This series offers titles that challenge the dominant models of psychological science and their a... more This series offers titles that challenge the dominant models of psychological science and their applications in order to foster social transformation toward equity and justice. With this common aim, various forms of critical and liberation psychology have emerged over the last few decades, drawing on neo-Marxism, poststructuralism, critical hermeneutics, feminist psychoanalysis, queer studies, and postcolonial thought. Critiques grounded in these perspectives reveal the ideological functions of mainstream theories and the therapeutic, organizational, and educational practices that flow from them. Titles in this series explore these links between theory and practice and argue for progressive alternatives. Critical Theory and Practice in Psychology and the Human Sciences publishes bold and innovative monographs that advance critical psychology and propose socially transformative practices. The series welcomes submissions from a range of theoretical perspectives and disciplinary orientations, including clinical psychology and counseling, social work, community psychology, organizational development, and activism.
Macro cultural psychology's distinctive emphasis on the politics of culture (rooted in the politi... more Macro cultural psychology's distinctive emphasis on the politics of culture (rooted in the political economy) introduces issues of power, oppression, class hierarchy, alienation, dispossession, destabilization, mystification, and false consciousness (that are elements of political economy) into cultural psychology. Material and political oppression generate, and depend upon, psychological oppression, which reciprocally generates them . Attacking psychological oppression is the way that psychologists can utilize their specialized competencies to improve social and psychological activity. We Page 2 of 55 assist oppressed people to comprehend their psychological oppression, as a window into economic and political oppression, and as calling for distinctive features of politicaleconomic transformation/liberation. We explain how psychological phenomena reflect, embody, and reproduce oppressive macro cultural factors. We reveal internalized, subjective, oppression as a means of comprehending and transforming macro cultural oppression.
This chapter, and the next, explain the scientific and political aspects of macro cultural psycho... more This chapter, and the next, explain the scientific and political aspects of macro cultural psychology, and their interdependence. This chapter explains macro cultural psychology's culture theory as it evolved from traditional cultural psychology. The following chapter explains the genesis of macro cultural psychology's culture theory as it evolved from interaction with cross-cultural psychology and micro cultural psychology. The following chapter also compares the political orientation of macro cultural psychology with the other approaches to cultural psychology.
This chapter seeks to extend the macro cultural psychological thrust of Vygotsky's " classic " SC... more This chapter seeks to extend the macro cultural psychological thrust of Vygotsky's " classic " SCT, and to correct the popular recasting of Vygotsky as a " micro cultural psychologist. " A fruitful deepening of Vygotsky's macro cultural approach is to construe psychological phenomena as " cultural capital " that have a capitalist form and content and a capitalist function of reproducing capitalist culture. This reveals the concrete cultural character of psychology, which is the goal of classic SCT and cultural psychology.
This book is about contemporary populist political movements for social change. It is not directl... more This book is about contemporary populist political movements for social change. It is not directly about psychology, however, the populism that is espoused is based upon a social-political philosophy that has strong psychological elements. I shall endeavor to explain this complex political-psychology.
This article seeks to problematize the issue of pathology and to render it intelligible. I elucid... more This article seeks to problematize the issue of pathology and to render it intelligible. I elucidate a cultural-political model of a) why pathology is prevalent in numerous forms and social domains, and b) interventions for ameliorating widespread pathology, and ultimately eradicating it. This model draws on the work of Eric Fromm that articulates how pathology is characteristic of normal social, psychological activity in many or most societies.. This article also discusses two ways in which prevalent pathology is misunderstood, and not corrected, eradicated, or prevented. One misinterpretation is the standard bio-medical model of pathology. A second misinterpretation is a liberal, humanistic, postmodern position that denies all pathology and insists that behavior is a positive expression of choice and agency which must be validated and accepted rather than corrected.
El objetivo del artículo es examinar la psicología cultural contemporánea a través de sus raíces ... more El objetivo del artículo es examinar la psicología cultural contemporánea a través de sus raíces históricas partiendo de la Escuela de Ciencias Humanas de Göttingen (1770s) hasta llegar a la obra de Wundt, Vygotsky y Bronfenbrenner. Identificamos los conceptos fundacionales que se han ido desarrollando en cada etapa. Indicamos diferencias entre la psicología cultural y la psicología cross-cultural para concluir describiendo perspectivas contemporáneas en el seno de la psicología cultural. Estas incluyen la teoría de la actividad, la psicología micro-cultural y la psicología macro-cultural. Discutimos cómo las perspectivas contemporáneas se relacionan con los conceptos fundacionales, a veces complementándolos, a veces transformándolos. Un tema central de la discusión es la unidad dialéctica entre psicología y cultura. Utilizamos los conceptos históricos de la psicología cultural para examinar esta unidad, explicando por qué la psicología es cultural y por qué la cultura incluye psicología.
