Michael Billig (born 1947) is a British academic. He is
Emeritus Professor
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of
Social Sciences
Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of societies and the relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the original "science of soci ...
at
Loughborough University
Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...
, working principally in contemporary
social psychology
Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the r ...
although much of his work crosses disciplinary boundaries in the social sciences.
Early life and education
Billig was born in 1947 to a Jewish family from
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
and he went to the
University of Bristol
, mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'')
, established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter
, type ...
to study Philosophy and Psychology. While at Bristol he was taught by Professor
Henri Tajfel
Henri Tajfel (born Hersz Mordche; 22 June 1919 – 3 May 1982) was a Polish social psychologist, best known for his pioneering work on the cognitive aspects of prejudice and social identity theory, as well as being one of the founders of the E ...
, a renowned social psychologist, who was to have an enduring and profound influence on Billig. After Billig obtained his undergraduate degree in 1968, he was encouraged by Tajfel to stay at Bristol and work as Tajfel's research assistant in an experimental project on intergroup relations. Billig also registered for a doctoral degree under Tajfel's supervision, and he obtained his doctorate from Bristol University in 1972.
Career
As Tajfel's research assistant, Billig's task was to help design, conduct and analyse the first so-called
minimal group experiments which examined how people will favour members of their own group and discriminate against members of an outgroup, even when these groups were deliberately artificial and meaningless. These experiments were to become foundational to the approach of
social identity theory
Social identity is the portion of an individual's self-concept derived from perceived membership in a relevance, relevant social group.
As originally formulated by social psychologists Henri Tajfel and John C. Turner, John Turner in the 1970s ...
.
In 1973 Billig was appointed to a lectureship in psychology at the
University of Birmingham
, mottoeng = Through efforts to heights
, established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...
. Even before he left Bristol, he was moving away from experimental work to considering issues of
power
Power most often refers to:
* Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work"
** Engine power, the power put out by an engine
** Electric power
* Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events
** Abusive power
Power may a ...
, political
extremism
Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied share ...
and
ideology
An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...
. He wrote a series of important books exploring these topics.
His ''Social Psychology and Intergroup Relations'' (1976) offered a critique of orthodox approaches to the study
prejudice
Prejudice can be an affective feeling towards a person based on their perceived group membership. The word is often used to refer to a preconceived (usually unfavourable) evaluation or classification of another person based on that person's per ...
in psychology and criticised approaches that concentrated on individuals and neglected group contexts. Billig became interested in studying the far-right and realised that an experimental approach would be inappropriate. ''Fascists'' (1978) revealed the classic
fascist
Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...
and
anti-semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
ideology underlying the UK's
National Front at a time when it was bidding for political legitimacy and electoral success. Billig also wrote a pamphlet, ''Psychology, Racism and Fascism'' (1979), published by the anti-fascist
Searchlight magazine
''Searchlight'' is a British magazine, founded in 1975 by Gerry Gable, which publishes exposés about racism, antisemitism and fascism in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.
''Searchlights main focus is on the far right in the United Kingdom, as ...
. In this pamphlet he exposed links between far-right groups and some psychologists who were seeking to prove that there were biological differences between the intellectual capacities of different so-called 'races'. The pamphlet was extended into a full-length book, ''L'Internationale Raciste'' (1981), which also looked at European links between psychology and the extreme-right . ''L'Internationale Raciste'' was published in French and German, but not in English.
In the 1980s Billig's focus shifted to everyday thinking and the relationship between
ideology
An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...
and
common sense
''Common Sense'' is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine collected various moral and political argu ...
(''Ideology and Social Psychology'', 1982). This strand of work became more pronounced after he moved to Loughborough University in 1985 to become professor of Social Science in the multidisciplinary department of Social Sciences. He became interested in highlighting and reinvigorating the use of classical
rhetoric
Rhetoric () is the art of persuasion, which along with grammar and logic (or dialectic), is one of the three ancient arts of discourse. Rhetoric aims to study the techniques writers or speakers utilize to inform, persuade, or motivate parti ...
to explore thinking in the context of social issues. For example, he suggests that attitudes are best understood not as individual positions on topics, but as rhetorical stances in argumentative contexts. This perspective was introduced in his book ''Arguing and Thinking'' (1987; 2nd Edition, 1996).
''Ideological Dilemmas'' (1988), which was collectively written with his Loughborough colleagues, Condor, Edwards, Gane, Middleton and Radley, argued that if you look closely at the ways people justify and criticise, it is possible to see how common sense and everyday thinking are not marked by consistency as many social psychologists suppose. At Loughborough he was a founding member of the influential Discourse and Rhetoric Group, which included figures such as Derek Edwards and
Jonathan Potter
Jonathan Potter (born 8 June 1956) is Dean of the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University and one of the originators of discursive psychology.
Life
Jonathan Potter was born in Ashford, Kent, and spent most of his childho ...
. The group, which stressed that psychologists should examine in detail the way language is used, was central to the creation of
discursive psychology
Discursive psychology (DP) is a form of discourse analysis that focuses on psychological themes in talk, text, and images.
As a counter to mainstream psychology's treatment of discourse as a "mirror" for people's expressions of thoughts, intentio ...
.
