Confronting psychology's power

✍ Scribed by Dennis Fox

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2008
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 103 KB
• Volume: 36
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0090-4392
• DOI: 10.1002/jcop.20233

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Isaac Prilleltensky (this issue, pp. 116–136) seeks to make community psychology a more effective force for social justice. His discussion of psychopolitical validity raises a number of questions: How perfect must the theoretical framework be to usefully oppose unjust power? In what way is the notion of “psychopolitical validity” most useful? How might an analysis of power apply to community psychology's own institutions? Is redirecting community psychology the most effective way to bring about transformative social change, or is success more likely to come outside psychology? Might more research aimed at understanding the mechanisms of oppression and liberation help oppressors more than liberators? And how can critical psychologists move beyond critique to action? The proposed framework will help facilitate social change only if community psychology also changes itself. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.