CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGY
“Critical Psychology” = Orientation towards psychological knowledge and practice, and to
relations of power in general
- Is an orientation that cuts across various sub-disciplines in psychology and is made up
of diverse theoretical perspectives and forms of practice
- Is diverse and multiple that is cannot be localized to one form of theory, one type of
critical practice, or single context
Critical psychology isn’t a theory but more an approach that questions contributions
psychology has made
- Approaches aspects of psychology critically (Such as: Gender or racism)
Best way to grasp critical psychology- Getting a sense of its agendas and functioning across a
spread of theories and practices
THEORY, CONTEXT, PRACTICE: THREE POINTS OF FOCUS
Theory- Evaluates theories within psychology and implications of assumptions held by theories
Context- Focus on what general psychological knowledge means in our context (Example: IQ)
Practices- How can we use this knowledge to respond to issues “we” experience
3 points of focus:
Theoretical resources (1)
➢ Forms the conceptual backdrop to how we understand what is politically problematic
about the knowledges and practices of psychology
➢ Demonstrates ways in which psychology is ideological, oppressive, eurocentric and how
we might respond to these crises of knowledge, practice, and politics in critical manner
Questions of South African context (2)
➢ Focuses on concerns relevant to southern African (3rd world) situation more generally
➢ Ongoing concerns- Poverty, racism, HIV/AIDS are addressed and perspectives on
community intervention, development, African feminism are all presented
,Forms of practice (3)
New ways of making psychology:
➢ More politically responsive
➢ More active in contesting traditional authority structures in psychology
➢ More active in responding to grassroot needs in SA
Includes explanations of:
➢ Activity theory
➢ Participatory action research
➢ Discourse analysis
➢ Emotional components of the typically unstated emotional-political subtexts of
community psychology
Also includes discussions of critical research objectives in:
➢ Critical psychology
➢ Liberation psychology- Ways in which psychology may be usefully used to explain how
power works, how various forms of oppression and inequality take hold and function,
and ways in which they may be stopped
These 3 correlates to 3 vital domains of critical activity:
1. Emphasis on value of different modes of approaches
2. Eye for specificity
3. The drive to convert critical sensibilities into a kind of critical response/action
Key themes/concerns in critical psychology:
• Critical psychology is an investigation of relationship between power and psychology
• Understanding critical psychology is the awareness that psychology functions in
ideological ways which have gone largely unexamined
• Extending notion of psychology as ideological- Is that of critical psychology as a politics
of knowledge and subjectivity
• Awareness of fact that psychological knowledge operates to extend relations of power
• Critical psychology is concerned with how psychology impacts on our identity and how it
plays part in making us who we are
• The necessity of using psychology itself as a form of politics
These themes may be taken as ways of holding together the diverse activities, theoretical
perspectives, and practical essentials of critical psychology
2
, POWER AND PSYCHOLGY
At its core- Critical Psychology (CP) looks at relationship between power and psychology
CP is an awareness that:
➢ Psychology itself is powerful
➢ Psychology plays part in maintaining and extending existing relations of power
Psychology is power- Can be used to oppress others/enable transformation (personality traits)
Critical psychology is concerned both with critiquing oppressive uses of psychology and with
enabling potentially transformatory forms of practice that disrupt imbalances of power- Have
social equality as their goal
Psychology is always political and involved in reproduction and extension of relations of power
and control
Important concerns of critical psychology:
• How clinical psychologists/research psychologists relate to their “subjects”- Meaning
their clients, those on whom they are conducting research
• Kinds of knowledge psychologists produce- Referring to kinds of knowledge that are
ideological as they prioritise certain views of world over others
➢ They marginalise certain voices
➢ Gloss over certain kinds of social contradiction
➢ Collide with larger structures of power
There is no form of psychological knowledge/practice that doesn’t set up/support a certain
relationship of power
PSYCHOLOGY AS IDEOLOGICAL
The avoidance of political questions (questions of power) of which psychology is part- Way of
pointing to ideological functioning
“Ideology” = Ways in which meaning serves to create and sustain relations of power and
domination
Haye’s understatement- ‘The study of ideology has not been a central issue in the history of
psychology’
Attention drawn to 2 points: - Psychology’s omission of ideology
- Psychology’s own immanently (yet unadmitted) political nature
Haye’s claims there are two possible ways of addressing issue of ideology in psychology:
Critical Dimension Substantive Dimension
- Refers to knowledge claims and ontological - Refers to operations of ideology at level of the
