Discontinuities in kurt lewin's psychology of work : conceptual and cultural shifts between his german and american research/[les psychologies du travail, allemande et américaine, de kurt lewin : ruptures conceptuelles et culturelles] - article ; n°1 ; vol.13, pg 71-93

Mel Vanelteren

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Sociétés contemporaines - Année 1993 - Volume 13 - Numéro 1 - Pages 71-93
MEL VAN ELTEREN DISCONTINUITIES IN KURT LEWIN'S PSYCHOLOGY OF WORK : CONCEPTUAL AND CULTURAL SHIFTS BETWEEN HIS GERMAN AND AMERICAN RESEARCH This paper focuses on the specific variant of psychology of work first put forward by Kurt Lewin in the 1920s in Germany and then contrasts it with Lewin's work conducted in the late 1930s in the American industrial setting, after his flight from Nazi Germany in 1933. Two central questions are raised : Did Lewin's approach comprise an adequate theoretical framework for studying the problematics of the actual work process ? And to what extent did this perspective constitute a control device for management ? After an overview of Lewin' s activities within this field, both in his Berlin period and his American years, a critical analysis of his approach of action research in American industry is given. Taking an emancipatory perspective on the psychosocial sciences, this would lead to a generally negative appraisal of Lewinian action research in industrial settings, concerning its coexisting democratic*' and manipulative tendencies. In this respect, a discontinuity is discerned in comparison with his earlier Berlin-period ideas about the psychology of work. In addition, suggestions are given for a more adequate conceptualization and research strategy regarding the study of the work process.
[Les psychologies du travail, allemande et américaine, de Kurt Lewin : Ruptures conceptuelles et culturelles] : Cet article traite du point de vue singulier de Kurt Lewin sur la psychologie du travail, tel qu 'il l'a développé dans les années 20 en Allemagne et le met en regard des recherches menées dans le contexte de l'industrie aux États-Unis à la findes années 30, après qu'il ait fui l'Allemagne nazie. On s'interroge a) sur l'apport théorique de la démarche lewinienne pour problématiser le procès du travail; b) sur le moyen de contrôle au service du management que pouvait constituer cette démarche. On présente d 'une part une vue d'ensemble des activités de Lewin dans ce champ de recherche, tant durant sa période berlinoise qu 'américaine et l'on présente une analyse critique sur sa recherche action dans le cadre de l'industrie américaine. Un point de vue émancipatoire des sciences sociales conduit à une évaluation négative de ces recherches actions concernant en particulier la coexistence des tendances «démocratiques» et manipulatives. De ce point de vue, on peut discerner pour la psychologie du travail une discontinuité entre les deux périodes, berlinoise et américaine. L'article conclut sur des suggestions concernant une conceptualisation et une stratégie de recherche plus pertinentes concernant les procès du travail
23 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

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• Publié par: SOCIETES_CONTEMPORAINES
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1993
• Nombre de lectures: 20
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

