Psychologisation in times of globalisation / Jan De Vos.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vos, Jan de, 1967-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Psychology.

Human behavior.

Physical Description:

x, 162 pages ; 22 cm

Place of Publication:

Hove, East Sussex ; New York : Routledge, 2012.

Summary:

"Pyschologization," defined as the entrance of psychological vocabulary and explanatory schemes into fields that are not traditional theoretical and practical terrains of psychology, has globally spread into almost every societal field, including companies, advertising, culture, politics, and our social and family lives, argues De Vos (philosophy and moral sciences, Ghent U., Belgium), whose critique of psychologization leads him to a denunciation of psychology itself as obsolete in both praxis and theory. He presents a three-fold argument, suggesting that the emergence of psychology inevitably and decisively alters the coordinates of subjectivity, that thus modern subjectivity becomes both psychological and psychologized, and that this double figure of psychology and psychologization permeates and structures the fields of modern science, modern culture, and modern politics. Touching upon such topics as the involvement of psychologists in torture practices at the American detention centers at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the proliferation of "psychotainment" (reality TV, celebrity culture, and other forms of psychologized entertainment), and psychologization in humanitarian aid and other forms of contemporary biopolitics as he makes his critique, he concludes by bringing in psychoanalysis as a means to move beyond psychologization. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Contents:

Psychologisation: three possible critiques, their deadlocks and how to transcend them 3

Hypotheses and further epistemological premises and engagements 9

The radical research terrain of the homo psychologicus: an outline 12

1 The birth of the homo psychologicus: the chronicle of a death foretold 15

The homo psychologicus: the birth 16

The homo academicus: the twin 18

Ecce Homo: the labour pains 20

The de-subjectivised subject: the procreation 23

Psychologisation in late modernity: the afterbirth 25

2 Psychologisation and the sciences 30

From Milgram to Zimbardo: the double birth of post-war psychology 33

Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib: the case of scientifically based torture 44

Conclusion: de-psychologising torture 51

3 Psychologisation and culture 65

Image culture and its grounding in psychology 67

Modern subjectivity and the law of psychology 69

The empty stage and the empty theatre: the case of Daniel Dennett's 'cerebral celebrity' 74

De-psychologising subjectivity 80

4 Psychologisation and politics 93

From biopolitics to psycho-politics 94

(De)psychologisation and (de)politicisation: the case of psychological humanitarian aid 102

De-psychologising economy 111

5 Psychologisation in times of globalisation 122

Now you know too much, how do you feel? 124

Why do we need so much psychology? Revisited 126

Once again: it is the psycho-economy 129

Psycho-globalisation 131

Psychology/psychologisation, psychoanalysis and Das Ewig Weibliche 136.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780415682015

0415682010

9780415682022

0415682029

OCLC:

731925284