Lectures and seminars on societal psychology

Dear student!

In autumn term 2015/2016, visiting professor Wolfgang Wagner from University of Linz (Austria) is teaching at the Institute of Social Studies.

Professor Wagner is an internationally renowned social psychologist whose numerous publications focus on social and cultural changes, public perception of science, social identities and stereotypes, etc. See more, e.g., on http://www.swp.jku.at/en/team/wagner

He will teach two courses: a lecture course “Social and societal psychology” (SHUH06.007) which is appropriate for students of all levels and specialties, and a seminar course “Social Representation Theory: Implications and Applications” (SHUH06.006) for master and doctoral students.

The courses will take place in English. Registration is already open.

Below is a short overview of each course (see more in SIS or write [email protected]).

SHUH06.007 “Social and Societal Psychology” (3 ECP)

The course will provide an introduction to different approaches in social psychology. In order to develop a feeling for the ways in which culture and society shape how people think, behave and relate to each other, the lectures will approaches that study how societies "think", how groups and communities develop a sense of identity and prejudice against others and how they represent controversial and politically topical issues affecting local and global public spheres.

The following topics will be discussed:

* psycho-archaeological view on how human cultures came into being
* socio-ontogenetic and personality processes in a traditional social psychology approach
* language and discourse
* belief, knowledge and social representations
* collective symbolic coping with new technology
* details of social construction processes
* thinking within and about groups
* moral and ethical aspects in culture
* scenarios of cultural and societal collapse, all involving failures to mentally adapt to changing conditions.

Schedule: Thursday 16.15-18.00, academic weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12.

SHUH 06.006 “Social Representation Theory: Implications and Applications” (3 ECP)

Social Representation Theory (SRT) is a generic theoretical and methodological approach located between sociology, and cultural and social psychology, and spanning different research foci and various empirical approaches. Communication processes, action and meaning making are studied in different fields and on different levels from individuals and groups to whole societies, stressing the role of group membership, behaviour and discursive action, historical conditions and communication in their formation.

The aim of the course is to support student thinking in the mentioned fields and to give them an understanding of what SRT as conceptual framework would mean for their own research. In other words, the course will give the students a taste of what are the theoretical implications and empirical applications of the social representation approach for different kinds of study. The participating students’ own research or other topics of interest will be used as examples. The students will be asked to prepare presentations and critical thoughts based on relevant papers and books will be either related to their own research related or more theoretically oriented.

Schedule: Thursday 12.15-14.00, weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12.