EVALUATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC PHILOSOPHY OF SOCIAL IDENTITY APPROACH FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF POSITIVISM, SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM AND CRITICAL REALISM

Yıl 2019, Sayı: 28, 405 - 420, 29.12.2019

Serap Akfırat

Öz

This study discusses the scientific philosophy (i.e. the ontological and
epistemological outlook) of the social identity approach. Social psychology was
dominated by positivism for a longtime. In 1970’s during “the period of crisis” in the
discipline, main objective of social psychology, its assumptions and methods were
questioned. Owing to these debates, the social constructivist approach that
epistemologically and ontologically differentiated itself from the positivistic
approach. Concurrently, along with Tajfel’s Social Identity Theory and later
Turner’s Self Categorization Theory (1987), groups and group processes came to
occupy a place in social psychology that represent an alternative to the dominant
positivist approach’s individualistic analysis level. In this study the concepts of
ontology and epistemology are introduced, then the respective ontological and
epistemological approaches of positivistic, social constructionist and critical
realistic science philosophies. The basic premises of the social identity approach are
discussed in terms of the ontological and epistemological stands of positivism, social
constructionism and critical realism currents. 

Anahtar Kelimeler

Social identity approach, critical realism, social constructivism, positivism

SOSYAL KİMLİK YAKLAŞIMININ BİLİM FELSEFESİNİN POZİTİVİZM, SOSYAL İNŞACILIK VE ELEŞTİREL GERÇEKÇİLİK AÇISINDAN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

Öz

Bu
çalışmada, 1970’lerden itibaren grup süreçlerini ve sosyal kimlikleri
açıklamaya yönelen, o tarihten bu yana gruplar arası çatışmalardan önyargıya,
kolektif eylemlerden liderliğe, oldukça geniş bir yelpazede yer alan sosyal
psikolojik kavram ve olgu üzerine çok sayıda çalışmaya temel olan Sosyal Kimlik
Kuramı’nın (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel ve Turner, 1979; Turner ve ark., 1987)  bilim felsefesi (ontolojik-epistemolojik
yaklaşımı) tartışılmaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, çalışmanın ilk bölümünde ontoloji
ve epistemoloji kavramları tanımlanmakta; ikinci bölümde pozitivist, sosyal
inşacı ve eleştirel gerçekçi bilim felsefelerinin ontolojik ve epistemolojik
yaklaşımları sunulmakta; üçüncü bölümde Sosyal Kimlik Kuramı’nın temel
varsayımları pozitivizm, sosyal inşacılık ve eleştirel gerçekçilik akımlarının
ontolojik ve epistemolojik yaklaşımları çerçevesinde değerlendirilmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

