The idea of atmosphere: Social psychology and other prolegomena

Abstract

The history of social psychology in this article differs from the standard versions. This is due to the fact that I call on contribtuons from different interlocutors, some of them from outside the discipline of social psychology. Their theorical insights provide a clue to the idea hidden in the background of social psychology –the idea of "atmosphere". I begin by setting out what official social psychology has held in contempt – its own past, its own unofficial history. I also make a case for the work of certain authors who have been ignored within social psychology, and introduce others who have cautiously developed the idea of 'atmosphere'. I trace how 'atmosphere' became the central metaphor which historically informed the discipline of social psychology, taking account of the work of historians and philosophers, as well as sociologists and philologists. 'Atmosphere' is the origin of social psychology, an idea that results in a nostalgic psychology, an historical psychology and a collective psychology.