Critical Thought, Institutional Contexts, Normative Projects

A response disputes several criticisms made by Kenneth J. Gergen regarding Kendall & Michael's "Politicizing the Politics of Postmodern Social Psychology" (both, 1997 [see abstracts 9712083 & 9712088]). First, actor-network theory does not reduce persons to autonoma; rather, its prime aim is to account for the emergence of persons within a network. Similarly, it does not draw back from attributing responsibility; rather, it examines how the responsibility of actors (whether they be "bad" decisionmakers or "entrepreneurial" scientists) is established. Contrary to Gergen's view of institutional pressures as occupational hazards, it is important to see these as partially constitutive of academic (postmodern psychological) activity. Finally, while it is agreed that Gergen is correct that all academic "tellings" privilege some form of ontology, this does not warrant an exclusively cultural ontology. 17 References. Adapted from the source document.