Cultural Psychology : A Perspective on Psychological Functioning and Social Reform

Carl Ratner's new book deepens our understanding of psychology by emphasizing the role that cultural factors, such as social institutions, artifacts, and cultural concepts play in psychological functioning. The author demonstrates the impact of culture on stimulating and structuring emotion, personality, perception, cognition, memory, sexuality, and mental illness. Examples from interdisciplinary social science research illuminate a sophisticated dialectical relationship between cultural factors and psychological phenomena. Written in an engaging and straightforward style, the book articulates a new theory, "macro cultural psychology", and a qualitative methodology for investigating the cultural origins, characteristics, and functions of psychological phenomena. The theory is grounded in Vygotsky's cultural-historical psychology. Ratner explains how this cultural perspective can be used to enhance psychological growth and illuminate directions for social reform. He explains how social reform can enhance psychological functioning, and vice versa. The theory explains how and why psychological phenomena are organized in macro cultural factors. This analysis contributes to multicultural understanding and communication. Cultural Psychology critically examines several prominent psychological approaches including social constructionism, feminism, hermeneutics, psychobiology, evolutionary, cross-cultural, ecological and mainstream psychology. The book articulates a theory of macro culture that emphasizes the political dimension of culture and psychology. A critical realist philosophy of science for macro cultural psychology is also articulated. Intended for student, researchers, and practitioners in psychology, education, psychotherapy, history, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, philosophy of science, and policy makers and practitioners in public health and social service who are interested in understanding cultural aspects of psychology. The book is an appropriate text for courses in social psychology, cross-cultural psychology, community psychology, social work, social theory, philosophy and methodology of social science, and critical thinking.