The Person in Social Psychology

Traditional social psychology assumes that the person has an already-existing nature that then becomes subject to the influence of the social environment. The Person in Social Psychology challenges this model, drawing on theories from micro-sociology and contemporary European social psychology to suggest a more ’social’ re-framing of the person. In this book Vivien Burr has provided a radical new agenda for students of social psychology and sociology. Using concepts familiar to the social psychologist, such as norms, roles, demand characteristics and labelling, she argues for an understanding of the person where the social world is not a set of variables that affect a pre-existing individual, but is instead the arena where the person becomes formed.

Vivien Burr is a Principal Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Huddersfield. Her previous publications include Gender and Social Psychology (Routledge 1998) and An Introduction to Social Constructionism (Routledge 1995).