Narratives function at different levels. We have personal narratives, interpersonal narratives, sub-cultural narratives and, at the top level, master narratives. These are the narratives that govern how a society or culture thinks, the general rules by which everyone, or nearly everyone abides. They help demonstrate that we are fundamentally in agreement with most of the rules and mores by which a society works, and help social psychologists and others understand subcultures and the nature of multiculturalism. Master narratives are difficult to define and very difficult to study. Often, in terms of sciences, it is more important to be aware of the role master narratives play in dictating how individuals behave. Where there is a clash of master narratives, there are potential problems for a society or culture, suggesting that multiculturalism, where there are two or more dominant master narratives, may be problematic. Master narratives play an important part in understanding individual identity and politics, demonstrating the constraints on the individual.

The Introduction provides a brief but broad overview of narrative, partly historical, partly theoretical, showing a little of how narrative came into psychology and the problems associated with it being considered as a part of narrative science. It also addresses the problem of defining what we mean by narrative, before addressing the issues surrounding the applications of narrative. The last part of the chapter provides outlines of the remaining chapters in the book.