I have been a lurker on the list for a few months, but have enjoyed some
of the fascinating recent contributions, and I have at last been moved
to contribute a thought, despite my possible lack of qualifications :-)
I found myself thinking a great deal about Mark Burton's interesting
posting on 'being critical' and enjoyed David and Paul's recent
comments, amongst others.
Mark's posting reflected a (useful) tension that was apparent at the
Newcastle conference. Both the idealism of modernity and the iconoclasm
of post-modern thinking were represented at various stages of the
conference and are apparent in the literature. If I remember correctly,
David Smail referred to Habermas and the Frankfurt School in his
presentation at conference, as he does in his book 'Power Interest and
Psychology'. He is also critical of elements of post-modern approaches
to therapy, especially Narrative Therapy which (if I have understood) he
calls 'psychotic', the apotheosis of 'magic-voluntarism'(p.7)*.
On the other hand, much hay has been made by explicitly applying the
thinking of post-modern types such as Derrida and Foucault by, for
example, Ian Parker (eg 'Deconstructing Psychotherapy'). This work is
also of value for community psychology, and it has much to say about
'being critical', not in a destructive way, but in a restless attempt to
identify, unsettle and unbalance entrenched power structures.
It is therefore this paragraph in Mark's posting that I want to comment
on:-
"Another use of 'critical', however, seems to come from the lay notion
of the 'critic'. At its worst (and most post-modern) that can mean 'say
what you like', and 'pose around as the most critical voice of all'.
There is no method, just individual opinion. The process is destructive
not constructive. It is part of the 'society of the spectacle', of
consumerism, of capitalism itself."
It reminded me of the sensationalist rhetoric of Alex Callinicos in
"Against Postmodernism". I am not sure it is helpful to try and ensnare
the multiplicity of post-modern thinking, or post-modern methods, in a
bi-polar construct 'capitalism versus Marxism', right versus left wing:-
post-modern thinking is diverse. There is also a danger that we
underplay the influence of post-modern thinkers on the development of
'reflexive modernity' which still binds strongly to Marxist roots.
In fact, my attitude to what it means to be 'critical' was heavily
influenced by Lyotard, "a critique can only ever be reformist and is
eternally trapped in the sphere of the criticised (1974, Libidinal
Economy)". To be revolutionary we need to be able to turn our backs on
entrenched polarities and look away.**
I think we have much to learn from post-modern thinking and indeed, much
of the language in this mailing list echoes that of some of the most
interesting post-modern writers such as Foucault "The individual is the
product of power. What is needed is to "de-individualize" by means of
multiplication and displacement, diverse combinations. The group must
not be the organic bond uniting hierarchised individuals, but a constant
generator of de-individualization" (From "Introduction to the
Non-Fascist Life").
I don't think community psychology needs to take shelter under any of
the great movements (Marxism, The Frankfurt School, Post-modernism) or
any of the great egos that dominate much of modern thought, be it
Foucault, Derrida, Lyotard....Habermas or Marx! But we must be careful
not to parody useful post-modern methods and thought as nihilistic, or
capitalist. There are lots of useful ways of being critical.
I've enjoyed the provocative postings on the list; a little corner of
the non-fascist life!
Grant Jeffrey (possibly protesting too much ;-)
*(Interestingly, in their book 'Anti-Oedipus',1983, the post-modern
writers Deleuze and Guattari make a virtue of the very psychosis that
David Smail identifies with their alternative to psychoanalysis -
'schizo-analysis'!)
**(Nietzsche (1887, Aphorism 276) "I do not want to wage war against
what is ugly. I do not want to accuse; I do not even want to accuse
those who accuse. Looking away shall be my only negation. All in all
and on the whole, some day I wish to be only a Yes-Sayer.")
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