theory 92 5.4 Sociological role theories 98 5.5 Personal construct role theory 104 5.6 The disciplines meet-a symposium 111 5.7 Some philosophical approaches and their implications 123 5.8 A philosophical mystification 137 5.9 A philosophical clarification 146 5.10 Polarisation and social analysis 148 5.11 The relations between disciplines 163 6 British Existentialism 191 6.1 R. D. Laing 201 6.2 D. G. Cooper 208 6.3 A. Esterson 213 7 British Psychoanalysis 221 8 Reading and Revisionism 228 8.1 L. Althusser 230 8.2 J. Lacan 236 8.3 A. Wilden 248 9 A Human Science of Self in Social Context 258 9.1 Notes toward reflexivity 258 9.2 Recapitulation of the critique 262 9.3 A human science of self in social context 267 9.4 A human science in action 272 9.5 Postscript 285 Bibliography 289 Index 292 Preface This book is an attempt to follow a single theme entailing critical reading into the territories in and between several disciplines in the human sciences. A critique of personality theories, using psycho analytic insights within a sociology of knowledge, develops into a criticism of role theories and the sociology of knowledge itself. This constant turning of disciplines and theories back on to themselves seeks reflexive clarification of the 'knowledge' produced in the belief that reflexivity is both a problem and a resource for the human sciences. I realise it is only a beginning, but after struggling with the problem for a long time I now think it has become more of a resource than a problem. As I see it the division of labour in intellectual work has taken a pathological turn and the personal and material benefits of specialisa tion now cost too much in terms of neglected areas and misconceived issues. We need above all to understand the psychological and social forces at work in the processes of knowledge production. Since recent work in the sociology of science, knowledge and ideologies generally lacks a psychological dimension, I hope the situated critical analyses undertaken here will offer some possible lines of development in this direction. Ray Holland Chelsea College, University of London Acknowledgements Phil Sealy, through his seminar at the LSE, helped me to start on this line of work and gave unfailing support and advice no matter how l used it. Colleagues in the Department of Humanities at Chelsea College, particularly Harold Silver, Colin Falck, Judith Ryder and Oliver Williams, shared their experience as we worked together. Similarly with later colleagues in the Department of Sociology and Psychology, especially Esther Saraga. The most practical lessons in the sociology of knowledge have been learned from fellow members of the AUT, the group which most clearly embodies and protects university standards. In this and other college work Frank Lesser's sense of collective responsibility has set a standard. Aaron Esterson, George Gross and Paul Senft were greatly valued friends in the earlier days of The Human Context editorial board. So were the members of various study groups on psychoanalytic and political matters around this time. I owe an immeasurable debt to my wife Sue, that rarity among psychoanalytic therapists who not only dares to face the social and political implications of her work but carries through these insights into a radical practice. Zed, our son, though barely speaking, knows better than we the dialectic of inspiration and challenge. Hermine Ball and Shirley White literally worked overtime to type the manuscript giving encouragement as well as their skills. In giving thanks for all this help I also take full responsibility for what I have turned it towards. 1 Introduction One's first impression on looking at the field of personality theories is of a great range and variety of contending approaches. And yet on closer examination there are certain basic themes which arise in different theories; like the concept of a 'natural' or 'true' self which struggles to emerge against all the pressures and distorting influences of a social environment, or Freud's discoveries which appear in a number of different guises. Thus it is possible, and may be useful, to explore personality theories at the level of these themes in addition to whatever work may go on by way of specific empirical testing of particular theories. This approach is especially relevant in a study which, while respecting the necessary autonomy of the disciplines of psychology and sociology, is designed to raise questions about the relation between them and the possibilities and needs for inter disciplinary study. Personality theories are attempts to construct knowledge of a particularly significant kind-knowledge of what it is to be a human being, with all that this entails in terms of a formative social context-and this makes it imperative to call upon a pre dominantly sociological method of appraisal which derives from the sociology of knowledge, as well as a careful psychological assess ment of the theories. In at least one area, role theories, there is as much work in sociology as in psychology, and as well as providing a fruitful starting point for exploring the relation between the two, it is of sufficient breadth in its implications to pose the even bigger question of the relations between all the social and behavioural disciplines what might be called for the moment, and with admitted postpone ment of issues of definition, 'the human sciences'. The main themes have various characteristics: in some cases a theme has been set going by one man, for example Freud; but in others it may be the kind of intellectual tradition which is not readily identi fied with one man but rather with a group or succession of theorists, for example existentialism and phenomenology. In any case it will be necessary to look at each theme firstly for what it offers as a contri-