Culture, Human Energy, and Self-Actualization: a Sociological Offering To Humanistic Psychology

Abstract

I have long felt the crippling impact of disciplinary boundaries. Being both a sociologist and a humanist is an especially uneasy combination. Since sociology tends to have a grossly underestimated conception of human potential, I often seek intellectual refuge in humanistic psychology. There, however, I often feel like an alien intruder. The basic sociological paradigm (which I accept) tells me that culture is an extraordinarily potent shaper of human character But many humanistic psychologists (Maslow included) tell me that to self-actualize is to step outside one's culture and its shaping influence. How, then, can I intellectually honor that which is fully human, yet do so as a sociologist? My solution is to try to insinuate some room for a sociological perspective into humanistic psychology while still retaining the latter's vision of human potential. In this article I focus on some qualities of metamotivation and metapathology as products of particular kinds of culture. Specifically, I look at high and low human energy states and their linkages to different cultural commitments.