ABSTRACT

Lucien Sève wrote extensively on Marxism and psychology, laying the groundwork, in his view, for genuinely scientific psychology. This chapter identifies the importance of identifying ‘clear blue water’ of his thinking that sets it apart both from Marxism in general and from psychology, especially biologist approaches, and its impact in social science analysis. The consequences of adopting Sève’s thinking – what it means to ‘take Sève seriously’ (TSS) – are presented in principle. The suitability of the case study approach to analysis of impact across the social sciences is then discussed, and the choice, structure and content of the five case studies of the book follow.