Re-sizing Psychology in Public Policy and the Private Imagination [Hardcover]

This book interrogates the current reputation of Psychology, both as an industry and as part of the academy. It disputes Psychology's claim to be a science, questions its claims to effectiveness and examines relationships with other disciplines and fields. Just as Psychology's role in the design of addictive gaming machines has been underplayed so too has the conservative aspect of its regulation of normality and pathology. The discipline of Psychology affects our understanding of identity and subjectivity to position the self as amoral and disconnected. This book questions this assumption and, more generally, the received status of Psychology.Chapter 1. Introduction.- Chapter 2. Myths and Misunderstandings.- Chapter 3. Effectiveness, Status and Territory.- Chapter 4. Questionable Psychology.- Chapter 5. The Larger Critique.- Chapter 6. Normative Psychology.- Chapter 7. Psychology and Governmentality.- Chapter 8. Psychologizing.- Chapter 9. Psychology out of Ames Room.Mark Furlong is an independent scholar and Thinker-in-Residence at the Bouverie Family Centre of La Trobe University, Australia. He practiced for 20 years in mental health and therapeutic settings, publishing extensively across diverse fields. This book interrogates the current reputation of Psychology, both as an industry and as part of the academy. It disputes Psychology's claim to be a science, questions its claims to effectiveness and examines relationships with other disciplines and fields. Just as Psychology's role in the design of addictive gaming machines has been underplayed so too has the conservative aspect of its regulation of normality and pathology. The discipline of Psychology affects our understanding of identity and subjectivity to position the self as amoral and disconnected. This book questions this assumption and, more generally, the received status of Psychology.