There is nothing so practical as a good…history: Kurt Lewin's place in the historical chapters of French language Social Psychology Textbooks

Abstract

This article examines the paradoxical place occupied by Kurt Lewin in the history of social psychology. By analysing an exhaustive corpus of all French-language social psychology textbooks published between 1946 and 2000, we attempt to bring to light both the frequency of references to the author and the rhetoric employed to present his scientific contribution. Our results reveal a paradox underlying the way in which this eminent social psychologist is referred to. While the importance of his role in the formation of this discipline is emphatically reinforced, the full extent of his relevance is not accounted for. This paradox thus takes the form of a marginalisation, which is manifested in a tendency to concentrate on only a portion of his publications, in the stereotyped presentation of his experiments, and in the insufficient context provided for his studies.