Table of Contents

Notes on contributors
Preface
What's wrong with social constructionism?

/f002Part one: A critical analysis of theory

Critical reflexive humanism and critical constructionist psychology
Beyond appearances
a critical realist approach to social constructionist work
A paradigm shift? connections with other critiques of social constructionism

/f002Part two: Materiality and embodiment

Between the dark and the light
power and the material contexts of social relations
"Discourse or materiality?"
impure alternatives for recurrent debates
Discourse and the embodied person
The extra-discursive in social constructionism
Realism, constructionism and phenomenology
Taking our selves seriously

/f002Part three: A critical analysis of practice

Whose construction? points from a feminist perspective
Social constructionism
implications for psychotherapeutic practice
That's all very well, but what use is it?
Conclusion
reconstructing social constructionism
Glossary
Index.

About the Author

David J. Nightingale teaches critical psychology in the Department of Psychology at Bolton Institute. His research is concerned with the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of social constructionism and critical psychology. He has published work on understanding and practising critical psychology, the teaching of social constructionism, the philosophy of social constructionism, and the body.

John Cromby teaches psychology in the Department of Interdisciplinary Human Studies at the University of Bradford. He previously worked as a researcher in medical settings, including learning disabilities and drug addiction. His research has been concerned with issues of self, identity and subjectivity, and with educational applications of 'virtual reality' computer systems.