This series offers titles that challenge the dominant models of psychological science and their a... more This series offers titles that challenge the dominant models of psychological science and their applications in order to foster social transformation toward equity and justice. With this common aim, various forms of critical and liberation psychology have emerged over the last few decades, drawing on neo-Marxism, poststructuralism, critical hermeneutics, feminist psychoanalysis, queer studies, and postcolonial thought. Critiques grounded in these perspectives reveal the ideological functions of mainstream theories and the therapeutic, organizational, and educational practices that flow from them. Titles in this series explore these links between theory and practice and argue for progressive alternatives. Critical Theory and Practice in Psychology and the Human Sciences publishes bold and innovative monographs that advance critical psychology and propose socially transformative practices. The series welcomes submissions from a range of theoretical perspectives and disciplinary orientations, including clinical psychology and counseling, social work, community psychology, organizational development, and activism.
Macro cultural psychology's distinctive emphasis on the politics of culture (rooted in the politi... more Macro cultural psychology's distinctive emphasis on the politics of culture (rooted in the political economy) introduces issues of power, oppression, class hierarchy, alienation, dispossession, destabilization, mystification, and false consciousness (that are elements of political economy) into cultural psychology. Material and political oppression generate, and depend upon, psychological oppression, which reciprocally generates them . Attacking psychological oppression is the way that psychologists can utilize their specialized competencies to improve social and psychological activity. We Page 2 of 55 assist oppressed people to comprehend their psychological oppression, as a window into economic and political oppression, and as calling for distinctive features of politicaleconomic transformation/liberation. We explain how psychological phenomena reflect, embody, and reproduce oppressive macro cultural factors. We reveal internalized, subjective, oppression as a means of comprehending and transforming macro cultural oppression.
This chapter, and the next, explain the scientific and political aspects of macro cultural psycho... more This chapter, and the next, explain the scientific and political aspects of macro cultural psychology, and their interdependence. This chapter explains macro cultural psychology's culture theory as it evolved from traditional cultural psychology. The following chapter explains the genesis of macro cultural psychology's culture theory as it evolved from interaction with cross-cultural psychology and micro cultural psychology. The following chapter also compares the political orientation of macro cultural psychology with the other approaches to cultural psychology.
This chapter seeks to extend the macro cultural psychological thrust of Vygotsky's " classic " SC... more This chapter seeks to extend the macro cultural psychological thrust of Vygotsky's " classic " SCT, and to correct the popular recasting of Vygotsky as a " micro cultural psychologist. " A fruitful deepening of Vygotsky's macro cultural approach is to construe psychological phenomena as " cultural capital " that have a capitalist form and content and a capitalist function of reproducing capitalist culture. This reveals the concrete cultural character of psychology, which is the goal of classic SCT and cultural psychology.
This book is about contemporary populist political movements for social change. It is not directl... more This book is about contemporary populist political movements for social change. It is not directly about psychology, however, the populism that is espoused is based upon a social-political philosophy that has strong psychological elements. I shall endeavor to explain this complex political-psychology.
This article seeks to problematize the issue of pathology and to render it intelligible. I elucid... more This article seeks to problematize the issue of pathology and to render it intelligible. I elucidate a cultural-political model of a) why pathology is prevalent in numerous forms and social domains, and b) interventions for ameliorating widespread pathology, and ultimately eradicating it. This model draws on the work of Eric Fromm that articulates how pathology is characteristic of normal social, psychological activity in many or most societies.. This article also discusses two ways in which prevalent pathology is misunderstood, and not corrected, eradicated, or prevented. One misinterpretation is the standard bio-medical model of pathology. A second misinterpretation is a liberal, humanistic, postmodern position that denies all pathology and insists that behavior is a positive expression of choice and agency which must be validated and accepted rather than corrected.
