Psychology politics resistance–the birth of a new organization

✍ Scribed by Stephen Reicher; Ian Parker

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 257 KB
• Volume: 3
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1052-9284
• DOI: 10.1002/casp.2450030109

✦ Synopsis

Psychology Politics Resistance is a network of people-both psychologists and nonpsychologists-who are prepared to oppose the abusive uses of psychology. This means challenging the ideas within psychology that lead to oppressive practices, supporting those who are on the receiving end and using psychological knowledge positively to help those engaged in struggles for social justice.

For many people, an interest in psychology is tied to a concern for human welfare. We look around ourselves, or even to ourselves, and see inordinate amounts of deprivation, discrimination and misery. Our hope is that, in better understanding the psychological bases of these phenomena, we may be better placed to help in overcoming them. Indeed, as stated in the first editorial, the rationale for this journal was, in part, to be involved in such an enterprise:

We believe that psychological ideas and practices should help to remove exploitation and oppression from people's lives and be aimed at giving all people greater control over their lives. (Mansell, Orford, Reicher & Stephenson, 1991, p.3)