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CRITICAL PSYCHOLOGY IN SOUTH AFRICA: APPLICATIONS, LIMITATIONS, POSSIBILITIES
No full textCritical psychology - to my mind at least - revolves around one central (and fairly basic) tenet - that psychology is a political tool. Bulhan makes this point at the beginning of his (1985) Frantz Fanon and the psychology of oppression, by means of a pointed comparison between the careers of Fanon and Verwoed:
"The two men ... were psychologists who put to practice their profession in ways that made history and affected the lives of millions ... Verwoed was a staunch white supremacist, a Nazi sympathizer, an avowed anti-Semite, and a leading architect of apartheid ... Fanon, in contrast, was a relentless champion of social justice who, when barely 17 ... volunteered for the forces attempting the liberation of France from Nazi liberation" (p3).
This is an important contribution to the socio-political history of psychology in that it leaves little doubt as to the political utility of psychology, as either instrument of oppression, or as potentially enabling means of progressive politics. One word of caution though: this comparison should not be taken to imply that psychology's involvement in politics is merely circumstantial, arbitrary, opportunistic. As Bulhan (1985) goes on to make abundantly clear, and as critical psychology should assert whenever possible, psychology is always - even in its most everyday and mundane forms - political. In many ways in fact, and depending on the radicalism of one's critique, this may be not only psychology's most important function - generating and cementing kinds of politics - but also the motivating objective behind its initial emergence as a disciplinary practice. [In this respect see particularly Foucault (1977) and Rose (1991, 1995), but also Cushman (1990, 1992)].
Just as critical psychology endeavours to "play up" the very political nature of psychology, so the traditional, or mainstream practices and applications of psychology have, historically, attempted to do just the opposite, to "play down• this nature. Hence Hayes' (1989) understatement: "The study of ideology has not been a central issue in the history of psychology" (p84). The link here - between psychology's omission of ideology as an important focus of study, and psychology's own immanently (yet elided) political nature - may not yet seem quite clear. Hayes' further comments help articulate this link. There could, Hayes (1989) claims, be at least two possible ways of addressing the issue of ideology in psychology, one which at basis is critical, another which at basis is substanuve: "The critical dimension refers to the knowledge claims and the ontological status of psychology as a science ... The substantive dimension refers to the operations of ideology at the level of the individual" (Hayes, 1989:84).
Whereas the critical dimension would interrogate psychology across the science/ideology dialectic - engaging psychology as a particular politics of knowledge - the substantive dimension would examine the theoretical and formal constitution of the subject of psychological theory and research - engaging psychology as a particular politics of subjectivity. It is on these bases that Hayes (1989:84) makes the appeal that "[T]he wh·ole question and place of politics in psychology ... certainly ... justifies a more coherent and rigorous analysis…
ORDERING GENDER: REVISITING THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGY
No full textPsychology as a discipline has long been criticised for its reproduction of gender and other inequalities. Such a critique has been lodged both at the content of psychological knowledges as well as the practices of psychology, including the realm of academia, intervention and organisational structures. In South Africa it has been well illustrated that white males have dominated in psychology as a practice and in the production of knowledge, particularly in terms of authorship, where black and women psychologists have been under-represented. It has also been widely acknowledged that psychology, in particular the psychology of gender, has been highly problematic in the way in which it reproduces and legitimates gender difference and inequality. While debates about the sexist content of psychological knowledge have been present for a number of decades in the international context, there has been little focus on this in South Africa. the need to develop a South African psychology of gender that is both local - that is, representing indigenous experiences of gender development and identities - and critical - in that it problematises the construction of gender difference and inequality - is another challenge within the broader transformation of South African psychology. This paper revisits criticisms of the way in which psychology has theorised gender difference and presents contesting current perspectives on gender within postmodern thinking, in an attempt to take forward these debates in the reconstruction of South African psychology
FROM "TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY" TO "DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT": SOME RECENT WRITING ON MANAGING THE WORKFORCE
No full textThere lies great danger in the facile use of such generalising terms as "the African worker", "the African village", "the Afrikaner". This applies to everyday life and many other situations; no less so for political practice and social understanding. The employment of such homogenising and essentialising notions often stand in the way of analysis of otherwise complex issues and of appropriate intervention
Analysing organisational life: Haslam, A (2000) Psychology in organisations: The social identity approach. London Sage. ISBN 0-7619-6158-5 pbk. 432 pages.
