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Updated: May 4, 2026

The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
Published on: November 19, 2015
[Communication of ideas, intersections and consolidation - Fleck, Simmel, and Völkerpsychologie]
1Collegium Helveticum, Schmelzbergstrasse 25, 8092, Zürich, Schweiz, Egloff@collegium.ethz.ch.
Abstract:
Ludwik Fleck’s rediscovery, initiated by Thomas Kuhn, was prominently related to its sociological emphasis. But while this emphasis as such resonated with the sociological circles within science studies, Fleck’s actual sociological position was criticized for lacking clear boundaries to psychology and philosophy, and eventually for inconsistency. This article agrees with the former judgement and rejects the latter. It introduces as core and key to Fleck’s own sociology the thought style of Völkerpsychologie, and the sociology Georg Simmel developed from this tradition
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