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This book positions imagination as a central concept which increases the understanding of daily life, personal life choices, and the way in which culture and society changes. Case studies from micro instances of reverie and daydreaming, to utopian projects, are included and analysed. The theoretical focus is on imagination as a force free from immediate constraints, forming the basis of our individual and collective agency. In each chapter, the authors review and integrate a wide range of classic and contemporary literature culminating in the proposal of a sociocultural model of imagination. The book takes into account the triggers of imagination, the content of imagination, and the outcomes...
What do young people do with the novels they read, the films they see, the music they hear and sing? How do these cultural products act as ‘symbolic resources’ in the process of development? And what can we, as researchers, learn by studying people’s uses of fiction? This monograph approaches development through the study of transitions and the processes of exploration that follow ruptures in people’s lives. Specifically, it examines young people’s symbolic responsibility as they have to choose among the wide range of cultural products societies exposes them to. The book thus examines the books, films and music that young people mobilize when they need to redefine their identity, l...
This book explores psychobiography with focus on meaning making and identity development in the life and works of extraordinary individuals. Meaning-making and identity development are existential constructs influencing psychological development, mental health and wellbeing across the lifecourse. The chapters illustrate through the eyes of 25 international psychobiographers various theoretical and methodological approaches to psychobiography. They explore how individuals, such as Angela Merkel, Karl Lagerfeld, Henri Nouwen, Vivian Maier, Charles Baudelaire, W.E.B. du Bois, Loránt Hegedüs, Kim Philby, Zoltan Paul Dienes, Albertina Sisulu, Ruth First, Sokrates, and Jesus construct their lives to make meaning, develop their identities and grow as individuals within their sociocultural contexts. The texts provide deep insight into life’s development.
Imagination allows individuals and groups to think beyond the here-and-now, to envisage alternatives, to create parallel worlds, and to mentally travel through time. Imagination is both extremely personal (for example, people imagine unique futures for themselves) and deeply social, as our imagination is fed with media and other shared representations. As a result, imagination occupies a central position within the life of mind and society. Expanding the boundaries of disciplinary approaches, the Handbook of Imagination and Culture expertly illustrates this core role of imagination in the development of children, adolescents, adults, and older persons today. Bringing together leading scholar...
This book shows how individuals develop a unique style or 'melody' of living, beyond physical and social constraints.
This brief presents the case study of a hill in Czech Republic (Říp) and its region, and contributes to theorization in sociocultural psychology on three points, along three current debates. First, it contributes to the exploration of the mutual constitution of the lifecourse and of history, uses a distinction between socio-, micro- and ontogenesis, and argues that a focus on a delimited geographical space enables to better observe the processes by which history, daily situated interactions and courses of life shape each other. Second, in doing so, it sketches an understanding of the role of the material, spatial and semiotic specificities of landscapes in human development. Especially, it...
This book brings to social scientists a new look at how human beings are striving towards understanding others-- and through that effort--making sense of themselves. It brings together researchers from all over the World who have suggested a set of new approaches to the basic research issue of how human beings are social beings, while being unique in their personal ways of being. Issues of social representation, communication, dialogical self, and human subjectivity are represented in this book. The book contributes to the contemporary epistemological and ethical debate about the question of otherness, and would be of interest to educationalists, sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists. It is an invitation to the wide readership to join in this collective effort towards the construction of new conceptions about myselfothers relationships that allow for innovative understanding of various social practices and problem solving in society.
It is a commonly held assumption among cultural, social, and political psychologists that imagining the future of societies we live in has the potential to change how we think and act in the world. However little research has been devoted to whether this effect exists in collective imaginations, of social groups, communities and nations, for instance. This book explores the part that imagination and creativity play in the construction of collective futures, and the diversity of outlets in which these are presented, from fiction and cultural symbols to science and technology. The authors discuss this effect in social phenomena such as in intergroup conflict and social change, and focus on several cases studies to illustrate how the imagination of collective futures can guide social and political action. This book brings together theoretical and empirical contributions from cultural, social, and political psychology to offer insight into our constant (re)imagination of the societies in which we live.
Perhaps one of the least appreciated aspects of Rowan Williams is his theology of imagination. Seeking to fill this gap, this book explores the imaginative impulse operative in Rowan Williams’ theology and poetry, which centres around the notion of ‘divine desire’, and the way in which imagination can reveal possibility even in the bleakest of circumstances. Drawing on his poetic work as well as his theological writing, the book explores how Williams’ theology leads us to a fresh understanding of the ways in which the renewing and enabling energy of the Holy Spirit is ever active, within and beyond the Church, in enabling human imaginations to cooperate with the divine energy of love in bringing creation to fulfilment.
Though many psychological theories refer to imagination as a relevant phenomena, we still lack knowledge about imaginative processes. The book “The Method of Imagination” is aimed at expanding the knowledge about imaginative processes as higher mental function, by starting from the empirical and phenomenological studies. The volume is an innovative multidisciplinary exploration in the study of imaginative processes as complex phenomena. It covers a wide range of fields, from psychology to sociology, from art and design to marketing and education. The book gathers young and experienced scholars from 6 different countries worldwide, providing a fresh look into the theoretical, methodological and applicative aspects of imagination studies. The audience for this book includes scholars and students in social and human sciences interested in the study and the use of imaginative processes. The volume can be also used as textbook/integrative reading in undergrad and master courses.