Introduction to Special Issue on Discursive Psychology

The aim of this special issue is to showcase current research in discursive psychology. It emerged out of a conference panel at the International Conference on Conversation Analysis in 2018, a four-yearly event that was held, in its 5th iteration, at Loughborough University, in the UK. Its origin in this particular conference rather than, say, a British Psychological Society event, is relevant to the aims and approaches of the papers, as they all combine discursive psychology (DP) with conversation analysis (CA), in the tradition established by the “Loughborough School” of social psychology (Stokoe, Hepburn, & Antaki, 2012)

The social organization of representations of history: The textual accomplishment of coming to terms with the past

This article was published in the serial, British Journal of Social Psychology [© British Psychological Society]. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/014466608X349487This paper is concerned with the social organization of collective memory and representations of history in the context of how post-communist democracies reckon with former regimes. It specifically centres on the textual accomplishment of coming to terms with the past in the 'Tismăneanu Report' condemning Communism in Romania. The focus is on how the Report displays and shapes the ideological contours of coming to terms with the past around a particular 'social representation' of history. Several constitutive features of the Report that facilitate bringing off a particular 'representation of history' are identified: (a) the construction of a practical framework for the inquiry as a matter of public concern and attention; (b) the production of 'Communism' as an empirical category with uniquely bound features; and (c) the structuring of time by bringing together a political agenda and national identity. The present argument tries to place representations of history (and coming to terms with the past) as something in need of constitution rather than simply relied on. It is suggested that a conception of coming to terms with the past as a textual accomplishment may lead to a fuller appreciation of the structure, function and salience of representations of history as integral part of moral/political/legal courses of action

Communism and the Meaning of Social Memory: Towards a Critical-Interpretive Approach

This article was published in the journal, Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science [© Springer Verlag] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12124-012-9207-xUsing a case study of representations of communism in Romania, the paper offers a sketch of a critical-interpretive approach for exploring and engaging with the social memory of communism. When one considers the various contemporary appraisals, responses to and positions towards the communist period one identifies and one is obliged to deal with a series of personal and collective moral/political quandaries. In their attempt to bring about historical justice, political elites create a world that conforms more to their needs and desires than to the diversity of meanings of communism, experiences and dilemmas of lay people. This paper argues that one needs to study formal aspects of social memory as well as "lived", often conflicting, attitudinal and mnemonic stances and interpretive frameworks. One needs to strive to find the meaning of the social memory of communism in the sometimes contradictory, paradoxical attitudes and meanings that members of society communicate, endorse and debate. Many of the ethical quandaries and dilemmas of collective memory and recent history can be better understood by describing the discursive and sociocultural processes of meaning-making and meaning-interpretation carried out by members of a polity

Social psychology, history, and the study of the Holocaust: the perils of interdisciplinary “borrowing”

The article offers a critical examination of “borrowing” as a form of interdisciplinary engagement between psychology and history. This is where specific insights from one discipline are used (often selectively) by the other to shed light on a specific problem regarding experience, human motivation, or behavior. Using two studies on the social psychological aspects of the Holocaust as relevant examples, the article highlights some of the epistemological and conceptual tensions implicit in this form of interdisciplinarity. These include the role of narrative and emplotment in historical reconstruction, the relationship between texts and historical context, the role of discourse and interpretation, and the tension between universalism and particularism. The article considers the different ways in which some of these challenges could be overcome in future research, and how one might take the interdisciplinary study of the Holocaust, but also other instances of mass crimes and genocide, beyond selective “borrowing.

