The Case for the Person in Social Psychology

In this paper I will critique a number of approaches to social psychology
because in my view they have an inadequate understanding of the person,
the being who ought to be at the centre of the discipline. I will argue that
both mainstream social psychology and several varieties of social
constructionism are at fault in this respect, and will make a case for
symbolic interactionism as a way of theorising the person that can enrich
and extend a social constructionist social psychology. Finally, I will offer
some ideas for the questions that such a social psychology might ask and the
research directions it might take.