Research Catalog

Title

A history of "relevance" in psychology / Wahbie Long.

Author

Long, Wahbie

Publication

London : Palgrave Macmillan, [2016]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

xii, 222 pages : portraits; 22 cm

Summary

This book represents the first attempt to historicise and theorise appeals for 'relevance' in psychology. It argues that the persistence of questions about the 'relevance' of psychology derives from the discipline's terminal inability to define its subject matter, its reliance on a socially disinterested science to underwrite its knowledge claims, and its consequent failure to address itself to the needs of a rapidly changing world. The chapters go on to consider the 'relevance' debate within South African psychology, by critically analysing discourse of forty-five presidential, keynote and opening addresses delivered at annual national psychology congresses between 1950 and 2011, and observes how appeals for 'relevance' were advanced by reactionary, progressive and radical psychologists alike. The book presents, moreover, the provocative thesis that the revolutionary quest for 'social relevance' that began in the 1960s has been supplanted by an ethic of 'market relevance' that threatens to isolate the discipline still further from the anxieties of broader society. With powerful interest groups continuing to co-opt psychologists without relent, this is a development that only psychologists of conscience can arrest.

Series Statement

Palgrave studies in the theory and history of psychology

Uniform Title

Palgrave studies in the theory and history of psychology

Subject

• Psychology > South Africa > History
• Psychology > Philosophy
• Ethnopsychology
• Social psychology
• Critical psychology
• Psychology > history
• Social Conditions > history
• History, 20th Century
• History, 21st Century
• Ethnopsychology
• Psychology, Social
• Psychologie > Afrique du Sud > Histoire
• Psychologie > Philosophie
• Ethnopsychologie
• Psychologie sociale
• Psychologie critique
• Médecine > Histoire > 20e siècle
• Médecine > Histoire > 21e siècle
• ethnopsychology
• social psychology
• Critical psychology
• Psychology
• Social psychology
• South Africa

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

• 1. Introduction -- A Question of "Relevance" -- Historicizing "Relevance" in Psychology -- Understanding "Relevance" in South African Psychology -- Structuring the Book -- 2. A History of "Relevance" -- The "Irrelevance" of Higher Education -- The "Irrelevance" of American Psychology -- The "Irrelevance" of European Psychology -- The "Irrelevance" of Third World Psychology -- Indian "Relevance" -- Chinese "Relevance" -- Filipino "Relevance" -- Latin American "Relevance" -- Islamic "Relevance" -- African "Relevance" -- Discussion -- 3. Theorizing "Relevance" -- Psychology and Its Subject Matter -- Basic and Applied Psychology -- Psychology and Social Change -- "Relevance," Realism, and Relativism -- Some Remarks on Method -- 4. Themes in South African Psychology (1948 -- 2011) -- In Search of a "Relevant" Psychology -- Making Psychology Social -- Science Versus Profession -- 5. "Relevance" and the SAPA-PIRSA Split -- SAPA Breaks Apart -- PIRSA's President Speaks -- Afrikanerdom, PIRSA, and the Survival of the Volk -- An Anglicized Afrikaner Strikes Back -- 6. Science and Society in the Time of SAPA (1948 -- 1961) -- Of Quacks and Pseudo-Psychologists (Presidential Address, 1950) -- The Battle of the Schools (Opening Address, 1951) -- The Basic -- Applied Dichotomy (Opening Address, 1953) -- A Dilemma (Presidential Address, 1954) -- Psychotherapy of a Different Nature (Presidential Address, 1955) -- A Humbled Elisha (Presidential Address, 1958) -- Mercury Rising (Presidential/Opening Address, 1961) -- An Inevitable Split -- 7. The Rise and Fall of `Ethnic-National Relevance' (1963-1977) -- Serving the Endangered Volk -- Psychological Research as White Trusteeship (Presidential Address 1963) -- The New American Illness (Presidential Address 1964) -- Road Accidents and "Relevance" (Presidential Address 1965) -- Professionalizing Clinical Psychology (Presidential Address 1966 -- The Science Behind Apartheid (Presidential Address 1967) -- Man and the Machine of Robotism (Presidential Address 1968) -- "Relevance" and the Sexual Lives of Scorpions (Presidential Address 1969) -- The Death of Ideology -- Assisting the Bantu in His Hour of Crisis (Presidential Address 1970) -- Revolution in the USA (Opening Address 1970) -- Cultivating Giftedness, Preventing Rebellion (Presidential Address 1972) -- Religion as the Answer to Anomie (Presidential Address 1973) -- The Triviality of Psychology (Presidential Address 1975) -- Serving Society (Presidential Address 1977) -- Beyond Apartheid
• 8. The Quest for "Social Relevance" (1978-1993) -- The Politics of No Politics -- Protecting the Public (PIRSA Presidential Address 1978) -- Apolitical "Relevance" (SAPA Presidential Address 1979) -- Disciplinary Concerns (PIRSA Presidential Address 1980) -- Talking About "Relevance" (SAPA Keynote Address 1980) -- Technicizing Social Processes (PASA Presidential Address 1982) -- Studying Black Africans (PASA Opening Address 1983) -- `Science Transcends Utility' (PASA Keynote Address 1986) -- The Birth of Liberatory Politics -- Apartheid and Mental Health (OASSSA Opening Address 1986) -- Social Services in Mass Politics (OASSSA Opening Address 1987) -- Culture and Progressive Social Services (OASSSA Keynote Address 1988) -- Inside PASA (PASA Opening Address 1989) -- `The Generality/Specificity Issue' (PASA Keynote Address 1991) -- Atonement (PASA Opening Address 1993) -- "Psychology Will Live On" (PASA Presidential Address 1993) -- Party Politics to the Fore -- 9. "Relevance" in the Post-Apartheid Era (1994-2011 -- Enter the Market -- Corporate Speak (Presidential Address 1996) -- Culture in the Marketplace (Keynote Address 2000) -- "Sangomas... Tea Leaves... and Soap Operas" (Keynote Address 2001) -- Critiquing the Market (Keynote Address 2002) -- "A Fiercely Violent Society" (Keynote Address 2003) -- "Let Us Care for Our Fellow Psychologists" (Presidential Address 2004) -- "A Silent Discipline" (Opening Address 2007) -- Psychology Making "Enormous Strides" (Keynote Address 2010) -- On Serving the Unserved (Presidential Address 2011) -- A Different Kind of "Relevance" -- 10. Conclusion -- A History of "Relevance" -- Understanding "Market Relevance" -- Local Implications -- Whither Psychology?.

ISBN

• 1137474882
• 9781137474889
• 1137474890
• 9781137474896
• 9781137474896 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2016940958

OCLC

• 934193872
• SCSB-10899001

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library