Offers an overview and analysis of one of the theories in psychology. This book includes essays that trace the history and development of field theory and discuss its various applications in a number of settings. It addresses topics such as: managing social conflict, self-help groups, and field theory and the construction of social problems.

Introduction Advancing Field Theory PART ONE: THEORETICAL ADVANCES: THE BEGINNINGS Field Theory in Social Science What Made It Creative The Study of Everyday Life - Anitra Karsten Democracy in the Research Team - Ralph White Enthusiasm for the Work - Morton Deutsch Woe unto You that are a Grandchild - Kurt W Back Kurt Lewin′s Films and Their Role in the Development of Field Theory - Mel van Elteren and Helmut E Luck PART TWO: THEORETICAL ADVANCES: PRESENT CONSTRUCTIONS World Fields Two `Field Theories′ - Martin Gold Field Theory and the Construction of Social Problems - Susan A Wheelan and Vicki Abt A Relational Perspective Kurt Lewin in China - Shen Heyong On the Nature of the Next Generation of Issues - Fred Emery Social Processes The Family as a Special Group - Kurt W Back Boundaries and Dynamics Topological Psychology of Abnormal Syndromes - Matthew Maibaum Lewin on Unreality Two Paradigms in Developmental Studies of Language - Ana Marjanovic-Shane An Old Controversy in New Clothes Cooperation, Conflict and Justice - Morton Deutsch Social Comparison, Relative Deprivation and Pupil Interaction - Emmy A Pepitone Homogeneous Versus Heterogeneous Classrooms Interpersonal and Intergroup Methods of Managing Social Conflict - Murray Horwitz and Norman H Berkowitz PART THREE: ADVANCES IN APPLICATIONS World Fields Group Dynamics, Action Research and Intergroup Relations - Susan A Wheelan and Eugene H Stivers Strategies for Arab-Jewish Conflict Management Workshops - David Bargal and Haviva Bar Social Psychiatric Field Studies in Oslo - Odd Steffen Dalgard, Trine Anstorp, Kirsten Benum, Tom Sorensen and Torbjorn Moum Some Preliminary Results Level of Aspiration Theory and Quality of Life in Cross-Cultural Research - Robert J Kleiner and Barnabas Okeke Social Processes Action Research in the Voluntary Sector - Mark A Chesler A Case Study of Scholar-Activist Roles in Self-Help Groups The Social Agency as a Field of Forces - Willard C Richan and Robert J Kleiner A Program Evaluation Strategy The Etiology of Academic Sex Discrimination - Ethel D Kahn and Frank B W Hawkinshire Research in Progress Lewin′s Paradigm of Planned Change - Frank B W Hawkinshire and William A Liggett Theory and Application