status of psychology as a science individual
- Would interrogate psychology as a - Would examine the theoretical and formal
particular politics of knowledge constitution of the subject of psychological
theory and research → Engaging psychology
as a particular politics of subjectivity
3
, A POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE AND SUBJECTIVITY
Two considerations at heart of critical psychology:
➢ The politics of knowledge
➢ The politics of subjectivity
(Considerations are most effective ways of concealing psychology’s political quality)
Critiques on the two considerations:
• By presenting itself as science- Psychology would pretend it is free of politics because
science is assumed to be “value-free” (Self as science = Free of values)
- ∴ Lack of responsibility for knowledge they produce
• By failing to provide an account of processes which an individual becomes the subject
of and for ideology- Psychology as effectively isolated:
- The individual from the social sphere
- The intrasubjective from the ideological
- The psychological from the political
Implications of these two lines of critiques:
• Psychology does produce certain ideologically loaded views of the world
• Psychology does produce powerful effects in its subjects (view impacts people)
• This isolation of the social from the individual is important- Excludes possibility that the
facts of social and political power may anticipate or empower the subject
Majority of traditional psychological discussion assumes the self-contained individual is taken
to be primary and the world of social, political, cultural, and economic power secondary
This is a prioritization (of individual over social) and a division (of social and individual)- Has
remained strong in history of psychology
Haye’s argument- The subject of psychological theory and research needs to be decentred
from its illusory continuity of an integrated psychological unity/some essential core personality
PSYCHOLOGY AS A POWERFUL FORM OF KNOWLEDGE
Critical psychology is concerned with the kind of knowledge that psychology produces
Knowledge that is seemingly scientific based on an objective, neutral ‘knowing of world- Thus
sells itself as ‘the truth’
Critical psychology is concerned with:
➢ Supposed truthfulness fallen out mainstream psychological imagery of the world
➢ How psychology produces what counts as knowledge
➢ How this knowledge is put to use in ways which detract our attention from real,
concreate relations of power within the world
Critical psychology’s basic preoccupations- Those taken-for-granted assumptions concerning
reality, human nature, and knowledge produced by certain group, in certain ways, and for
certain interests
4
“Critical Psychology” = Orientation towards psychological knowledge and practice, and to
relations of power in general
- Is an orientation that cuts across various sub-disciplines in psychology and is made up
of diverse theoretical perspectives and forms of practice
- Is diverse and multiple that is cannot be localized to one form of theory, one type of
critical practice, or single context
Critical psychology isn’t a theory but more an approach that questions contributions
psychology has made
- Approaches aspects of psychology critically (Such as: Gender or racism)
Best way to grasp critical psychology- Getting a sense of its agendas and functioning across a
spread of theories and practices
THEORY, CONTEXT, PRACTICE: THREE POINTS OF FOCUS
Theory- Evaluates theories within psychology and implications of assumptions held by theories
Context- Focus on what general psychological knowledge means in our context (Example: IQ)
Practices- How can we use this knowledge to respond to issues “we” experience
3 points of focus:
Theoretical resources (1)
➢ Forms the conceptual backdrop to how we understand what is politically problematic
about the knowledges and practices of psychology
➢ Demonstrates ways in which psychology is ideological, oppressive, eurocentric and how
we might respond to these crises of knowledge, practice, and politics in critical manner
Questions of South African context (2)
➢ Focuses on concerns relevant to southern African (3rd world) situation more generally
➢ Ongoing concerns- Poverty, racism, HIV/AIDS are addressed and perspectives on
community intervention, development, African feminism are all presented
,Forms of practice (3)
New ways of making psychology:
➢ More politically responsive
➢ More active in contesting traditional authority structures in psychology
➢ More active in responding to grassroot needs in SA
Includes explanations of:
➢ Activity theory
➢ Participatory action research
➢ Discourse analysis
➢ Emotional components of the typically unstated emotional-political subtexts of
community psychology
Also includes discussions of critical research objectives in:
➢ Critical psychology
➢ Liberation psychology- Ways in which psychology may be usefully used to explain how
power works, how various forms of oppression and inequality take hold and function,
and ways in which they may be stopped
These 3 correlates to 3 vital domains of critical activity:
1. Emphasis on value of different modes of approaches
2. Eye for specificity
3. The drive to convert critical sensibilities into a kind of critical response/action
Key themes/concerns in critical psychology:
• Critical psychology is an investigation of relationship between power and psychology
• Understanding critical psychology is the awareness that psychology functions in
ideological ways which have gone largely unexamined
• Extending notion of psychology as ideological- Is that of critical psychology as a politics
of knowledge and subjectivity
• Awareness of fact that psychological knowledge operates to extend relations of power
• Critical psychology is concerned with how psychology impacts on our identity and how it
plays part in making us who we are
• The necessity of using psychology itself as a form of politics
These themes may be taken as ways of holding together the diverse activities, theoretical
perspectives, and practical essentials of critical psychology
2
, POWER AND PSYCHOLGY
At its core- Critical Psychology (CP) looks at relationship between power and psychology
CP is an awareness that:
➢ Psychology itself is powerful
➢ Psychology plays part in maintaining and extending existing relations of power
Psychology is power- Can be used to oppress others/enable transformation (personality traits)
Critical psychology is concerned both with critiquing oppressive uses of psychology and with
enabling potentially transformatory forms of practice that disrupt imbalances of power- Have
social equality as their goal
Psychology is always political and involved in reproduction and extension of relations of power
and control
Important concerns of critical psychology:
• How clinical psychologists/research psychologists relate to their “subjects”- Meaning
their clients, those on whom they are conducting research
• Kinds of knowledge psychologists produce- Referring to kinds of knowledge that are
ideological as they prioritise certain views of world over others
➢ They marginalise certain voices
➢ Gloss over certain kinds of social contradiction
➢ Collide with larger structures of power
There is no form of psychological knowledge/practice that doesn’t set up/support a certain
relationship of power
PSYCHOLOGY AS IDEOLOGICAL
The avoidance of political questions (questions of power) of which psychology is part- Way of
pointing to ideological functioning
“Ideology” = Ways in which meaning serves to create and sustain relations of power and
domination
Haye’s understatement- ‘The study of ideology has not been a central issue in the history of
psychology’
Attention drawn to 2 points: - Psychology’s omission of ideology
- Psychology’s own immanently (yet unadmitted) political nature
Haye’s claims there are two possible ways of addressing issue of ideology in psychology:
Critical Dimension Substantive Dimension
- Refers to knowledge claims and ontological - Refers to operations of ideology at level of the
status of psychology as a science individual
- Would interrogate psychology as a - Would examine the theoretical and formal
particular politics of knowledge constitution of the subject of psychological
theory and research → Engaging psychology
as a particular politics of subjectivity
3
, A POLITICS OF KNOWLEDGE AND SUBJECTIVITY
Two considerations at heart of critical psychology:
➢ The politics of knowledge
➢ The politics of subjectivity
(Considerations are most effective ways of concealing psychology’s political quality)
Critiques on the two considerations:
• By presenting itself as science- Psychology would pretend it is free of politics because
science is assumed to be “value-free” (Self as science = Free of values)
- ∴ Lack of responsibility for knowledge they produce
• By failing to provide an account of processes which an individual becomes the subject
of and for ideology- Psychology as effectively isolated:
- The individual from the social sphere
- The intrasubjective from the ideological
- The psychological from the political
Implications of these two lines of critiques:
• Psychology does produce certain ideologically loaded views of the world
• Psychology does produce powerful effects in its subjects (view impacts people)
• This isolation of the social from the individual is important- Excludes possibility that the
facts of social and political power may anticipate or empower the subject
Majority of traditional psychological discussion assumes the self-contained individual is taken
to be primary and the world of social, political, cultural, and economic power secondary
This is a prioritization (of individual over social) and a division (of social and individual)- Has
remained strong in history of psychology
Haye’s argument- The subject of psychological theory and research needs to be decentred
from its illusory continuity of an integrated psychological unity/some essential core personality
PSYCHOLOGY AS A POWERFUL FORM OF KNOWLEDGE
Critical psychology is concerned with the kind of knowledge that psychology produces
Knowledge that is seemingly scientific based on an objective, neutral ‘knowing of world- Thus
sells itself as ‘the truth’
Critical psychology is concerned with:
➢ Supposed truthfulness fallen out mainstream psychological imagery of the world
➢ How psychology produces what counts as knowledge
➢ How this knowledge is put to use in ways which detract our attention from real,
concreate relations of power within the world
Critical psychology’s basic preoccupations- Those taken-for-granted assumptions concerning
reality, human nature, and knowledge produced by certain group, in certain ways, and for
certain interests
4
