Summary
In our previous work we have sketched four social psychological relationships involved in both scientific gatekeeping and the formation of methodological, theoretical and metatheoretical consensuses within a research paradigm. We recently discussed a fifth gatekeeping relationship involving the filtering of scientific information between primary journals and textbook accounts, and the consequent use of the undergraduate teaching relationship to stream disciplinary apprentices. The present study examines how textbooks have helped to define the conceptualization of social psychology as an intellectual, research domain, and have helped to demarcate it as a legitimate academic sub-discipline, shielded from non-mainstream or castaway science. Textbooks from four time-periods are examined: 1908–1935 (pre-professional stage); 1936–1963 (recruitment and expansion stage); 1964–1977 (normal science and crisis phase) and 1978–1991 (post-crisis phase). Results are discussed in terms of consensus formation, conceptual filtering and career gatekeeping, and the conservative versus innovative aspects of scientific progress.
Written, in part, while the author was visiting: GEDISST, IRESCO/CNRS, Paris, France. This paper incorporates ideas and data from previous conference papers (Langlotz & Lubek, 1989; Lubek, 1989; and Lubek & McGuire, 1991), Honours B.A. and M.A. theses (Lavery, 1991; Langlotz, 1989). The author thanks all these collaborators for their assistance, as well as members of the Toronto Interest Group for Epi-Critical Research (T.I.G.E.R.) for their “generative” feedback. All are absolved from any responsibility for supplemental data collection and analyses, conceptual reframings and the final direction of the interpretative reconstructions. The research was supported by SSHRC/RAB grants from the University of Guelph, and by funding from the LaMarsh Commission on Violence.
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Lubek, I. (1993). Social Psychology Textbooks: An Historical and Social Psychological Analysis of Conceptual Filtering, Consensus Formation, Career Gatekeeping and Conservativism in Science. In: Stam, H.J., Mos, L.P., Thorngate, W., Kaplan, B. (eds) Recent Trends in Theoretical Psychology. Recent Research in Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-2746-5_32
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