Abstract

PACHECO FILHO, Raul Albino. Social Psychology in Brazil: political and epistemological reflections on a fragmented domain. Mental [online]. 2006, vol.4, n.7, pp. 47-66. ISSN 1679-4427.

The fields of knowledge that constitute the territory of Science - as conceived in modernity - historically have had there development associated to the expansion of capitalism. As expected, these fields always contain the marks of contradictions inherent to the structure of this form of social relationships. Specifically in Social Psychology - a fragmented field where multiple theories and approaches compete for the right to speak in the name of Science - advances and retrogressions, legitimate knowledge, and ideology make up the stage for the confrontation of its members. This article discusses the articulations between the scientific and the social fields, considering the relationships between transformations of the Brazilian reality and the production of knowledge in Social Psychology. It is assumed that theoretical and methodological issues extrapolate both, the inner territory of individual approaches and the wider domain of Epistemology, requiring ethical, political, and social element analysis, if they are to be clarified. Specific relevant features of the production of knowledge in Social Psychology are analyzed, including field fragmentation and issues connected to interdisciplinarity, dogmatism, holism, fractioning of the object of study, autonomy or dependency of fields of knowledge, theory/practice relationships, and commitments among different theories and the different groups that constitute the field of society.

Keywords : Social psychology; Science; Epistemology; Sociology of science; Brazilian reality.

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