Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

[Micko]

Floridaorange mentioned to me he likes a good read of anything society/psychology based. I thought it might be a good idea to start a thread asking for recommendations from you clever bunch

[Micko]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

As as an excellent start, Alain De Botton - Status Anxiety

Described as "This is a book about an almost universal anxiety that rarely gets mentioned directly: an anxiety about what others think of us; about whether we're judged a success or a failure, a winner or a loser. This is a book about status anxiety.

We care about our status for a simple reason: because most people tend to be nice to us according to the amount of status we have (it is no coincidence that the first question we tend to be asked by new acquaintances is ‘ What do you do?’). With the help of philosophers, artists and writers, the book examines the origins of status anxiety (ranging from the consequences of the French Revolution to our secret dismay at the success of our friends), before revealing ingenious ways in which people have learnt to overcome their worries in their search for happiness..."

[Micko]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

Also really enjoyed by Alain De Botton

The Consolations of Philosophy

Described as "In Ancient Greece or Rome, philosophers were seen as natural authorities on the most pressing questions. However, since then, the idea of finding wisdom from philosophy has come to seem bizarre. The Consolations of Philosophy sets out to refute the notion that good philosophy must be irrelevant and gathers together six great philosophers who were convinced of the power of philosophical insight to work a practical effect on our lives. Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche are read for the light their work can shine on certain great universal problems, among them, unpopularity, poverty, inadequacy, lovelessness and timidity. The book amounts to a guide to wisdom - as well as to the practical utility of philosophy."

[feather]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

Unfortunately all I have to offer is Alain de Botton as well. He's written stuff like the Architecture of Happiness and the like which are quite fascinating. But I don't know how credible they are or if this is considered pop psychology.

[Micko]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

Unfortunately all I have to offer is Alain de Botton as well. He's written stuff like the Architecture of Happiness and the like which are quite fascinating. But I don't know how credible they are or if this is considered pop psychology.

Probably an element of pop psychology, but excellent all the same

[floridaorange]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

Watched the documentary hosted by De Botton regarding Status Anxiety...highly recommended

[Kat]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

this is an amazing book, you may need to read it twice to really get the point but its worth it


Mind Self and Society
from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist
Table of Contents
from
George H. Mead


Table of Contents

Table of Contents | Next

Part I: The Point of View of Social Behaviorism

1. Social Psychology and Behaviorism
2. The Behavioristic Significance of Attitudes
3. The Behavioristic Significance of Gestures
4. Rise of Parallelism in Psychology
5. Parallelism and the Ambiguity of "Consciousness"
6. The Program of Behaviorism

Part II: Mind

1. Wundt and the Concept of the Gesture
2. Imitation and the Origin of Language
3. The Vocal Gesture and the Significant Symbol
4. Thought, Communication and the Significant Symbol
5. Meaning
6. Universality
7. The Nature of Reflective Intelligence
8. Behaviorism, Watsonism, and Reflection
9. Behaviorism and Psychological Parallelism
10. Mind and the Symbol
11. The Relation of Mind to Response and Environment

Part III: The Self

1. The Self and the Organism
2. The Background of the Genesis of the Self
3. Play, the Game, and the Generalized Other
4. The Self and the Subjective
5. The "I" and the "Me"
6. Social Attitudes and the Physical World
7. Mind as the Individual Importation of the Social Process
8. The "I" and the "Me" as Phases of the Self
9. The Realization of the Self in the Social Situation
10. The Contribution of the "Me" and the "I"
11. The Social Creativity of the Emergent Self
12. A Contrast of Individualistic and Social Theories of the Self

Part IV: Society

1. The Basis of Human Society: Man and the Insects
2. The Basis of Human Society: Man and the Vertebrates
3. Organism, Community, and Environment
4. The Social Foundations and Functions of Thought and Communication
5. The Community and the Institution
6. The Fusion of the "I" and the "Me" in Social Activities
7. Democracy and Universality in Society
8. Further Consideration of Religious and Economic Attitudes
9. The Nature of Sympathy
10. Conflict and Integration
11. The Functions of Personality and Reason in Social Organization
12. Obstacles and Promises in Social Organization
13. Summary and Conclusion

Supplementary Essays

1. The Function of Imagery in Conduct
2. The Biologic Individual
3. The Self and the Process of Reflection
4. Fragments on Ethics

[floridaorange]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

^Nice! Covered all of that good stuff in university

[Kat]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

anything from this guy especially
The Art of Loving

[floridaorange]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

^Have his books... good reads

[Kat]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

i'd recomend EVERYTHING from
Margaret Mead

when you start to read her stuff your view of life changes forever, i promise amazing amazing discoveries, especially in Coming of Age in Samoa

[Kat]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

^Have his books... good reads

we have like 3 months wait list in a library to get his books lol

[runningman]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

eldon taylor
Mind Programming

[etincelles]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

....

[pdowney]

Re: Society / psychology based books - let's have your suggestions

By Steven Pinker: The Stuff of Thought, How the Mind Works and The Blank Slate.

Judith Rich Harris - The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out The Way They Do