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Mel Van Elteren
Discontinuities in kurt lewin's psychology of work : conceptual
and cultural shifts between his german and american
research/[les psychologies du travail, allemande et américaine,
de kurt lewin : ruptures conceptuelles et culturelles]
In: Sociétés contemporaines N°13, Mars 1993. pp. 71-93.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Van Elteren Mel. Discontinuities in kurt lewin's psychology of work : conceptual and cultural shifts between his german and
american research/[les psychologies du travail, allemande et américaine, de kurt lewin : ruptures conceptuelles et culturelles] .
In: Sociétés contemporaines N°13, Mars 1993. pp. 71-93.
doi : 10.3406/socco.1993.1100
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/socco_1150-1944_1993_num_13_1_1100Abstract
MEL VAN ELTEREN DISCONTINUITIES IN KURT LEWIN'S PSYCHOLOGY OF WORK :
CONCEPTUAL AND CULTURAL SHIFTS BETWEEN HIS GERMAN AND AMERICAN RESEARCH
This paper focuses on the specific variant of psychology of work first put forward by Kurt Lewin in the
1920s in Germany and then contrasts it with Lewin's work conducted in the late 1930s in the American
industrial setting, after his flight from Nazi Germany in 1933. Two central questions are raised : Did
Lewin's approach comprise an adequate theoretical framework for studying the problematics of the
actual work process ? And to what extent did this perspective constitute a control device for
management ? After an overview of Lewin' s activities within this field, both in his Berlin period and his
American years, a critical analysis of his approach of action research in American industry is given.
Taking an emancipatory perspective on the psychosocial sciences, this would lead to a generally
negative appraisal of Lewinian action research in industrial settings, concerning its coexisting
"democratic*' and manipulative tendencies. In this respect, a discontinuity is discerned in comparison
with his earlier Berlin-period ideas about the psychology of work. In addition, suggestions are given for a
more adequate conceptualization and research strategy regarding the study of the work process.
Résumé
[Les psychologies du travail, allemande et américaine, de Kurt Lewin : Ruptures conceptuelles et
culturelles] : Cet article traite du point de vue singulier de Kurt Lewin sur la psychologie du travail, tel qu
'il l'a développé dans les années 20 en Allemagne et le met en regard des recherches menées dans le
contexte de l'industrie aux États-Unis à la findes années 30, après qu'il ait fui l'Allemagne nazie. On
s'interroge a) sur l'apport théorique de la démarche lewinienne pour problématiser le procès du travail;
b) sur le moyen de contrôle au service du management que pouvait constituer cette démarche. On
présente d 'une part une vue d'ensemble des activités de Lewin dans ce champ de recherche, tant
durant sa période berlinoise qu 'américaine et l'on présente une analyse critique sur sa recherche action
dans le cadre de l'industrie américaine. Un point de vue émancipatoire des sciences sociales conduit à
une évaluation négative de ces recherches actions concernant en particulier la coexistence des
tendances «démocratiques» et manipulatives. De ce point de vue, on peut discerner pour la
psychologie du travail une discontinuité entre les deux périodes, berlinoise et américaine. L'article
conclut sur des suggestions concernant une conceptualisation et une stratégie de recherche plus
pertinentes concernant les procès du travail♦♦♦♦♦♦ MEL VAN ELTEREN ♦ ♦♦♦♦♦♦ ♦
DISCONTINUITIES IN KURT LEWIN'S PSYCHOLOGY
OF WORK :
CONCEPTUAL AND CULTURAL SHIFTS
BETWEEN HIS GERMAN AND AMERICAN RESEARCH1
résumé [Les psychologies du travail, allemande et américaine, de Kurt Lewin :
Ruptures conceptuelles et culturelles] : Cet article traite du point de vue singulier de Kurt
Lewin sur la psychologie du travail, tel qu 'il l'a développé dans les années 20 en Allemagne
et le met en regard des recherches menées dans le contexte de l'industrie aux États-Unis à la
findes annéei i30, aprèsqu'ilaitfuil'Allemagnenazie.Ons'interrogea) sur l'apport théorique
de la démarche lewiniennepourproblématiser le procès du travail; b) sur le moyen de contrôle
au service du management que pouvait constituer cette démarche. On présente d 'une part une
vue d'ensemble des activités de Lewin dans ce champ de recherche, tant durant sa période
berlinoise qu 'américaine et l'on présente une analyse critique sur sa recherche action dans le
cadre de l'industrie américaine. Un point de vue émancipatoire des sciences sociales conduit
à une évaluation négative de ces recherches actions concernant en particulier la coexistence
des tendances «démocratiques» et manipulatives. De ce point de vue, on peut discerner pour
la psychologie du travail une discontinuité entre les deux périodes, berlinoise et américaine.
L'article conclut sur des suggestions concernant une conceptualisation et une stratégie de
recherche plus pertinentes concernant les procès du travail
In modem industrial societies, regardless of their socio-economic and/or political
systems, all management strategies and techniques for controlling behaviour in the
workplace embody attempts to shape the experiences of employees by influencing
the meanings, values and sentiments they attach to work. This occurs in connection
with the regulation and disciplining of their behaviour by means of other control
1 . The author wants to thank Ian Lubek for his very valuable editorial suggestions. Unless otherwise noted,
all translations from the German references are the author's own. Similar and related articles by the author,
with different emphases, appear as van Elteren (1990 a, 1992 a, and b ; 1993).
Sociétés Contemporaines (1993) n° 13 (p. 71-93)
71 VAN ELTEREN ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ MEL
devices, including the contract defining the terms of employment, work operations
and organization, the supervision system, and employee representation arrangements.
In this context, the psychosocial sciences of work constitute a crucial fifth dimension
of control, by offering management specific frameworks of interpretation and
associated practices (M. Rose, 1988, pp.10-18 ; 342).
In the 1920s, Kurt Lewin began working in Berlin on a variant of "psychology
of work" ; he later returned to questions of the workplace in the late 1930s, this time
within the American industrial setting. Ulich (1992) has made a convincing
argument that Lewin' s career ought to be re-evaluated in terms of the significant
contributions made to the field of "psychology of work", often minimized in
historical accounts focusing more on Lewin as social psychologist, developmental
psychologist, theoretician of action research and theoretical methodologist of
science. In looking at Lewin ' s evolving ideas about work, I would raise in this paper
two majorquestions, which can be phrased both historically and contemporaneously :
1) Did/does Lewin' s approach comprise an adequate theoretical framework for
studying the problematics of the actual work process ? ; and,
2) To what extent did/does Lewin' s approach constitute a control device for
management ?
In seeking answers to these questions, I shall first present an overview of
Lewin's activities within this field, in both his Berlin period (until he was forced to
leave Nazi Germany in 1933) and his time in America, prior to his untimely death
in 1947. This will then be followed with a critical analysis of his approach to action
research, especially as related to the work setting. I shall conclude with some
reflections about a more adequate conceptualization of work.
LEWIN'S PREOCCUPATIONS WITH PROBLEMATICS OF THE WORK PROCESS : THE
EARLY WORK IN APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
Following John's (1986) thesis, John, Eckardt and Hiebsch (1989) have more
recently given a brief but informative overview of Lewin's activities within the
perspective of his applied social psychology, in statu nascendi, during his Berlin
years. They first pay tribute to Lewin's (1920) relatively unknown2 essay on Die
Sozialisierung des Taylorsystems [The socialization of the Taylor system] . In fact,
the Berufspsychologie" paper's subtitle, [A "Eine fundamental grundsátzliche investigation Untersuchung of industrial zur and Arbeits- vocational und
psychology] , is a more accurate reflection of the paper' s focus on applied psychology,
and more specifically the improvement of work methods and vocational selection
2. This is also due to the fact that Lewin himself did not refer to this essay in his later writings, perhaps
because of its relatively radical stance on specific issues, and its connection with specific events limited to
the period around 1920 (John, 1986, p. 119). Ithasnotplayedamajorrolein the general reception ofhis ideas,
with th