Modernizing the Mind : Psychological Knowledge and the Remaking of Society

When Did Fidgety Children Begin To Suffer From Attention Deficit Disorder? How Did Frightened People Come To Be Called Paranoid? Why Are We Considered To Have Emotional Intelligence And Not Simply Caring Personalities? While Psychological Knowledge Began In The Relative Isolation Of Laboratories And Universities, It Has Since Permeated Various Professions, Institutions, And Everyday Life. Society And Our Conceptions Of Self Have Fundamentally Changed With Psychology's Modernization Of The Mind. Ward Provides A Social And Cultural History Of The Spread Of Psychological Knowledge, Assessing The Way This Proliferation Has Reconfigured Society's Meaning, And The Way People View Themselves And Others. Using Ideas Borrowed From Science And Technology Studies, The Sociology Of Culture, And The Sociology Of Organizations, Ward Examines How American Psychology Established Itself As The Central Purveyor Of Truth About The Mind And Self In The 20th Century. He Examines How Psychology Has Essentially Become Common Knowledge, And His Innovative Account Offers A Novel Theory About The Growth And Influence Of Numerous Different Knowledge Forms. --from Publisher's Description. How Truth Travels : Knowledge, Networks, And The Organization Of Society -- From A Moral Philosophy To A Science : The Struggle To Construct And Defend The New Psychology -- For The Children : The Alliance Of Psychology And Education -- Molding Morals And Minds : Psychology And The Modernization Of Parenting -- Minds, Measures, And Machines : The Materialization Of Psychological Ideas -- A Séance Or A Science? : Psychology And Its Publics -- Psychological Codes Of Civility And The Practice Of Everyday Life -- The Psychologically Examined Life : Issues, Healing, Closure, And The Psychotherapeutic Self -- Conclusiong : The Psychologization Of The United States -- Appendix : A Few Important Dates In The History Of American Psychology. Steven C. Ward. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [243]-274) And Index. Ward provides a careful social and cultural history of the spread of psychological knowledge and an assessment of the way this proliferation has reconfigured the meaning of society and the way people look at themselves and others ONE OF THE WAYS IN WHICH MODERN SOCIETIES HAVE BEEN distinguished from traditional or "premodern" societies is by the particular way in which they organize the production and circulation of knowledge.