sosyal kimlik yaklaşımı, eleştirel gerçekçilik, sosyal inşacılık, pozitivizm

Kaynakça

• Abell, J., Condor, S., & Stevenson, C. (2006). ‘We are an island’: Geographical imagery in accounts of citizenship, civil society, and national İdentity in Scotland and in England. Political Psychology, 27, 207–226.
• Archer, M.S., Bhaskar, R., Collier, A., Lawson, T. & Norrie, A. (Eds) (1998). Critical realism: Essential readings. London: Routledge.
• Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The social construction of reality: A Treatise in the sociology of knowledge. NY: Anchor Books.
• Bhaskar, R. (1997). A realist theory of science. London: Routledge.
• Collier, A. (1994). Critical realism: An introduction to the philosophy of Roy Bhaskar. London: Verso.
• Cevizci, A. (2010). Bilgi felsefesi. İstanbul: Say Yayınları
• Çotuksöken, B. (2010). Bilgi felsefesi. İstanbul: Heyamola Yayınları.
• Fleetwood, S. (2014). Bhaskar and critical realism. In Adler, P., Du Gay, P., Morgan, G. and Reed, M., eds, pp. 182-219). Oxford Handbook of Sociology, Social Theory and Organisation Studies: Contemporary Currents. Oxford: Oxford University Press, http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/26526
• Fleetwood, S. (2009) The ontology of things, powers and properties. Journal of Critical Realism, 8 (3). http://eprints.uwe.ac.uk/15967
• Friedman, M. (1999). Reconsidering logical positivism. London: Cambridge University Press.
• Gergen, K.J. (1994). Realities and relationships. Cambridge: Harward University Press.
• Gergen, K.J. (1998).Constructionism and realism. In I. Parker (Ed.), Social constructionism, discourse and realism (pp. 147-156). London: Sage.
• Greenwood, J.D. (1992a). Realism, empiricism, and social constructionism: psychological theory and the social dimensions of mind and action. Theory and Psychology, 2,131-151.
• Greenwood, J.D. (1992b). Realism, relativism, and rhetoric: reply to Harré, Parrot, Potter, and Shotter. Theory and Psychology, 2, 183-192.
• Harre, R. (1992). What is real in psychology. Theory and Psychology, 2, 153-158.
• Hartmann, N. (1998). Ontolojinin ışığında bilgi, (Çev. Harun Tepe). Ankara: Türkiye Felsefe Kurumu
• Haslam, S.A., & Platow, M.J. (2001). The link between leadership and followership: How affirming social identity translates vision into action. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1469–1479. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/01461672012711008.
• Haslam, S.A., Reicher, S.D., & Platow, M.J. (2011). The new psychology of leadership: Identity, influence and power. London: Psychology Press.
• Haslam, S.A., Turner, C.J., Oakes, P.J., McGarty, C., & Reynolds, K.J. (1998). The group as a basis for emergent stereotype consensus. European Review of Social Psychology, 22, 251-278.
• Hibberd, F. J. (2005). Unfolding social constructionism. New York: Springer.
• Joseph, J. (2001). Eleştirel gerçekçiliğin Marksizme faydalı olabileceği beş nokta. Praksis, 1, 149-170.
• Kitchener, R. F. (2004). Logical positivism, naturalistic epistemology, and the foundations of psychology. Behavior and Philosophy, 32 (1), 37 – 54.
• Oakes, P.J., Haslam, S.A, & Turner J.C. (1994). Stereotyping and social reality. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
• Parker, I. (1989) The crisis in modern social psychology, and how to end it. London: Sage
• Potter, J. (1992). Constructing realism: Seven moves. Theory and Psychology, 2, 167-173.
• Potter, J. (1996). Representing reality: Discourse, rhetoric and social construction. London: Sage.
• Potter, J. (1998). Fragments in the realisation of relativism. In I. Parker (Ed.), Social constructionism, discourse and realism (pp. 27-46). London: Sage.
• Reicher, S.D., Haslam, S.A., & Hopkins, N. (2005). Social identity and the dynamics of leadership: Leaders and followers as collaborative agents in the transformation of social reality. The Leadership Quarterly, 16, 547–568.
• Reicher, S., & Hopkins, N. (2001). Self and nation. London: Sage.
• Shotter, P. (1992). Social constructionism and realism: Adaquecy or accuracy? Theory and Psychology, 2, 175-182.
• Steup, M. (2016). Epistemology. In Edward N. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. URL=<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2016/entries/epistemology/>.
• Tajfel, H. (1978). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations. London: Academic Press.
• Tajfel, H. & J.C. Turner (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict.In Austin and Worchel (ed.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33-47). Monterey: Brooks Cole.
• Tajfel, H., & Turner, J.C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behaviour. In S. Worchel and W. G. Austin (Eds.), Psychology of Intergroup Relations (pp. 7–24). Chicago, IL: Nelson-Hall.
• Tepe, H. (1998). Platon’dan Habermas'a felsefede doğruluk ya da hakikat. Ankara: Türkiye Felsefe Kurumu Yay.
• Turner, J.C. (2005). Explaining the nature of power. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35(1), 1 – 22. DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.244
• Turner, J.C. (1985). Social categorization and the self-concept: A cognitive theory of group behaviour. In E. J. Lawler (Ed.), Advances in group processes. Greenwich CT US: JAI Press.
• Turner, J.C., & Haslam, S.A. (2001). Social identity, organizations, and leadership. In M.E. Turner (Ed.), Groups at work: Theory and research (pp. 25–65). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
• Turner, J.C., Hogg, M.A., Oakes, P.J., Reicher, S.D., & Wetherell, M.S. (1987). Rediscovering the social group. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
• Wallwork, J., & Dixon, J. A. (2004). Foxes, green fields and Britishness: On the rhetorical construction of place and national identity. British Journal of Social Psychology, 43(1), 21-39.