Dr Jean McAvoy

Professional biography

My current research interests focus on the construction, constitution and experience of subjectification and subjectivity. I work within a framework of critical social psychology. I am interested in what resources people have for making sense of their lives, how this is shaped within particular social and cultural practices. My particular interests lie in what kinds of moralities are produced, and how concepts of rights and wrongs are established, consolidated, or challenged. I am interested in what gets accomplished at personal, interpersonal and institutional levels when concepts such as good or bad, successful or failing, legitimacy, deficiency and deviancy are applied to people and behaviour.

Methodologically I work with a broad understanding of discourse analysis. This broad approach allows epistemological investigations of how knowledge and understanding is worked up at a local and more macro levels, and explorations of the ontology of subjectivity and relationality and the nature of interiority and experience.

PhD supervision

Marie Paludan (co-supervision with Dr Stephanie Taylor, Psychology): “Performing Young Womanhood in Neoliberal Britain: Discursive Constructions of New Femininities.” (Completed)

Lisa Scott (co-supervision with Dr Rose Capdevila): “Family talk: Irish women across generations negotiate single motherhood.” (Completed)

I am interested in supervising research in critical social psychology, particularly around areas of subjectivity and subjectification, discourse theory and methods, explorations of moralities and inequalities, understandings of justice and injustice, constructions and constitutions of emotion, and studies in affective practices more broadly.

I have been Programme Director and subsequently Director of Teaching for the School of Psychology with a particular interest in developing teaching support and quality enhancements beyond module level and focusing on a 'whole qualification' approach.  

I have worked in production and presentation roles on a wide range of modules across the psychology programme.  I co-chaired production with Jovan Byford of the 60-credit Level 1 psychology module DE100 Investigating psychology 1, and contributed methods teaching on DE200 and DE300.  Previously I was a member of the module team for production and presentation chair for DSE141 Discovering psychology.  I have also contributed to presentation teams for DSE212 Exploring Psychology; the residential school psychology project module DXR222, and the online project module DZX222.

In addition I present workshops and seminars for post-graduate students on advanced qualitative research methods and methodological theory.

Teaching publications

Byford, J., McAvoy, J. and Banyard, P. (2014). Investigating Intelligence. Milton Keynes: The Open University.

McAvoy, J. and Brace, N. (eds) (2014). Investigating Methods. Milton Keynes: The Open University. (DE100).

McAvoy, J. (2012) ‘Exposing the authoritarian personality’ in Brace, N & Byford, J (eds) Investigating Psychology: Key Concepts, Key Studies, Key Approaches, Oxford: Oxford University Press and Milton Keynes: The Open University.