The 'Unattainable1 Objects of Psychosociological Analysis

During its (very brief) history, psychosociology has experienced many changes, affecting its methods as well as its goals. It has nevertheless held a place apart among the other social sciences. Its specificity rests not so much on the objects — groups, institutions, organizations — that it has chosen to study, as on the manner according to which they have been approached, linking field and theoretical work. As a result, a different view of these objects has evolved, if not their dissolution as such. Social organizations, in particular, have appeared as complex constructs defying any general definition and, thereby, any general theory. In return, they have been revealed as the locus of events, or processes, through which history, both individual and social, is in the making.