Introduction

Abstract

One’s first impression on looking at the field of personality theories is of a great range and variety of contending approaches. And yet on closer examination there are certain basic themes which arise in different theories; like the concept of a ‘natural’ or ‘true’ self which struggles to emerge against all the pressures and distorting influences of a social environment, or Freud’s discoveries which appear in a number of different guises. Thus it is possible, and may be useful, to explore personality theories at the level of these themes in addition to whatever work may go on by way of specific empirical testing of particular theories. This approach is especially relevant in a study which, while respecting the necessary autonomy of the disciplines of psychology and sociology, is designed to raise questions about the relation between them and the possibilities and needs for interdisciplinary study. Personality theories are attempts to construct knowledge of a particularly significant kind—knowledge of what it is to be a human being, with all that this entails in terms of a formative social context—and this makes it imperative to call upon a predominantly sociological method of appraisal which derives from the sociology of knowledge, as well as a careful psychological assessment of the theories.