Race, Rage, and Resistance: Philosophy, Psychology, and the Perils of Individualism

This timely collection asks the reader to consider how society’s modern notion of humans as rational, isolated individuals has contributed to psychological and social problems and oppressive power structures.

Experts from a range of disciplines offer a complex understanding of how humans are shaped by history, tradition, and institutions. Drawing upon the work of Lacan, Fanon, and Foucault, this text examines cultural memory, modern ideas of race and gender, the roles of symbolism and mythology, and neoliberalism’s impact on psychology. Through clinical vignettes and suggested applications, it demonstrates significant alternatives to the isolated individualism of Western philosophy and psychology.

This interdisciplinary volume is essential reading for clinicians and anyone looking to augment their understanding of how human beings are shaped by the societies they inhabit.

David M. Goodman is interim dean at the Woods College of Advancing Studies at Boston College, associate professor of the practice in the Philosophy department, director of Psychology and the Other, and a teaching associate at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Hospital.

Eric R. Severson is author of the books Levinas's Philosophy of Time and Scandalous Obligation, and the editor of seven other volumes. He lives in Kenmore, Washington, with his wife Misha and their three children, and teaches philosophy at Seattle University.

Heather Macdonald's scholarly research focuses on the interface between relational ethics and clinical practice. Her first monograph, titled Cultural and Critical Explorations in Community Psychology, further considers the implications of psychological assessment and historical trauma.