TY - JOUR

T1 - Culture in psychology

T2 - Perennial problems and the contemporary methodological crisis

AU - Mironenko, I.A.

AU - Sorokin, P.S.

PY - 2015

Y1 - 2015

N2 - This article begins by discussing the origins of the methodological crisis in psychology. In the literature the idea of a permanent methodological crisis in psychology, lasting since the 1890s, dominates. We contest this view and argue that the contemporary methodological problems in psychology should be considered within the context of the novel and larger crisis challenging all socio-humanitarian knowledge in the face of the transformations in social reality in recent decades. The nature of these transformations and their implications for the theory and methodology of the socio-humanitarian sciences are analyzed by drawing on the sociological literature, which is more sensitive to changes in social life than is psychology.Prominent sociologists argue that the "old" theories and interpretations of the "social" are no longer relevant in the new, highly complex, and globally unstable reality; this new reality has largely transformed the dimensions of human beings' existence. Meanwhile psychology still tends to comprehend the universal nature of the human. This position undermines the relevance of both psychology's theoretical models and the practical implications derived from these methodological assumptions.We argue for revision of the perennial psychological problem of the biology-culture interaction in human nature. To resolve the contemporary methodological crisis in psychology, a shift is needed from theories of universal and immutable human nature to the idea of the human as an infinitely changing creature. Because culture is, primarily, the ability to change, wherein the speed and extent of changes are unique for humans, distinguishing them from other living beings.

AB - This article begins by discussing the origins of the methodological crisis in psychology. In the literature the idea of a permanent methodological crisis in psychology, lasting since the 1890s, dominates. We contest this view and argue that the contemporary methodological problems in psychology should be considered within the context of the novel and larger crisis challenging all socio-humanitarian knowledge in the face of the transformations in social reality in recent decades. The nature of these transformations and their implications for the theory and methodology of the socio-humanitarian sciences are analyzed by drawing on the sociological literature, which is more sensitive to changes in social life than is psychology.Prominent sociologists argue that the "old" theories and interpretations of the "social" are no longer relevant in the new, highly complex, and globally unstable reality; this new reality has largely transformed the dimensions of human beings' existence. Meanwhile psychology still tends to comprehend the universal nature of the human. This position undermines the relevance of both psychology's theoretical models and the practical implications derived from these methodological assumptions.We argue for revision of the perennial psychological problem of the biology-culture interaction in human nature. To resolve the contemporary methodological crisis in psychology, a shift is needed from theories of universal and immutable human nature to the idea of the human as an infinitely changing creature. Because culture is, primarily, the ability to change, wherein the speed and extent of changes are unique for humans, distinguishing them from other living beings.

KW - methodological crisis

KW - general crisis of socio-humanitarian sciences

KW - crisis in sociology

KW - social reality

KW - social transformations

KW - biosocial problem

KW - human nature

KW - SOCIOLOGY

KW - SCIENCE

KW - FRAGMENTATION

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84954424149&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.11621/pir.2015.0403

DO - 10.11621/pir.2015.0403

M3 - статья

VL - 8

SP - 35

EP - 45

JO - Psychology in Russia: State of the Art

JF - Psychology in Russia: State of the Art

SN - 2074-6857

IS - 4

ER -