El objetivo del artículo es examinar la psicología cultural contemporánea a través de sus raíces ... more El objetivo del artículo es examinar la psicología cultural contemporánea a través de sus raíces históricas partiendo de la Escuela de Ciencias Humanas de Göttingen (1770s) hasta llegar a la obra de Wundt, Vygotsky y Bronfenbrenner. Identificamos los conceptos fundacionales que se han ido desarrollando en cada etapa. Indicamos diferencias entre la psicología cultural y la psicología cross-cultural para concluir describiendo perspectivas contemporáneas en el seno de la psicología cultural. Estas incluyen la teoría de la actividad, la psicología micro-cultural y la psicología macro-cultural. Discutimos cómo las perspectivas contemporáneas se relacionan con los conceptos fundacionales, a veces complementándolos, a veces transformándolos. Un tema central de la discusión es la unidad dialéctica entre psicología y cultura. Utilizamos los conceptos históricos de la psicología cultural para examinar esta unidad, explicando por qué la psicología es cultural y por qué la cultura incluye psicología.
Neoliberal capitalism is the dominant cultural system in the world today. As such, it is an essen... more Neoliberal capitalism is the dominant cultural system in the world today. As such, it is an essential topic for cultural psychology. The cultural psychology of neoliberalism is essential for understanding people's psychology in the modern era. Neoliberal psychology is also a vital window into the culture, economics, and politics of neoliberal capitalism, for those interested in understanding them. Neoliberal psychology adds insights into neoliberalism by revealing its psychological effects. I utilize cultural psychology to provide a distinctive insight into neoliberal culture and modern (neoliberal) psychology. I specifically extend Vygotsky's cultural-historical psychology to accomplish this task. In addition, the cultural psychological exploration of neoliberal psychology and culture enriches the academic
Description This book articulates how psychologists can use psychological theory, research, and i... more Description This book articulates how psychologists can use psychological theory, research, and intervention to generate insights into emancipatory social change that is necessary to solve social and psychological problems. These include racism, sexism, civil rights, poverty, militarism, education, and politics. Psychology was not developed to directly address social issues. It must therefore be reconceptualised to fulfil this aim. In this book Carl Ratner makes use of Vygotsky's Marxist psychological approach known as 'cultural-historical Psychology', supplemented by Martin-Baro's Liberation Psychology and the work of Bourdieu, to develop an emancipatory psychological theory. This approach is based in historical materialism. It is utilized to lay out a specific program of social and psychological emancipation. This reconstructed psychological theory is also used to evaluate populist movements that aim at social and psychological emancipation. Ratner concludes that progressive populism is inadequate to solve social and psychological problems because it misunderstands the nature of society and psychology, and what it takes to improve society and psychology. This is demonstrated through errors in cooperatives, populist feminism, gender/racial identity, and populist socialism (e.g., Richard Wolff's populist socialism). Civil rights are also shown to be inadequate for emancipation. The book additionally identifies populist distortions of emancipatory social and psychological theories. These include Liberation Psychology (in the work of Montero), cultural-historical Psychology (in the work of Stetsenko, Nardi), and historical-materialism. (in the work of Cuellar). This book recuperates and revitalizes the fields of cultural psychology, Vygotsky studies, general psychology, Marxism, and emancipatory politics. This book will be of interest to the general reader, policy makers, and social activists. It will also be of great use to social scientists concerned with how their disciplines can be oriented toward understanding and solving social-psychological problems. Carl Ratner is a cultural psychologist working on political aspects of psychology and culture. He has been active in the cooperative movement and has published two books on it. He has lived and taught in China, Saudi Arabia, India, and England and received several Fulbright Fellowships.
Neoliberal capitalism is the dominant cultural system in the world today. As such, it is an essen... more Neoliberal capitalism is the dominant cultural system in the world today. As such, it is an essential topic for cultural psychology. The cultural psychology of neoliberalism is essential for understanding people's psychology in the modern era. Neoliberal psychology is also a vital window into the culture, economics, and politics of neoliberal capitalism, for those interested in understanding them. Neoliberal psychology adds insights into neoliberalism by revealing its psychological effects. I utilize cultural psychology to provide a distinctive insight into neoliberal culture and modern (neoliberal) psychology. I specifically extend Vygotsky's cultural-historical psychology to accomplish this task. In addition, the cultural psychological exploration of neoliberal psychology and culture enriches the academic discipline of cultural psychology. It does so by extending cultural psychology into these politically
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