Self and society : narcissism, collectivism, and the development of morals

The relation between individual and collective processes is central to the social sciences, yet difficult to conceptualize because of the necessity of crossing disciplinary boundaries. The result is that researchers in different disciplines construct their own implicit, and often unsatisfactory, models of either individual or collective phenomena, which in turn influence their theoretical and empirical work. In this book, Drew Westen attempts to cross these boundaries, proposing an interdisciplinary approach to personality, to culture, and to the relation between the two. Part I of the book sets forth a model of personality that integrates psychodynamic analysis with an understanding of cognitively mediated conditioning and social learning. In Part II, Westen offers a view of culture that blends symbolic and materialist modes of discourse, examining the role of both ideals and 'material' needs in motivating symbolic as well as concrete social structural processes. In Part III, he combines these models of personality and culture through an examination of cultural evolution and stasis, identity and historical change, and the impact of technological development on personality. Throughout the book, Westen provides reviews of the state of the art in a variety of fields, including personality theory, moral development, ego development, and culture theory. He also addresses and recasts central issues in psychology, sociology, anthropology, and social theory, such as the relations between emotion and cognition; social learning and psychodynamics; ideals and material forces; and individual and collective action. His book will appeal to students and scholars in all the social sciences, as well as to any reader concerned with understanding the relation between individuals and the world in which they live. Library Journal Westen proposes to combine the ``traditionally distinct'' psychological and sociocultural theories into a more heuristic and congruent schema. Focusing on the theories of behavior and psychic dynamics, as well as the more complex area of morality, he presents the views of Freud, Skinner, and existential psychologists. He then deals, in broad outlines, with the approaches of anthropology and sociology. Finally, he explores the interrelationships between culture and personality and delves into the ``psychodynamics of modernization.'' Arguing that ``self is an inherent aspect of modernization,'' Westen offers the nonspecialist a goodthough not exhaustiveoverview of the fields of personality and social theory. A comprehensive bibliography is included. Winifred Lambrecht, Anthropology Dept., Brown Univ., Providence, R.I. The relation between individual and collective processes is central to the social sciences, yet difficult to conceptualize because of the necessity of crossing disciplinary boundaries. The result is that researchers in different disciplines construct their own implicit, and often unsatisfactory, models of either individual or collective phenomena, which in turn influence their theoretical and empirical work. In this 1985 book, Drew Westen attempts to cross these boundaries, proposing an interdisciplinary approach to personality, to culture, and to the relation between the two. Throughout the book, Westen provides reviews of a variety of fields, including personality theory, moral development, ego development, and culture theory. His book will appeal to students and scholars in all the social sciences, as well as to any reader concerned with understanding the relation between individuals and the world in which they live.