Mary Gergen

Gender/psychology/feminism: Finding Connections in Cross-currents

Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1991, Vol 36(5), 390–391. Reviews the books, Subjectivity and Method in Psychology: Gender, Meaning and Science by Wendy Hollway (see record 1989-98238-000) and Significant Differences: Feminism in Psychology by Corinne Squire (see record 1989-98345-000). Squires book is a volume in a “critical” (usually Marxist-oriented) psychology series. Her ideal feminist psychology would work toward a unification of these questions and concepts derived from deconstructionism, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and the historical work of Foucault with those in the present discipline of psychology. Hollway writes from the same family of interests, values, and intellectual ancestry as Squire. For both Hollway and Squire, subjectivity becomes not an individuals private state (as psychologists traditionally view it), but “a product of positions in a potentially infinite number of discourses and related practices.” For the U.S. reader, these books serve similar critical purposes. Whereas Squires book takes the lead in this regard, Hollways book offers options for doing research, especially for analyzing verbal material. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)

Seasoned Santrock: Grit with the Oyster.

Originally published in Contemporary Psychology: APA Review of Books, 1986, Vol 31(8), 620. Reviews the book, Adult Development and Aging by John W. Santrock (1985). Seasoned textbook writer John Santrock has added another notch to his belt in the recent publication of Adult Development and Aging. A