The pervasive power of political positioning: A review of Culture & Political Psychology

Abstract

Magioglou brought together a host of researchers to examine the lay political thought that an individual deals with at a daily basis. The authors provide a very sound foundation of what can be understood and learned from a societal examination of political psychology. The work models out various ways to conceptualize the individual trying to make meaning of social order, and its methodological and theoretical contributions should be praised by both political scientists and psychologists alike. This work triangulates around notions that seem at first to divide the individual-right and wrong, self and other-and show the unification of them through the interactions of power and values. In this way, this work has extended the discourse of political psychology by positing the individual not simply as a citizen, but as a powerful player whose meaning-making continually shapes the social order one acts within.