This edited volume addresses key issues relating to the concept of self, an increasingly researched area of social psychology. The self-concept consists of three fundamental self-representations: the individual self, the relational self, and the collective self. That is, people seek to achieve self-definition and self-interpretation (i.e. identity) in three fundamental ways: in terms of their personal traits, in terms of dyadic relationships, and in terms of group membership. Contributions from leading international researchers examine the interrelations among three self-representations. A concluding commentary identifies running themes, synthesizes the extant literature, and points to future research directions.

This volume is a comprehensive collection of critical essays on The Taming of the Shrew, and includes extensive discussions of the play's various printed versions and its theatrical productions. Aspinall has included only those essays that offer the most influential and controversial arguments surrounding the play. The issues discussed include gender, authority, female autonomy and unruliness, courtship and marriage, language and speech, and performance and theatricality.

In a society where a comic equates with knockabout amusment for children, the sudden pre-eminence of adult comics, on everything from political satire to erotic fantasy, has predictably attracted an enormous amount of attention. Adult comics are part of the cultural landscape in a way that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. In this first survey of its kind, Roger Sabin traces the history of comics for older readers from the end of the nineteenth century to the present. He takes in the pioneering titles pre-First World War, the underground 'comix' of the 1960s and 1970s, 'fandom' in the 1970s and 1980s, and the boom of the 1980s and 1990s (including 'graphic novels' and Viz.). Covering comics from the United States, Europe and Japan, Adult Comics addresses such issues as the graphic novel in context, cultural overspill and the role of women. By taking a broad sweep, Sabin demonstrates that the widely-held notion that comics 'grew up' in the late 1980s is a mistaken one, largely invented by the media. Adult Comics: An Introduction is intended primarily for student use, but is written with the comic enthusiast very much in mind.

This edited volume addresses key issues relating to the concept of self, an increasingly researched area of social psychology. The self-concept consists of three fundamental self-representations: the individual self, the relational self, and the collective self. That is, people seek to achieve self-definition and self-interpretation (i.e. identity) in three fundamental ways: in terms of their personal traits, in terms of dyadic relationships, and in terms of group membership. Contributions from leading international researchers examine the interrelations among three self-representations. A concluding commentary identifies running themes, synthesizes the extant literature, and points to future research directions.

Collective Identity, Oppression, and the Right to Self-Ascription argues that groups have an irreducibly collective right to determine the meaning of their shared group identity, and that such a right is especially important for historically oppressed groups. The author specifies this right by way of a modified discourse ethic, demonstrating that it can provide the foundation for a conception of identity politics that avoids many of its usual pitfalls. The focus throughout is on racial identity, which provides a test case for the theory. That is, it investigates what it would mean for racial identities to be self-ascribed rather than imposed, establishing the possible role racial identity might play in a just society. The book thus makes a unique contribution to both the field of critical theory, which has been woefully silent on issues of race, and to race theory, which often either presumes that a just society would be a raceless society, or focuses primarily on understanding existing racial inequalities, in the manner typical of so-called "non-ideal theory."

This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive summary of the psychology of close relationships, and showcases classic and contemporary theories, models, and empirical research that have been conducted in the field.

In recent years, the traditional psychoanalytic view of the self as an autonomous entity has been shifting to a more relational perspective. This evolution from a solely intrapsychic stance brings psychoanalysis closer to the viewpoint of social psychology, formerly a highly divergent discipline. Bridging these different literatures, THE RELATIONAL SELF describes the extent and meaning of these convergences. The book is divided into four sections. The first two examine current perspectives from psychoanalytic self psychology and social psychology, and the latter two present an integration of psychoanalytic and social-personality approaches. Part One reviews the psychoanalytic theories of character "structure" that focus upon identity maintenance, self-esteem regulation, and resistance to change. Also presented is an interactional view of the self that explores the intersubjective context of intrapsychic experience. Part Two shifts from the largely unconscious intrapsychic self to the self as affected by situational variables. Considered here are the relationship between self-image and attitudes, the social categories deemed by people as important to their identity, and the effects of physical relocation upon self-concept change. Part Three presents a theory of the self with separate rational and experiential processing systems and also explores cultural influences on the self from a psychoanalytic vantage point. Part Four considers psychotherapy, self-verification, and self-concept change, including self-defeating behavior and self-consistency striving; the avoidance of self-awareness; self-evaluation maintenance; and self-with-other representations. Bringing together the work of leading theorists in social, psychoanalytic, and personality psychology on the interaction of self-organization with the social and physical environment, THE RELATIONAL SELF fosters a better understanding of both situational and dispositional variables and a deeper appreciation of the changing theoretical sense of a relational self as the ultimate stage of development.