‘A radical methodological approach to psychology that is open to social change – in an anti-capitalist, anti-racist and feminist politics.’ Antonio Negri
Psychology is meant to help people cope with the afflictions of modern society. But how useful is it? Ian Parker argues that current psychological practice has become part of the problem, rather than the solution.
Ideal for undergraduates, this book deconstructs the discipline to reveal the neoliberal sensitivities that underlie its theory and practice. Psychology focuses on the happiness of ‘the individual’. Yet it neglects the fact that the happiness of the individual depends on their social and political surroundings.
Ian Parker argues that a new approach to psychology is needed. He offers an alternative vision, outlining how the discipline can be linked to political practice and how it can help people as part of a wider progressive agenda. This groundbreaking book is at the cutting edge of current thinking on the discipline and should be required reading on all psychology courses.
Table of Content
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. What is psychology? Meet the family
2. Psychology as ideology: Individualism explained
3. Psychology at work: Observation and regulation of alienated activity
4. Pathologising dissent: Exploitation isolated and ratified
5. Material interests: The manufacture of distress
6. Spiritless conditions: Regulating therapeutic alternatives
7. Professional empowerment: Good citizens
8. Historical, personal and political: Psychology and revolution
9. Commonsense: Psychological culture on the left
10. Elements of opposition: Psychological struggles now
11. Transitional demands: Taking on psychology
12. What next? Reading and resources
Notes
References
Index
About the author
Ian Parker is Professor of Management in the School of Management at the University of Leicester and President of the College of Psychoanalysts-UK. He is the author of Psychology and Society (Pluto, 1996), Slavoj Zizek: A Critical Introduction (Pluto, 2004) and Revolution in Psychology (Pluto, 2007).
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