Phenomenology and Critical Social Psychology: Directions and Debates in Theory and Research

Abstract

There has been significant growth in critical approaches to social psychology in recent years. Phenomenological, discursive and psychoanalytically informed perspectives, amongst others, have become increasingly popular alternatives to 'mainstream' cognitive social psychology. This paper describes the fundamental philosophy and methodology underpinning phenomenological psychology along with discussion of a number of key issues in qualitative research in social psychology. In particular, I discuss the role of interpretation, the turn to language and need for political engagement within critical social psychology. More recently, there has been a growth in phenomenologically informed narrative theories and methodologies and in this paper I introduce my own development of a critical narrative analysis. In the process I discuss some of the most pressing debates about research within the phenomenological tradition and provide rebuttals, solutions and possible future directions for phenomenological theory and research that may lead to yet greater recognition for this social psychological perspective.

Dadirri: Using a Philosophical Approach to Research to Build Trust between a Non-Indigenous Researcher and Indigenous Participants

“…However, the aim of the current study was to do more with the data than just "describe things in their appearing" (Langdridge 2008(Langdridge , p. 1135, as this seemed to offer little potential for critique or possibility for re-conceptualising the phenomenon being studied (Habermas 1971). As already explained, the intention to appraise the status quo and suggest reforms was a key research objective.…”

“…Thus a critical 'lens' for viewing and interpreting the thoughts and situations of the athletes was adopted. Such an approach is described by Langdridge (2008) as interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). The methodology has clear synergies with participants' personal world, to take an 'insider's perspective', but could hardly do this directly or completely (Tuhiwai-Smith 2003).…”

“…The participants were trying to make sense of their world; the researcher was trying to make sense of the participants' attempts to make sense of this world. Using IPA, the words of the participants in this study were viewed with both critical empathy and critical inquiry (Langdridge, 2008).…”

Introducing postphenomenological research: a brief and selective sketch of phenomenological research methods

“…This is a major problem, Coeckelbergh (2015, np) argues, because language matters: 'It matters for instance if someone uses the word "robots" or "machines" as opposed to "assistive device"'. This critique undoubtedly hits a sore point: Issues raised by discursive psychology have long been lurking in the shadows of phenomenological research (Langdridge 2008) 4 . According to Coeckelbergh (2015), there are two ways to resolve this problem: One route returns to hermeneutic phenomenology where language is seen as constitutive of experience, while the other starts from postphenomenology and sees language as semiotically mediating experience.…”

Lærerstudenten som frafallen leser - Om litteraturens fremtid i norsk skole

“…I fortolkningen av historiene lette vi etter konflikter og motsigelser i utviklingen av den leseropplevelsen som studentene beskrev (Langdridge, 2008). Vi gikk for eksempel ut fra at det å skulle skrive lesehistoriene ville Vol.…”