Abstract
The title of Mary and Kenneth Gergen’s account of performative social science, Playing with Purpose, sets the tone for this complex and thought-provoking work, which both asserts that play might be purposeful, and challenges the idea that we should take ‘purpose’ seriously. Written in order to ‘outline some of the major ways’ (p. 13) in which a performative approach might enrich and expand the potential of social science, this book is partly a research methods guide on how to employ such things as duographic writing, photography and sculpture, and partly a history of the Gergens’ romantic and intellectual partnership.
The accounts of research methods and life experiences are not bounded, and the tendency for the narrative voice to move from exposition to personal reminiscence is consistent with the Gergens’ interest in social constructionism. This approach works well as a means to demonstrate how performative social science is not simply a form of academic practice but an outlook on life, although at times the description of the Gergens’ seemingly idyllic marriage risks alienating readers – indeed the Gergens acknowledge that such writing may cause people ‘to dislike us’ (p. 68). In addition, the blending of methodology with autobiography has resulted in a somewhat idiosyncratic handbook. For example, in Chapter 11 we are given a highly stimulating example of a postmodern performance text written by Mary, and the reader is left baffled, first by the discovery that Mary’s work was rejected for publication, and second that it was eventually accepted because her husband Kenneth is an influential man. Obviously this personal disclosure is not intended as research guidance (i.e. marry a powerful academic), yet the Gergens offer no direction for other women who might wish to have similar work published.
The Gergens acknowledge that at times their interest in playing has offended academics with ‘political commitments’ (p. 220), who feel that the Gergens’ work is ‘trivializing their efforts’ to address political issues (p. 220). This criticism is perhaps fairly warranted, as in spite of their expressed desire to ‘mold new futures’ (p. 133), the Gergens do not fully articulate how performative social science will bring about social change, or indeed how ‘going postmodern’ (p. 87) is helpful, given Mary’s assertion that ‘there are no foundations to defend us’ (p. 93). In roughly the middle of the book we find (literally and figuratively) the work’s central claim: ‘if the mental world is essentially a world of relational performance, and this world is of our creation, then we may create new and more promising futures’ (p. 134).
The Gergens present an impressive range of art forms intended to assist the would-be creator of new worlds, yet arguably fail to relate these works to the world they would replace (where, for example, is the interrogation of the fallout of the economic crash of 2008?). The reader is left with the impression that the act of playing is being presented here as an end in itself, rather than a means to an end, and perhaps this is no bad thing. The Gergens’ autobiographical story and their account of research methods reveal how we can decide to ‘read instrumentally’ (p. 115), or choose to be open to receiving a ‘gift’ (p. 114) from an author. Playing with Purpose thus invites its readers to decide for themselves how they will interpret the book: as a pragmatic guide to research methods or as highly enjoyable foray into the world as created by the Gergens. The choice is ours.