Trevor Butt

The construction of self: The public reach into the private sphere

The public/private debate has not been a major feature in recent sociological theory. However, Bailey (2000) has argued for a renewed sociological research programme to focus on the sociological private. He outlines three dimensions of this: intimate relationships, the self and the unconscious. This article seeks to address two of these dimensions, the production of self-theories and unconscious dis-avowal. We extend this theorizing to account for the experience of sexual engagement, and present a discourse analysis of the diaries of the comedian and actor Kenneth Williams (1928-1988). Drawing principally on the thought of Merleau-Ponty (1962) we argue that our analysis demonstrates the importance of a pre-reflective engagement with the social world that is then reflected on in internal dialogue. We show how discourse analysis may be used to demonstrate the dis-cursive production of a self-theory and the role of such a self-theory in the dis-avowal of the principals pre-reflective engagement with others.

A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Investigation of the Construction of Sadomasochistic Identities

Plummer (1995) argues that we are living in a time of ‘new sexual stories’. This, combined with arguments that we are seeing the advent of the ‘sexual citizen’, who refuses to be marginalized on account of his or her sexuality, produces new sexual subjectivities that demand recognition and respect. In this article, we report on an investigation of a sexual story that is not new in itself but one that is yet to be fully explicated. This story is one involving dominance and submission. A hermeneutic phenomenological analysis (Ricoeur, 1981) of World Wide Web sites concerned with sadomasochism was conducted to examine the discursive resources drawn on in this paradoxical world. The findings are discussed in relation to the ‘transformation of intimacy’ (Giddens, 1992) and rise of the ‘sexual citizen’ in late modernity.

THE EROTIC CONSTRUCTION OF POWER EXCHANGE

Plummer (1995) has identified a number of new sexual stories that characterize erotic life in late modern societies. He notes a number of such scripts emerging and flourishing between 1970 and 1990, speculating that sadomasochistic stories might be in the ascendant at the turn of century. However, Langdridge and Butt (2004) find little evidence of the emergence of a coherent sadomasochistic identity. They contend that the transgressive nature of the sexual in sadomasochism makes it difficult for participants in such practices to achieve legitimate “sexual citizenship” (Weeks, 1998). In this article, we note the emergence of an alternative construction of sadomasochistic practices; one that emphasises the erotic exchange of power. This illustrates both personal and social moments in the construction of erotic life.

Sociality, role, and embodiment

Abstract The author critically reviews Kellys concepts of ‘role’ and sociality, which are seen as central to the project of personal construct psychology. ‘Construing the constructions’ of the other conjures us a picture of putting ourselves in the position of the other through an act of imagination, that is subsequently followed by action. It is argued here that this is not always (or even often) an appropriate description of what happens when we understand another person. Drawing on Merleau-Pontys (1962) existential phenomenology, the author elaborates an alternative version of construing others constructions. In this model, playing a role with another involves all the persons processes, without giving undue emphasis to the cognitive functions of deliberation and imagination. The clinical implications of this formulation are examined.

“Can't Really Trust That, So What Can I Trust?”: A Polyvocal, Qualitative Analysis of the Psychology of Mistrust

This paper describes an experiment in carrying out, as a group, a phenomenological analysis of a qualitative interview on the topic of mistrust. One in-depth interview was analyzed phenomenologically by each of the six members of our group. We then shared and discussed our individual analyses to generate a consensual analysis. Finally, additional or divergent perspectives were offered by individual group members to add further contextual and reflexive dimensions. We consider what we gained from this exercise and the difficulties encountered. We also reflect on the insights into the topic of mistrust produced by our analyses.

Personal construct psychology methods for qualitative research

Personal construct psychology (PCP) has always been better known for its methods than its theory, but many researchers are not aware of the range of qualitative methods offered by a PCP approach. We argue that PCP methods have been overlooked as tools for the qualitative researcher and that they satisfy some key requirements of much qualitative research, such as the capacity to provide in-depth insight into personal experience, to establish a ‘democratic’ relationship between researcher and participants and to represent the participant’s ‘voice’. We illustrate several of these methods, drawing on research examples. We show how they enable participants to articulate their experience, and how they may be used as part of an in-depth interview. We conclude that Personal Construct methods provide opportunities for qualitative researchers to create innovative ways of researching personal experience.

Social Action and Personal Constructs

Personal construct theory (PCT; Kelly, 1955) had its focus of convenience in psychotherapy, and consequently has been developed as an individualistic approach to the person. However, it has its roots in pragmatism, a movement which had a thorough appreciation of both the individual and the social world. The contention in this article is that PCT has potential as a theory of social action, making a significant contribution to the agency/structure debate. With reference to the work both of Kelly and of contemporary constructivists, it is argued that PCT can be drawn on to complement the pragmatic social psychology of Mead (1934). PCTs conceptualization of choice allows us to theorize personal agency and its relationship to the context of social construction within which it is embedded.

Ordinal relationships between constructs

Abstract The concept of ordination, that is, the hierarchical organization of constructions ranging from more peripheral to more central dimensions of meaning, is examined. The process of laddering is focused on as a technique for accessing superordinate constructs. It is argued that laddering frequently does not produce constructs that qualify as superordinate and that this problem reflects a misconception of construct systems as cognitive entities that control behavior. An alternative understanding of personal construct theory as a theory of social action is advocated as better suited to its central task–helping people to reconstrue their lives. The implications for investigating construing in the light of this interpretation are examined.

The Sexualization of Corporal Punishment: The Construction of Sexual Meaning

Corporal punishment has been increasingly understood in western industrial societies as having a sexual meaning. This article examines alternative interpretive frameworks or discourses of corporal punishment. Three main such discourses are described: the judicial, the comic, and the sexual. The prime focus of the article is the examination of how the sexual discourse has become elaborated, and has intersected with and subverted other discourses. The competing claims for both essentialist and constructionist explanations of this process of sexualization of corporal punishment are critically reviewed. A more adequate account is then outlined comprising the following elements: embodied subjectivity; gendered power relations; the focus on the bottom; practices, representation and pornography; and historical contexts, specifically modernist/postmodernist narratives.

‘It started when I barked once when I was licking his boots!’: a descriptive phenomenological study of the everyday experience of BDSM

Traditionally, psychologists have researched bondage and discipline, dominance and submission, and sadism and masochism (BDSM) and its participants from an external perspective, seeing it as pathology. However, there is now a growing body of research aiming to challenge this perspective. This article examines some of the ways BDSM has been reconceptualised by researchers who reject the pathological focus, distinguishing between transgressive and coercive sexualities. We focus on the lived experience of BDSM participation to further illuminate these sexual practices. A descriptive phenomenological analysis of four interview transcripts was employed, with the purpose of producing a general structural experience of BDSM participation, which aims to further understanding of this complex phenomenon. The essential structures of the BDSM experience are discussed in terms of authentic fantasy, rejection of social norms and non-sexual positive outcomes.