No full textPsychology in organisations: A social identity approach by Alex Haslam is well written, systematically structured and comprehensive. Yet it is a highly readable, accessible and powerfully argued text. The book, written by one of the pre-eminent theorists in the social identity tradition, provides a social psychological (re)analysis of• organisational life. It is a book that challenges many of the central assumptions, and exposes the implicit political implications, of the dominant theoretical models in the field of organisational psychology. In this sense alone it is a controversial and worthwhile read for those with an interest in organisational and social psychology, human behaviour in organisational contexts and the politics of organisational theory
THE UNCONSCIOUS AND SOCIAL LIFE
No full textAn idea like "the unconscious and social life" is simultaneously rather grand(iose) and wide-ranging, and there are at least two reasons for proceeding like this. Firstly, I want to think systematically about some of the potential application of psychoanalytic ideas to the grand or big questions facing us in this country. Given the changes that are taking place, it seems reasonable to ask whether psychoanalysis has any applicability to the (big) questions of social transformation. The second reason relates to thinking about psychoanalysis, or rather psychoanalytic ideas, as part of social theory. This idea would be anathema to two kinds of thinkers: on the one hand psychoanalysts and psychologists who tend to resist the social articulation of ideas that seem (inherently) to reside in some internal theoretical and substantive space; and on the other hand social theorists who tend either towards a social reductionism, or a conflation of conceptions of the individual (and individuality) with idealist and individualist conceptions. So it seems worthwhile to pose the question of whether psychoanalysis can be applied in (a broad) social theory way. This seems a necessary theoretical task (even for psychology) as it is not self evident how psychoanalysis can be part of social theory. It is also a political task given the resistance to so-called Euro-centric theories in this country at the moment. What would we have done if Franz Fanon had not been born in Martinique, or Edward Said in Egypt?
Social constructionism in (con)text: Gergen, K J (2001) Social construction ism in context. London: Sage Publications. ISBN 0-7619-6545-9 pbk. 223 pages.
No full textPURSUING THE COSMOPOLITAN: Said, E (2003) Freud and the Non-European. (Introduction by Christoph r Ballas and a response by Jacqueline Rose). London & New York: Verso (Published in association with the Freud Museum, London). ISBN 1-85984-500-2 hbk. Pages 84.
No full textEDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY: Donald, D, Lazarus, S & Lolwana. P (2002) Educational psychology in social context (2nd edition). Cape Town: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195780515 pbk.
No full textWorking with people outside the limelight
No full textBook review
Lea, S & Foster, D (eds) (1990) Perspectives on mental handicap in South Africa. Durban: Butterworths, ISBN 0 409 10919 3.
Estimates of prevalence suggest that there are 150 000 - 250 000 South Africans with moderate or severe mental handicap. A further 1 million or so might be described as mildly mentally handicapped. Each of these people is linked with a family and community which also has to come to terms with the social, emotional, physical and financial implications of mental handicap.
If only because of the numbers of people involved, mental handicap must thus be seen as a major mental health issue in South Africa. The inequity/iniquity in the treatment of people with mental handicap, especially those not classified white, should also surely be of concern to progressive mental health workers. Yet, despite the upsurge of involvement in social issues during the eighties, for most mental health workers, mental handicap has remained invisible. A book devoted to the topic and written from a progressive perspective is therefore long overdue
On the formation of identity: Fact and fictions: Walkerdine V (1990) Schoolgirl fictions. London: Verso.
No full textUsing a combination of theoretical pieces about the production of masculinity and femininity, and intensely personal reflections, Valerie Walkerdine tells her Schoolgirl fictions. The book reads as an intellectual autobiography and a collection of ten years of her academic writings. She looks at the formation of identity - how gender and class come to be lived as real, distinct categories. She argues that in fact they are "fictions", created in and suffused with fantasy. She describes how these fictions are produced and inscribed in regulative social practices, using the school system as her primary example. At the same time she presents the way in which she herself has lived out these fictions