Rhetoric of derisive laughter in political debates on the EU

This paper focuses on the argumentative role of derisive laughter in broadcast political debates. Using Discursive Psychology (DP) we analyse how politicians use derisive laughter as an argumentative resource in multi-party interactions, in the form of debates about the UK and the European Union. Specifically, we explore how both pro- and anti-EU politicians use derisive laughter to manage issues of who-knows-what and who-knows-better. We demonstrate the uses of derisive laughter by focusing on two discrete, yet pervasive, interactional phenomena in our data – extended laughter sequences and snorts. We argue that in the context of political debates derisive laughter does more than signal trouble and communicate contempt; it is, more than often, mobilized in the service of ideological argumentation and used as a form of challenge to factual claims

The subtlety of gender stereotypes in the workplace: Current and future directions for research on the glass cliff

Glass cliff effects are context dependent and multiply determined, resulting in mixed evidence and remaining gaps in our understanding of the phenomenon. In this chapter, we review existing evidence about the think crisis-think female association, identifying particular challenges and opportunities that women face as crisis management leaders. We examine how glass cliff research points to three main factors that may attenuate the think male-think manager stereotype in difficult organizational contexts: (1) women's perceived higher communal orientations (stereotype-based explanations), (2) associations of women with organizational transformations (signaling change explanations), and (3) limited ethical standards that expose women to failure (hostile explanations). To better understand these interpretations and identify the specific contexts in which women are likely to emerge as leaders, we call for a theoretical and empirical refinement of current conceptualizations of crises, as well as a more thorough analysis of the many-sided consequences of these associations for women's career

(Re)writing biography: Memory, identity, and textually mediated reality in coming to terms with the past

This paper is concerned with how biography, memory, and identity are managed and displayed in a public confession of having been an informer for the Securitate (the former Romanian Communist Secret Police). Drawing on discursive psychology, the analysis reveals how biographical details are produced by drawing upon categorizations of people, context, and events, and organizationally relevant products such as the ‘‘archive,’’ the (Securitate) ‘‘file,’’ ‘‘information notes,’’ and personal notes. It is suggested that constructions of memory and identity are legitimated through a relationship with an organizational and personal accomplishment of accountability. The question guiding the analysis asks not why, but how remembering assumes the form that it does and how, ultimately, it can connect biography, memory, and identity to the wider ideological context. It is shown that a process of (re)writing biography is located in the ‘‘textual traces’’ contained in personal and ‘‘official’’ records. Recollections, dispositions, intentions, and moral character are intertwined with a textually mediated reality in producing the public record of disclosure, and the personal and political significance of what is remembered

Ideologies of moral exclusion: A critical discursive reframing of depersonalization, delegitimization and dehumanization

This article was published in the serial, British Journal of Social Psychology [© British Psychological Society]. The definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1348/014466607X186894This paper focuses on some of the issues that arise when one treats notions such as depersonalization, delegitimization and dehumanization as social practices. It emphasizes the importance of: (a) understanding depersonalizing, delegitimizing and dehumanizing constructions as embedded in descriptions of located spatial activities and moral standings in the world and (b) invoking and building a socio-moral order linked to notions of lesser humanity or non-humanity, (spatial) transgression and abjection. These concerns are illustrated by taking talk on Romanies as a case in point from interviews with Romanian middle-class professionals. It is argued that a focus on description rather than explanation might be more effective in understanding the dynamics of ideologies of moral exclusion

The construction of ethnic minority identity: A discursive psychological approach to ethnic self-definition in action

This article was published in the journal, Discourse & Society [Sage Publications © The Author(s)] and the definitive version is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0957926510382834The present article intends to examine how ethnic minority group members account for their ethnic identity as part of a series of interviews with young Mapuches on what it means to be Mapuche in contemporary Chilean society. The focus is on the actual accomplishment and display of ethnic self-definition and group identification. We draw on insights from discursive psychology to explore some features of common-sense practical reasoning that ethnic minority group members use to negotiate, self-ascribe or resist a particular sense of identity, and to produce observable and reportable identities. We have a particular interest in illustrating how ethnic self-definition can be seen as the contingent outcome of a practical and interpretive issue for members of society, with a special focus on how ethnic minority identity is constructed through the flexible use of group-defining attributes and characteristics, categories and common-sense categorial knowledge. We suggest that understanding the complex significance and meaning of ethnic self-definition for minority group members is dependent on engaging closely with its occasioned context of production and treating social identities as a feature of how people describe themselves. It is argued that this view of ethnic minority self-definition as a practical and interpretive issue and as a discursive product in action can provide a further contribution to literature of both discursive and intercultural studies of ethnic identification of minority groups, intercultural and interethnic relations