Abstract
Psychology has a problematic historical record regarding marginalized groups in terms of knowledge and treatment. Nonwhite populations, the second gender, underclasses, persons with disabilities, queer persons, and other groups have been identified in psychological knowledge as deficient. Critical psychologists have challenged the supposed knowledge about the Other at all stages of the psychological research process. It is suggested that psychology is often not about problem-solving but about problem-making. It is argued that problematization can take on the role of violence. An important investigation concerns the role of epistemic responsibility when interpreting results in empirical research. It is argued that within the neoliberal world order something new has emerged: Not only marginalized groups, but everyone (every single individual) has been, and can be, made into a problem. Thus, theoretical analyses must not only focus on the problematization of oppressed people or minorities, but on human beings more generally. Options for resistance in the context of a new nihilism are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Arfken, M. (2012). Scratching the surface: Internationalization, cultural diversity and the politics of recognition. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6(6), 428–437.
Atwood, M. (1985). The handmaid’s tale. Toronto, ON: McClelland & Stewart.
Choudhury, S., & Slaby, J. (2012). Critical neuroscience: A handbook of the social and cultural contexts of neuroscience. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Davies, W. (2015). The happiness industry: How the government and big business sold us well-being. London: Verso.
De Vos, J. (2012). Psychologisation in times of globalisation. London: Routledge.
De Vos, J. (2014). Psychologization. In T. Teo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. 1547–1551). New York, NY: Springer.
Della Porta, D. (2015). Social movements in times of austerity: Bringing capitalism back into protest analysis. Cambridge, UK: Polity.
Dreier, O. (2007). Psychotherapy in everyday life. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Duarte, J. L., Crawford, J. T., Stern, C., Haidt, J., Jussim, L., & Tetlock, P. E. (2014). Political diversity will improve social psychological science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 38, 13.
Elias, N. (1978). The civilizing process. New York, NY: Urizen Books.
Fine, M. (2006). Bearing witness: Methods for researching oppression and resistance. A textbook for critical research. Social Justice Research, 19(1), 83–108.
Fine, M. (2013). Echoes of Bedford: A 20-year social psychology memoir on participatory action research hatched behind bars. American Psychologist, 68(8), 687–698.
Fine, M. (2014). Circuits of dispossession and privilege. In T. Teo (Ed.), Encyclopedia of critical psychology (pp. 227–234). New York, NY: Springer.
Fine, M. (2016). Just methods in revolting times. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 13(4), 347–365.
Fine, M. (2018). Just research in contentious times: Widening the methodological imagination. New York, NY: Teachers College.
Fine, M., & Ruglis, J. (2009). Circuits and consequences of dispossession: The racialized realignment of the public sphere for U.S. youth. Transforming Anthropology, 17(1), 20–33.
Foucault, M. (1983). The subject and power. In H. Dreyfus & P. Rabinow (Eds.), Michel Foucault: Beyond structuralism and hermeneutics (2nd ed., pp. 208–226). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Goodley, D. (2017). Disability studies: An interdisciplinary introduction (2nd ed.). London: Sage.
Gould, S. J. (1996). The mismeasure of man (Revised and expanded). New York, NY: Norton.
Graeber, D. (2011). Debt: The first 5000 years. London: Melville House.
Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2000). Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hardt, M., & Negri, A. (2009). Commonwealth. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Harvey, D. (2004). The “new” imperialism: Accumulation by dispossession. Socialist Register, 40, 63–87.
Hellerstein, D. (2011). Heal your brain: How the new neuropsychiatry can help you go from better to well. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Holzkamp, K. (1968). Wissenschaft als Handlung: Versuch einer neuen Grundlegung der Wissenschaftslehre [Science as action: Essay on a new foundation for the philosophy of science]. Berlin, Germany: Walter de Gruyter.
Holzkamp, K. (1978). Die Überwindung der wissenschaftlichen Beliebigkeit psychologischer Theorien durch die Kritische Psychologie [Overcoming the scientific indeterminacy of psychological theories through Critical Psychology]. In K. Holzkamp (Ed.), Gesellschaftlichkeit des Individuums: Aufsätze 1974–1977 [The societal nature of the individual: Articles from 1974 to 1977] (pp. 129–201). Köln, Germany: Pahl-Rugenstein.
Holzkamp, K. (1981). Theorie und Experiment in der Psychologie: Eine grundlagenkritische Untersuchung (Zweite, um ein Nachwort erweiterte Auflage) [Theory and experiment in psychology: A study critical of its foundations] (2nd ed.). Berlin, Germany: De Gruyter. (Original work published 1964).
Holzkamp, K. (1983). Grundlegung der Psychologie [Laying the foundations for psychology]. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Campus.
Hook, D. (Ed.). (2004). Critical psychology. Lansdowne, South Africa: UCT Press.
Klein, N. (2007). The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. Toronto, ON: Knopf.
Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology: Shattering widespread misconceptions about human behavior. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.
Lykes, M. B. (2013). Participatory and action research as a transformative praxis: Responding to humanitarian crises from the margins. American Psychologist, 68(8), 774–783.
Malone, K. (2012). Subjectivity and alterity. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 32(1), 50–66.
Marcuse, H. (1964). One dimensional man: Studies in the ideology of advanced industrial society. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Martín-Baró, I. (1994). Writings for a liberation psychology. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Miller, G. A. (1969). Psychology as a means of promoting human welfare. American Psychologist, 24(12), 1063–1075.
Morawski, J. G. (1982). Assessing psychology’s moral heritage through our neglected utopias. American Psychologist, 37(10), 1082–1095.
