Power is inextricably linked with the practice of doing psychological research. Relationships between researchers and participants are power-laden because, far from being disinterested observers of behaviour, researchers interpret events around them and have views and opinions about socio-political realities in the world. They may even be (unwitting) representatives of interest groups (such as governments and multinational corporations) that might use their findings to pursue their own goals. In short, psychological knowledge is power.
Well-being is regarded as a collective goal, not just an individual one.
The struggle for well-being is undertaken not just by individuals – alone in the world – but in the nested context of family, community and society. It is an ecological struggle, located in the external world, not just in the mind.
Psychology can effectively promote well-being by studying their eco- nomic and socio-political contexts.
Oppression arises when individuals or groups dominate other indi- viduals or groups socio-politically or psychologically. States, multinational companies and individuals can all be agents of oppression. Oppression prevails when power is unequally distributed between individuals or groups. Its effects can be felt individually as internal psychological prob- lems, or externally in the form of economic or political powerlessness.
Liberation occurs when power asymmetries are eradicated. Throwing off the shackles of oppression involves confronting both individual and institutional misery. Critical psychologists regard socio-political liberation as a precondition for psychological well-being. In other words, the per- sonal and the political are complementary and interconnected spheres.
effective agents who have intentions and capacities to change the cir- cumstances in which they live (Eckensberger, 1996). This human agency casts us all in the role of goal-directed beings, not mere prod- ucts of our circumstances and surroundings.
One consequence of the view that all research is necessarily value- laden is that all data are open to abuse by various interest groups (governments, multinational companies) with agendas of their own:
agendas which may, in some cases, be discriminatory or oppressive.
Note the US government’s funding of Project Camelot in the 1960s, with the aim of using psychological knowledge to subdue worldwide national liberation movements (Prilleltensky & Nelson, 2002).
Instances of scientific racism (see Chapter 2) provide more examples of the political abuses of psychological knowledge.
Research for positive change
Critical psychology is founded on the principle that the political uses of research can also be positive. The transformative potential of psycho- logical knowledge is the sleeping giant that motivates critical research.
Advocates of this paradigm want to awaken the rest of the discipline to the possibilities of research as an instrument of social change (Pril- leltensky & Nelson, 2002). Transformative research is built on four conceptual cornerstones of the critical paradigm (see key concept on p. 93). Instead of dwelling on people’s reactions to inequality and oppression, transformative research investigates how disadvantaged individuals or groups can achieve social justice by bringing about change in their material and political circumstances. Examples of transformative research questions are:
• How can underlying prejudice and discrimination in relations between white Western Australians and indigenous groups be reduced? (Contos, cited in Drew et al., 2000)
• How can poverty reduction influence the educational performance of disadvantaged children in India? (Sinha, 1986)
• How can conflict reduction programmes among Aboriginal communities in Canada increase feelings of cultural identity and reinforce Aboriginal values? (Connors & Maidman, 2001) Action research
Critical psychology urges a shift in the research methods of global psychology. The proposed and, in many regions, already developing critical method acknowledges that well-being can only be understood KEY TERM
Transformative research. Research that investigates how disadvantaged individuals or groups can achieve social justice by bringing about change in their material and political circumstances.
by researchers who are prepared to look beyond the responses of the individual participant, towards wider community and socio-political con- texts (Sloan, 1996). The critical researcher thus rejects experimental, laboratory-based methods that portray the participant as an individual who is detached from the social and societal context. Favoured methods for investigating social justice and inequality have attracted the umbrella term action research (Fals Borda, 1988; Sanchez, 1996).
Action researchers assume the role of political activist, ideologically in- terpreting situations being studied, not just observing them. They con- duct studies that help develop an understanding of phenomena so that practical solutions can be found to local and global problems. Action research is not designed to yield neutral knowledge. It is formulated with the active involvement of participants, to raise the consciousness of communities and wider society about the liberating potential of psychological knowledge. The hallmarks of action research are out- lined in Figure 5.3 and displayed in the Brazilian study outlined below.
What did my grandmother’s grandmother do for a living?
