The Political Level: Taking Action

Abstract

One of the aims of a liberation psychology is to identify processes and practices which will facilitate taking action to bring about change. It appears from the discussion so far that personal, interpersonal and political change are interconnected with each other, but that change at the first two levels can, but does not necessarily, instigate efforts to bring about change in social conditions. The discussion in this chapter will aim to identify further some of the factors which inhibit taking action to bring about social and political change; it will also develop insights into what is involved in taking such action. It will draw primarily on group discussions described in Chapter 5 which raised questions about women’s involvement in political action, on examples from the women’s movement, and on theoretical writings.