Nelson, G. (2013). Community psychology and transformative policy change in the neo-liberal era. American Journal of Community Psychology, 52(3–4), 211–223.
Papadopoulos, D. (2008). In the ruins of representation: Identity, individuality, subjectification. British Journal of Social Psychology, 47(Pt 1), 139–165.
Parker, I. (2011). Lacanian psychoanalysis: Revolutions in subjectivity. London: Routledge.
Parker, I. (2014). Psychology after discourse analysis: Concepts, methods, critique. New York, NY: Routledge.
Parker, I. (Ed.). (2015). Handbook of critical psychology. London: Routledge.
Pavón-Cuéllar, D. (2013). Lacan and social psychology. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(5), 261–274.
Popper, K. R. (1972). Objective knowledge: An evolutionary approach. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press.
Power, M. (2016). Understanding happiness: A critical review of positive psychology. New York, NY: Routledge.
Prilleltensky, I. (2008). The role of power in wellness, oppression, and liberation: The promise of psychopolitical validity. Journal of Community Psychology, 36(2), 116–136.
Prilleltensky, I., & Nelson, G. (2002). Doing psychology critically: Making a difference in diverse settings. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Quine, W. V. (1969). Ontological relativity and other essays. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Rose, N. (1996). Power and subjectivity: Critical history and psychology. In C. F. Graumann & K. J. Gergen (Eds.), Historical dimensions of psychological discourse (pp. 103–124). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Sandoval, C. (2000). Methodology of the oppressed. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Schraube, E., & Højholt, C. (Eds.). (2016). Psychology and the conduct of everyday life. London: Routledge.
Schrecker, T., & Bambra, C. (2015). How politics makes us sick: Neoliberal epidemics. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Shih, M., & Young, M. J. (2016). Identity management strategies in workplaces with color-blind diversity policies. In H. A. Neville, M. E. Gallardo, & D. W. Sue (Eds.), The myth of racial color blindness: Manifestations, dynamics, and impact (pp. 261–274). Washington, DC: The American Psychological Association.
Smith, K. R. (2009). Psychotherapy as applied science or moral praxis: The limitations of empirically supported treatment. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 29(1), 34–46.
Spivak, G. C. (1988). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Eds.), Marxism and the interpretation of culture (pp. 271–313). Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Stephenson, N., & Papadopoulos, D. (2006). Analysing everyday experience: Social research and political change. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sugarman, J. (2015). Neoliberalism and psychological ethics. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 35(2), 103–116.
Sullivan, S., & Tuana, N. (Eds.). (2007). Race and epistemologies of ignorance. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
Swim, J. K., Stern, P. C., Doherty, T. J., Clayton, S., Reser, J. P., Weber, E. U., … Howard, G. S. (2011). Psychology’s contributions to understanding and addressing global climate change. American Psychologist, 66(4), 241–250.
Teo, T. (2004). The historical problematization of “mixed race” in psychological and human-scientific discourses. In A. Winston (Ed.), Defining difference: Race and racism in the history of psychology (pp. 79–108). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Teo, T. (2005). The critique of psychology: From Kant to postcolonial theory. New York, NY: Springer.
Teo, T. (2008). From speculation to epistemological violence in psychology: A critical-hermeneutic reconstruction. Theory & Psychology, 18(1), 47–67.
Teo, T. (2010). What is epistemological violence in the empirical social sciences? Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4(5), 295–303.
Teo, T. (2011a). Empirical race psychology and the hermeneutics of epistemological violence. Human Studies, 34, 237–255.
Teo, T. (2011b). Theory and empirical research: Can scientific ideas be violent? In P. Stenner, J. Cromby, J. Motzkau, J. Yen, & Y. Haosheng (Eds.), Theoretical psychology: Global transformations and challenges (pp. 239–246). Concord, ON: Captus.
Teo, T. (Ed.). (2014). Encyclopedia of critical psychology. New York, NY: Springer.
Torre, M. E., Fine, M., Stoudt, B. G., & Fox, M. (2012). Critical participatory action research as public science. In H. Cooper, P. M. Camic, D. L. Long, A. T. Panter, & D. Rindskopf (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol. 2: Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (pp. 171–184). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Walker, C., Burton, M., Akhurst, J., & Degirmencioglu, S. M. (2015). Locked into the system? Critical community psychology approaches to personal debt in the context of crises of capital accumulation. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 25(3), 264–275.
Walkerdine, V. (Ed.). (2002). Challenging subjects: Critical psychology for a new millennium. New York, NY: Palgrave.
Ward, S. C. (2002). Modernizing the mind: Psychological knowledge and the remaking of society. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Wild, J. (2005, September 22). Brain imaging ready to detect terrorists, say neuroscientists. Nature, 437, 457.
Wilkinson, R. G., & Pickett, K. (2009). The spirit level: Why more equal societies almost always do better. London: Allen Lane.
Yang, J. (2015). Unknotting the heart: Unemployment and therapeutic governance in China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Yen, J. (2013). Psychology and the social scientific construction of prejudice: Lay encounters with the Implicit Association Test. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Yen, J. (2016). Psychology and health after apartheid: Or, why there is no health psychology in South Africa. History of Psychology, 19(2), 77–92.
Zahavi, D. (2005). Subjectivity and selfhood: Investigating the first-person perspective. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Teo, T. (2018). Problem-Solving Versus Problem-Making in Society. In: Outline of Theoretical Psychology. Palgrave Studies in the Theory and History of Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59651-2_10
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59651-2_10
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-137-59650-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-59651-2
eBook Packages: Behavioral Science and PsychologyBehavioral Science and Psychology (R0)