Psychologisation in Times of Globalisation (Concepts for Critical Psychology)

"Today more than ever, our understanding of ourselves, others and the world around us is described in psychological terms. Psychologists deeply influence our society, and psychological-discourse has invaded companies, advertising, culture, politics, and even our social and family life. Moreover, psychologisation has become a global process, applied to situations such as torture, reality TV and famine. This book analyses this 'overflow of psychology' in the three main areas of science, culture and politics. The concept of psychologisation has become crucial to current debates in critical psychology. De Vos combines these debates with insights from the fields of critical theory, philosophy and ideology critique, to present the first book-length argument that seriously considers the concept of psychologisation in these times of globalisation. The book contains numerous real-world examples making it an accessible and engaging analysis that should be of interest to researchers, postgraduates and undergraduate students of psychology and philosophy."--Publisher's website Cover 1 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Preface 10 Acknowledgements 12 Introduction: Deadlocks in the critique of psychologisation 14 Psychologisation: three possible critiques, their deadlocks and how to transcend them 16 Hypotheses and further epistemological premises and engagements 22 The radical research terrain of the homo psychologicus: an outline 25 1 The birth of the homo psychologicus: The chronicle of a death foretold 28 The homo psychologicus: the birth 29 The homo academicus: the twin 31 Ecce Homo: the labour pains 33 The de-subjectivised subject: the procreation 36 Psychologisation in late modernity: the afterbirth 38 2 Psychologisation and the sciences 43 From Milgram to Zimbardo: the double birth of post-war psychology 46 Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib: the case of scientifically based torture 57 Conclusion: de-psychologising torture 64 3 Psychologisation and culture 78 Image culture and its grounding in psychology 80 Modern subjectivity and the law of psychology 82 The empty stage and the empty theatre: the case of Daniel Dennett’s ‘cerebral celebrity’ 87 De-psychologising subjectivity 93 4 Psychologisation and politics 106 From biopolitics to psycho-politics 107 (De)psychologisation and (de) politicisation: the case of psychological humanitarian aid 115 De-psychologising economy 124 5 Psychologisation in times of globalisation 135 Now you know too much, how do you feel? 137 Why do we need so much psychology? Revisited 139 Once again: it is the psycho-economy 142 Psycho-globalisation 144 Psychology/psychologisation, psychoanalysis and Das Ewig Weibliche 149 References 157 Index 169 Jan De Vos. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.