Product Description
Critical Psychology
Authors: E Burman, D Hook, I Parker, N Mkhize, A Collins
Format: Physical Hardcopy
Critical Psychology is an approach rather than a theory, an orientation towards psychological knowledge and practice, and to relations of power in general. It is an orientation that cuts across the various sub-disciplines in psychology, and is made up of diverse theoretical perspectives and forms of practice.
As such, the best way to grasp critical psychology is by getting a sense of its agendas and functioning across a spread of theories and practices. This is exactly what this book offers, a broad and flexible introduction to critical psychology that explores the diverse concerns of this orientation as it applies to the socio-political contexts of post-apartheid South Africa.
The book expands on the theoretical resources usually referred to in the field of critical psychology – Marxism, psychoanalysis, post-structuralism, feminism – by providing substantive discussions of Black Consciousness, post-colonialism and Africanist forms of critique. This book is also a response to the need to rethink a more politically aware and participant psychology in South Africa; it hence features focus chapters on racism, community development, HIV/Aids and participatory action forms of research.
There are numerous routes through critical psychology, multiple different ways in which the subject can be approached and taught, each with its own particular brand of theoretical loyalties or preferences. This book contains a wealth of material, and a wealth of critical perspectives spread across theoretical, practical and distinctly South African levels of application.
Contents:
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Critical psychology: the basic coordinates
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Section 1: Theoretical resources
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Psychology: an African perspective
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Dialogism and African conceptions of the self
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Frantz Fanon, Steve Biko, psychopolitics and critical psychology
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Fanon and the psychoanalysis of racism
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Psychoanalysis and critical psychology
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Marxism and critical psychology
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Psychology and the regulation of gender
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Foucault, disciplinary power, critical psychology
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Governmentality and technologies of subjectivity/self
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Section 2: The South African context
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Feminist critical psychology in South Africa
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Criticial reflections on community and psychology in South Africa
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Theorising the role of collection action management of HIV/AIDS in South Africa
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South African psychology and racism
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About black psychologies
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Section 3: Forms of practice
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Activity theory as a framework for psychological research and practice in developing societies
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Participatory action research in community contexts
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Community psychology: emotional processes in political subjects
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Discursive practice: analyzing a Lovelines text on sex communication for parents
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Writing into action: the critical research enterprise
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Liberation psychology
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Human development in 'under-developed' contexts
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