Critical Psychology: An Introduction

Critical Psychology is the first comprehensive and accessible introduction of its kind. Recent years have seen a widespread and important challenge, on an international scale, to the moral, political, and scientific status of psychology. Critical psychology has transformed or influenced debates, research, and practice across the discipline, and yet much of its writings have been highly technical and complex. In this major textbook, an international cast of contributors offer a broad-ranging and clearly written introduction that guides the reader through the diverse strands of critical psychology. The book is organized into four coherent sections. Part I provides an overview that explores the values, history, methods, ethics, and practice of psychology from a critical viewpoint; Part II places a wide set of sub-disciplines of psychology under critical scrutiny, ranging from intelligence research through developmental and social psychology to cross-cultural, lesbian, gay, and political psychology; Part III sets out major theoretical frameworks that have underpinned many critiques of the mainstream; and part IV concludes the book with reflections both on debates arising in preceding chapters and issues for the future of critical psychology. Critical Psychology will be an essential text for students and academics who see the discipline of psychology as part of a wider social and political context.

Dennis Fox is Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Psychology in the Legal Studies Program, University of Illinois at Springfield, USA. Isaac Prilleltensky is Associate Professor of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada. He is author of The Morals and Politics of Psychology: Psychological Discourse and the Status Quo (1994).

CONTRIBUTORS OUTSIDE WESTERN HEMISPHERE

Erica Burman Manchester Metropolitan University

Celia Kitzinger Loughborough University

David Nightingale Bolton Institute of Higher Education

Sue Wilkinson Loughborough University