The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Social Psychology

This handbook is the first to bring together the latest theory and research on critical approaches to social psychological challenges. Edited by a leading authority in the field, this volume further establishes critical social psychology as a discipline of study, distinct from mainstream social psychology. The handbook explains how critical approaches to social processes and phenomena are essential to fully understanding them, and covers the main research topics in basic and applied social psychology, including social cognition, identity and social relations, alongside overviews of the main theories and methodologies that underpin critical approaches.

This volume features a range of leading authors working on key social psychological issues, and highlights a commitment to a social psychology which shuns psychologisation, reductionism and neutrality. It provides invaluable insight into many of the most pressing and distressing issues we face in modern society, including the migrant and refugee crises affecting Europe; the devaluing of black lives in the USA; and the poverty, ill-health, and poor mental well-being that has resulted from ever-increasing austerity efforts in the UK. 

Including sections on critical perspectives, critical methodologies, and critical applications, this volume also focuses on issues within social cognition, self and identity. This one-stop handbook is an indispensable resource for a range of academics, students and researchers in the fields of psychology and sociology, and particularly those with an interest in social identity, power relations, and critical interventions.

Brendan Gough is a critical social psychologist and qualitative researcher interested in men and masculinities. Now based at Leeds Beckett University, UK, he has previously worked at Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Leeds and Nottingham Trent University. He has published papers on gender identities and relations, and conducted research funded by a variety of bodies including the Economic and Social Research Council, National Health Service, and the British Psychological Society. He is co-founder and co-editor of the journal Qualitative Research in Psychology; he edits the Critical Psychology section of the journal Social & Personality Psychology Compass, and is Associate Editor for the journal Psychology of Men and Masculinity. He has co-authored and edited six books in the areas of critical social psychology, reflexivity and qualitative research, body image and men's health.