I work at the intersections of sociology and psychology and am interested in the ways that selves, or more broadly persons, are produced in different times and places. Central to this is the idea that selfhood is not an individual possession or phenomeon, but rather a socially and culturally mediated phenomenon. Selves don’t simply exist, they have to be made and selves are made with the tools and techniques given to them by the world in which they live.
I completed my Bachelor of Arts (honours) and Masters Degrees in Psychology at the University of Alberta. At that time my interest was in theoretical psychology which I studied under the guidance of Dr. Leendert Mos. My Masters thesis was titled Kenneth Gergen’s Social Constructionism. My interests in psychology persisted even as I pursued a Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Maryland, and I have since attempted to integrate elements of each discipline into my work. At Maryland I studied with Dr. George Ritzer and eventually completed a thesis entitled Narrative and Selfhood in the Antidepressant Era. While working with Ritzer I also served as Managing editor for the Encyclopedia of Social Theory and the Journal of Consumer Culture. Recently, Ritzer and I have co-edited the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Major Social Theorists. Following completion of the Ph.D. I worked for a year as an Assistant Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario after which I made a move back to my hometown of Edmonton, Alberta to teach at Grant MacEwan University. At MacEwan I teach courses in Introductory Sociology, Sociological Theory, Social Psychology and the Sociology of Mental Illness.
I can be reached at:
Rm. 6-398E, 10700-104 Avenue Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T5J-4S2 780 633-3672 stepniskyjATmacewan.ca