One feature of Billig's work is the variety of topics that he has worked on. For example, he studied views about the British royalty in ''Talking of the Royal Family'' (1998, 2nd Edition). ''
Banal Nationalism'', probably Billig's most well known, and certainly his most cited book, threw new light on the topic of nationalism, by examining the small and largely unnoticed details of the ways that nation-states are routinely reproduced. His ''Freudian Repression'' (1999) reinterpreted psychoanalytic theory in terms of conversation, while ''Laughter and Ridicule'' (2005) suggested that humour, in the form of ridicule, had an important, disciplinary function in society. ''The Politics and Rhetoric of Political Celebration'', written in collaboration with Cristina Marinho, examined the language used in the Portuguese parliament.
Billig's work often has a historical and cultural dimension. ''The Hidden Roots of Critical Psychology'' (2008) sought to expand conventional histories of psychology by arguing that in the eighteenth century the
Third Earl of Shaftesbury and
Thomas Reid
Thomas Reid (; 7 May ( O.S. 26 April) 1710 – 7 October 1796) was a religiously trained Scottish philosopher. He was the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense and played an integral role in the Scottish Enlightenment. In 1783 he wa ...
formulated ideas about the mind that today are being proposed by critical psychologists. ''Rock'n'Roll Jews'' (2000) focused on the crucial, creative contribution of Jews in the early years of rock'n'roll. According to Billig, the specifically Jewish dimension is often overlooked by those studying the history of rock music.
More recently, Billig has been critically examining the ways that social scientists write. ''Learn to Write Badly'' (2013) criticised social scientists for using too much jargon. Billig argued that, when it comes to describing human actions, heavy technical nouns are, in fact, often less precise than ordinary language. He developed these themes in ''More Examples, Less Theory'' (2019), which claims that psychologists and other social scientists today accord theory too much importance. Billig suggests that researchers should try to examine real-life examples directly, rather than through the oversimplifying lens of theory.
[For a critical discussion of the influence of theory, see, for instance, Michael Marinetto, 'Why are journals so obsessed by theory? ''Times Higher Education'', 2020, April 29.] In this book, Billig proposed
Marie Jahoda as the example that psychologists today should try to follow on account of her clear writing, social commitment, scepticism of theory and use of well-chosen examples.
Billig retired in 2017 and was appointed emeritus professor at Loughborough University.
In 2010 the Social Section of the British Psychological Society awarded Billig its Distinguished Contribution to Social Psychology Award. In 2020 Billig was elected a Fellow of the
British Academy
The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences.
It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...
.
Personal life
His aunt was the doctor
Hannah Billig, MBE.
Bibliography
* Billig, M. (1976). ''Social Psychology and Intergroup Relations''. London: Academic Press.
* Billig, M. (1978). ''Fascists: A social psychological view of the National Front''. London: Academic Press.
* Billig, M. (1979). ''Psychology, Racism & Fascism''. A.F. & R. Publications. A Searchlight pamphlet.
* Billig, M. (1981). ''L'internationale raciste: de la psychologie a la "science" des races. Paris: Maspero
* Billig, M. (1982). ''Ideology and Social Psychology''. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
* Billig, M. (1987). ''Arguing and Thinking: a rhetorical approach to social psychology''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Billig, M., Condor, S., Edwards, D., Gane, M., Middleton, D. and Radley, A.R. (1988). ''Ideological Dilemmas''. London: Sage Publications.
* Billig, M. (1991). ''Ideology and opinions: Studies in rhetorical psychology.'' SAGE Publications Limited.
* Billig, M. (1995). ''Banal Nationalism''. London: Sage Publications.
* Billig, M. (1996). ''Arguing and Thinking: a rhetorical approach to social psychology, revised edition''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (Italian edition: ''Discutere e Pensare: un approccio retorico alla psicologia sociale''. Milan: Raffaello Cortina, 1999).
* Billig, M. (1998). ''Talking of the Royal Family: second edition with new introduction''. London: Routledge.
* Billig, M. (1999). ''Freudian Repression: conversation creating the unconscious''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Billig, M. (2000). ''Rock’n’Roll Jews''. Nottingham: Five Leaves/ New York: Syracuse University Press.
* Billig, M. (2005). ''Laughter and Ridicule: toward a social critique of humour''. London: Sage.
* Billig, M. (2008). ''The Hidden Roots of Critical Psychology: Understanding the Impact of Locke, Shaftesbury and Reid''. London: Sage.
* Billig, M. (2013). ''Learn to Write Badly: How to Succeed in the Social Sciences''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
* Billig, M. and C. Marinho (2017). ''The Politics and Rhetoric of Commemoration: how the Portuguese parliament celebrates the 1974 Revolution''. London: Bloomsbury.
* Billig, M. (2019). ''More Examples, Less Theory: historical studies of writing psychology''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
References
External links
Michael Billig's homepage at Loughborough UniversityInterview with Michael Billig on the Royal Family and NationalismCharles Antaki interviews Michael Billig in 1999Lectures from Michael Billig's "Historical and Conceptual Issues in Psychology" Course
{{DEFAULTSORT:Billig, Michael
British psychologists
British Jews
Academics of Loughborough University
Living people
Social psychologists
Scholars of nationalism
1947 births