Lane and Sawaia’s (1991) study of self-esteem was conducted in a Brazilian shanty town. Female migrants from rural areas in the north of the country formed the sample. Displaced from their homeland in search of work, these women were low in confidence and low in optimism about their chances of prospering amid the economic demands of their new urban landscape. Talking with the women, researchers saw them as having internalised the stereotypes of native urban dwellers – seeing themselves as lazy, passive, unable to make it in the big city. This study aimed to reverse the trend of self- deprecation and elevate self-esteem levels. Coaching sessions were set up in which the women were encouraged to reacquaint themselves with traditional handicrafts that were indigenous to their homeland. These skills, which included doll and tablecloth making, echoed traditions inherited from their mothers and grandmothers.
One effect of this stimulation of collective memory was to instil the women with a sense of pride in their heritage. It also provided income. Overall, the research project helped transform the women’s self-image and sense of identity.
Critical psychology remains outside the global mainstream and, as the comments below show, does have its critics. Yet its orientation towards finding solutions in areas characterised by poverty, inequality and dis- crimination may mean that from its regional base in the developing world it will someday export its ideas and methods elsewhere
KEY TERM
Action research.
Studies that help develop an understanding of phenomena so that practical solutions can be found to local and global problems.
(Moghaddam, 1990). After all, oppression, inequality and discrimin- ation are not exclusive to nations with undeveloped economies.
Limitations of critical psychology
1 The cross-cultural critique. Being essentially an applied approach, the critical paradigm is open to criticism from cross-cultural psycho- logists who like their psychology to be more theoretical. Indeed, a
‘theory-testing’ approach, wherein established theories are tested in different cultural settings under equivalent circumstances (see Chapter 1), is arguably not commensurable with the critical para- digm (Lincoln & Guba, 2000). Critical psychology, being primarily transformative, has indeed been criticised for being too practically based, too lacking in supporting theory (Dobles Oropeza, 2000).
Projects are set up very much from the bottom up, as reactions to social injustice or oppression. Cross-cultural psychologists may criticise this on the grounds that established theory ought to set the agenda for research. In other words, studies should be devised at least in part in order to test theories, rather than deal with existing social problems.
2 The global applicability problem. Critical research gains its impetus from regions where poverty, inequality and discrimination are Step 1 Initiation
Community representatives initiate the project, requesting the presence of psychological researchers, perhaps from a local university, to help address a locally based problem.
Step 2 Collaboration
Psychological researchers and community representatives collaborate to define the aims of the project and agree on appropriate research methods.
Step 3 Training
Training may be offered to community representatives to ensure their full participation in project development and data collection.
Step 4 Data collection
A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods is likely; questionnaires, interviews, observations, ethnographies – conducted by community representatives and researchers.
Step 5 Feedback
After the research period researchers and community representatives take part in feedback and reflection to assess the usefulness of the data for the community’s needs.
Throughout the project there will be an ongoing process of consultation between community representatives and psychological researchers, during which research aims may be refined.
Figure 5.3 Critical global research in five steps
endemic. It specialises in researching into power asymmetries in sites of oppression, predominantly in developing regions. This leaves it open to the accusation that it produces findings which are primarily gathered from – and applicable only to – the developing world. It is, in other words, in danger of limiting its wider applicability.
Arguably then, it needs to broaden its appeal. Unless critical psych- ology can export its values and methods to areas such as North America (where, after all, poverty and inequality are also common) it may remain on psychology’s periphery.
3 A lack of objectivity. Critical research is value-laden. Action researchers are unashamedly engaged with their subject matter, both politically and collaboratively. Findings cannot therefore be read as the neutral observations of researchers endeavouring to remain objective. Rather, they are ideologically charged interpretations of events. Any degree of political
engagement obliges the researcher to relinquish all claims to objectivity in their work. Furthermore, col- laborative engagement with com- munity representatives obliges the critical researcher to relinquish ultimate control over the research project. All things considered, then, a high degree of ideological and collaborative engagement effectively limits the critical researcher’s levels of objectivity. For those who do not empathise with the social con- structivist viewpoint, this subjectivity arguably produces contaminated research data.
The challenge for cross-cultural psychology
The paradigms covered in this chapter offer alternatives to mainstream cross-cultural psychology. They remind us that etic-oriented research that aims to test established theories in diverse locations is not the only game in the town of global psychology.
Can these alternative paradigms be viewed complementary to cross- culturalism? This is debatable. Arguably, qualitative, ethnographic, case-specific data can usefully augment quantitative research findings from cross-cultural replications (Berry et al., 2002). On the other hand,