Apurv Chauhan

Apurv is a social psychologist interested in exploring Self—Other relationships as the cornerstone of human communication and social knowledge. His research seeks to understand and address social inequalities in the Global South, especially India where he has conducted extensive ethnographic work in income-poor communities.

Theoretically, I am interested in understanding the architecture and nature of Self—Other dialectic as a key dynamic of human social life, the mould of communication, and the basis of social knowledge. In this regard, my work makes use of, and contributes to, the frameworks of social representation theory, symbolic interactionism, and the dialogical thesis of human mind.

I use this framework to guide my work on social inequalities and disadvantages. I am interested in exploring how the meanings of social problems develop, how societal discourses shape our understanding and response to them, and how the Self—Other dialectic inform all this at interpersonal and collective levels. I have applied this framework in my research on British and Indian mass media and ethnographic poverty research in India.

With its focus on understanding racism and prejudice in India, I am developing a project that examines the relationship between the cognitive processing of surface level information and the Othering of individuals and social groups.

Themes and issues that I'm interested in include:

• Public understanding of science
• Interaction between science and common sense
• Poverty, deprivation, and social exclusion
• Identities: particularly ethnic and racial identities
• Vaccine hesitancy

My research is guided by my overarching intersts in meaning making, communication, identities, and social inequalities. In my ongoing project - in collaboration with University of Guelph (Canada) - I am looking at how people perceive and make subjective assessments of risk when making vaccine related decisions (including hesitancy and outright refusal). I also continue to work on poverty and social exclusion in developing country settings, especially India, where I have extensive experience of conducting ethnographic work.

I invite applications in any of the following areas:

• Risk, trust, and healthcare decisions
• Perspectives on vaccines (including hesitancy and refusal)
• Public understanding of science; social representations; mediated realities
• Experiences of poverty, deprivation, and social exclusion
• Qualitative and ethnographic research

I am happy to discuss ideas (over emails) with interested students.

The goal of my teaching is to develop strong foundations in the discipline (theoretical, methodological, and research oriented) amongst my students. I am convinced that such an anchoring is the essential groundwork for students to become independent scholars with balanced criticality and possessing the right ‘tools’ for their chosen careers.