Abstract
It is tempting to see the increasing influence of psychological sciences in the twentieth century as an exemplary case in a history of the ‘scientization’ and ‘engineering’ of society. In Britain, just as in the Netherlands and the United States, and indeed across the Western world, the psychological sciences and their technologies, standards, and languages have come to play an evident role in shaping the way modern life is governed, understood, and conducted. This is not in dispute. However, the nature (and thus degree) of this influence, as well as the route to this influence, is complex. As such, rather than offering yet another case study of the inexorable advance towards a psychological and therapeutic society, this chapter highlights reasons for a more critical and probing attitude towards processes of (psychological) scientization and engineering of society.
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Notes
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© 2012 Mathew Thomson
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Thomson, M. (2012). The Psychological Sciences and the ‘Scientization’ and ‘Engineering’ of Society in Twentieth-Century Britain. In: Brückweh, K., Schumann, D., Wetzell, R.F., Ziemann, B. (eds) Engineering Society. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137284501_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137284501_7
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