Harry Kempen
In the 1990s, Kempen and Hubert Hermans developed a new approach in cultural psychology around the concept of the dialogical self. In 1993, they published the seminal work "The dialogical self: Meaning as movement", and published several articles in "American Psychologist", "Journal of Personality" and "Theory & Psychology". Despite their success Kempen suffered from depression. In 2000, he died in Nijmegen four days before his retirement from the Radboud University. At the university he is remembered by as the "personification of cultural psychology."Articles, a selection:
Symbolic interactionism
Symbolic interaction was conceived by George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley. Mead argued that people's selves are social products, but that these selves are also purposive and creative, and believed that the true test of any theory was that it was "useful in solving complex social problems". Mead's influence was said to be so powerful that sociologists regard him as the one "true founder" of the symbolic interactionism tradition. Although Mead taught in a philosophy department, he is best known by sociologists as the teacher who trained a generation of the best minds in their field. Strangely, he never set forth his wide-ranging ideas in a book or systematic treatise. After his death in 1931, his students pulled together class notes and conversations with their mentor and published "Mind, Self and Society" in his name. It is a common misconception that John Dewey was the leader of this sociological theory; according to "The Handbook of Symbolic Interactionism," Mead was undoubtedly the individual who "transformed the inner structure of the theory, moving it to a higher level of theoretical complexity". "Mind, Self and Society" is the book published by Mead's students based on his lectures and teaching, and the title of the book highlights the core concept of social interactionism. "Mind" refers to an individual's ability to use symbols to create meanings for the world around the individual – individuals use language and thought to accomplish this goal. "Self" refers to an individual's ability to reflect on the way that the individual is perceived by others. Finally, "society", according to Mead, is where all of these interactions are taking place. A general description of Mead's compositions portray how outside social structures, classes, and power and abuse affect the advancement of self, personality for gatherings verifiably denied of the ability to characterize themselves.