Abstract
Having engaged with the Gergens for all 243 pages of their book, I am convinced that this review should start with a performance. So I will begin by summing up the book’s main theme as I understand it in lyrics to the tune of “Santa Lucia”: Life is precarious,
So
Rationality’s passé
And it must soon give way
To play spontaneous
Often thought of as notorious
BUT
[Chorus] Playing with or without dignity
Is really glorious.
Playing with or without dignity
Is best for all of us!
Pavarotti could have sung this better than I can. But amateurism has the Gergen stamp of approval (almost), so my hoarse version can serve, I hope, to show that with this book Mary Gergen and Kenneth Gergen do evoke uncontrollable “performative” responses.
Much of the rich literature on the nature of performative social science explores the subtleties of research as performance, research by performance, of performances, or in performance (Roberts 2009: 335). Alternatively, some theorists have explored the ideas of life and identity as sets of performances along with what such an understanding means for reconstructing the social sciences altogether (Law and Urry 2010/2004). Playing with Purpose is quite different.
For one thing, it is highly personal even when discussing nuts and bolts. Of its five sections, the four purportedly methodological sections with the attractive headings (Sections II to V) are about the authors’ own advantageous and purposeful “play”: with literary arts, with drama, with visuals, and finally with a medley of arts including sculpture, cartooning, song, and poetry. Although the sections are organized so as to demonstrate a wide variety of possibilities, this is not a methods manual. The sections do not provide instructions for performances. In them, rather, the Gergens describe what they themselves have done, and how they felt when reflecting on performances that were, in retrospect, successes or failures according to criteria of personal affect.
Still, following a pattern about which they have reservations, the authors devote the opening chapter to introducing the four more or less practical sections. In it they explain the topic and elaborate on the main theme. By contrast with those who have written on the complexities of know-how, goals, and contexts of performative social science (Roberts 2009), the Gergens have taken on quite a different mission. Their book can be understood as a verbal performance of how and why they themselves have for years stubbornly gone about doing performances that embody their conceptualization of PSS. The rationale is peppered with anecdotes about the occasions that evoked performances, details about preparing them, and descriptions of outcomes. Ultimately the objective is to convey the message that everyone should be “doing it.”
Despite the word “play” in the title, however, and the relatively informal style, the Gergens take performative social science quite seriously. In this section designed to introduce their interpretation of its bases and its possibilities, they begin directly with a sketch of their personal background. They explain their turn to “performative social science” as an outcome of discontent with the accepted structure of academic psychology and a lively intuition that taking part in shaping messages through the arts promises a kind of salvation.
Stemming, perhaps first and foremost, from an acquaintance with what they consider to be arbitrary barriers to professional advancement, the discontent turns out to have been quite comprehensive. At one point, it was fueled by threats to Mary’s career because very early on she committed herself to streams that were not/are not popular in the eyes of committees on tenure: feminism and amateur-artistic performances. But beyond this, the authors felt that the traditional obligatory (positivistic) methods taught at universities were restrictive, as were the kinds of topics that had to be investigated. The limitations on creativity peaked, to their minds, in what they see as the necessarily dry, mechanical texts demanded by journals—texts which they claim have little meaning for people’s lives. Although their academic careers did succeed after all, they insist that their most important projects have been performances that hold out hope of curing academic restraints. PSS interpreted as “playing with purpose” is presented as the best means for realizing the multi-faceted promise of psychology.
In the view of the Gergens, performative social science indicates “new ways of knowing” (p. 48ff.), inspires professional engagement (p. 49), builds community, and sustains the creative impulse (p. 50ff.). This is possible because PSS helps the performing scientist “beware [the catastrophic paralysis of frozen] truth and method” (p. 50). A central point is that PSS is a means for expanding the audience of psychology and sociology beyond the usual strait-laced professional public. Thus, the expansion of PSS will encourage varied communities to engage with what the social sciences have to offer. Such engagement is significant, to their minds, in more ways than one, for “a performative social science invites dialogue between society and science, but also within society itself” (p. 53). In the final pages of Section I (pp. 51–55), the Gergens insist that performance as play can/will change the relationship of “social science and society.” They present PSS as no less than a means to foster social change and to revitalize society as a whole (pp. 54–55). In succeeding sections, Mary Gergen reinforces this perception, by asserting that partisanship of performances is more effective than scientific approaches or even demonstrations for a psychologist committed to the betterment of society.
This book is an honest performance and throughout the volume, the authors show convincingly that they find fulfillment in PPS and believe in what they are doing. Furthermore, the book is written with a light touch and makes for a fun read. But when all is said and done, what the book achieves overall is admit us to the experiments in performance of two interesting academics, who, on their part, see connections between their admittedly unprofessional forays into self-expression before audiences and the advancement of science. It was interesting to get to know them as they perform themselves in writing. Their passion for artistic performances as devices for reaching professional and non-professional audiences is, furthermore, impressive as a set of sophisticated devices to enhance social science education. As described in the book, which is written as a complicated duet with occasional solos, the Gergens’ passion will undoubtedly inspire others. It is possible, too, that if they allow themselves to perform, and even to fail as performers, some of those other social scientists will hit upon new insights. Perhaps, in turn, they will ultimately be able to show more clearly why amateurs playing at and even in art are contributing to either social change or scientific progress, or both!