Hi Mark and Penny,
I too find Mark's 4 questions ( and others' comments) very helpful - and in
the spirit of Penny's queries here about what is the relationship between
people underpinning some of the cyberspace debate - I'd add to the fourth
question - am i doing this in a comradely way, and is it being received in
a comradely way? The dictionary definition of comrade that I liked in
Chambers is: a friend or companion: an associate, fellow worker, etc.
I am still wondering what we can do to expand our experiences of who is a
comrade ( and how if at all we can draw on psychology to help us). Maybe
literature is a better source of inspiration on this than psychology. the
author Caryl Philips answered as follows when members of my book club
wrote to ask him where was the hope in his novel A Distant Shore: "
...Recognising, and being unafraid of "the other", is the beginning of
change..."
Annie
--On 01 December 2005 22:45 +0000 Penny Priest <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
> Hello Mark
> This was really helpful for me - I've never actually heard anyone say
> what being critical is, although I do remember David Fryer at the
> Birmingham conference asking, 'what has been critical about today?' I
> applaud David for always actively taking the position of being critical,
> in the way that you ask in your four questions. I sometimes don't
> experience David's critical questioning as being comradely, but I don't
> think he intends to be uncomradely, either, just critical (David?). Maybe
> it's just how it comes across in cyberspace.
> I must say that the way this discussion has been moving has been quite
> interesting - watching how different people have been responding to the
> conflicts that are around, and whether people seem to be avoiding these,
> or embracing these, or reacting in other ways, and how what I might see
> as attacking might not be attacking because it might be an exchange
> between two people who know each other well and are used to having
> conversations in that sort of way. Sorry, I'm hopelessly rambling but
> thanks anyway. I think you should make it into a paper for Clinical
> Psychology, as a call to reinstate the importance of being critical (and
> questioning why we are doing what we are doing - your first three
> questions that you need convincing about). Your questions could even be a
> good point of reference for any of us who find ourselves squeezed,
> squashed, annexed, shepherded, retreating into the consulting room where
> one-to-one therapy happens:
> What have I stepped into, and is there any way I can step outside of this
> that might be more helpful?
> In whose interests am I doing this (mine - I'm getting paid, the person
> who has come to see me - what do they get from this?)
> What exactly I am doing and what am I expected to do?
> Am I doing this in a comradely way?
> Penny
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Mark Burton
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Sent: Thursday, December 01, 2005 9:43 PM
> Subject: [COMMUNITYPSYCHUK] on being critical
>
>
> Being critical?
>
>
> The term 'critical' as currently used to prefix various disciplines
> (including community psychology!) has multiple origins, but perhaps the
> most significant one is from its use in 'critical theory'. This itself
> refers to several things - in some contexts it was used as code for
> Marxism, or rather for historical materialist analysis. It became best
> known in referring to the Frankfurt School of Marxist intellectuals
> concerned with questions of culture and its relation to society - e.g.
> Adorno, Horkheimer, Fromm, Habermas. What is being meant by the term
> 'critical' is an approach that tries to understand a social reality
> through introduction of another, more penetrating frame of reference, one
> that has to do with a general theory of human society (or at least late
> capitalist society) understood in terms of contradictions between
> different social interests and economic processes of exploitation,
> capital accumulation, and so on. So these critical theorists apply a
> powerful set of practical-theoretical tools to social phenomena to try
> and get a more thorough understanding that can help foment progressive
> social change. Not very post-modern, and there are some rules implied.
>
>
> 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.
>
>
> Here I've set up two ideal types, with a clear bias as to the one that
> I'm more comfortable with, and why. The idea is to use the two models to
> evaluate contributions that march under the critical banner.
>
>
> So if you want to convince me that you are being critical in the best
> sense, I'll be asking
> "Is your analysis one that requires stepping outside the hegemonic frame
> of reference of this society and its dominant psychology?"
> "Where is your argument taking us and in whose interests are you doing it
> in?"
> "What's the action - and what's your action?"
> and
> "Are you doing this in a comradely way?"
>
>
> --
> 37 Chandos Rd South
> Manchester
> M21 0TH
> UK
> 0161 881 6887
> Local rate phone no: 0845 458 1165
> Fax no: 0870 751 5595
> [log in to unmask]
> ___________________________________
>
> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the
> UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems or
> queries, contact the list moderator at [log in to unmask] or
> [log in to unmask]
>
>
> __________________________________________________
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.1.362 / Virus Database: 267.13.10/190 - Release Date: 01/12/05
>
> ___________________________________
>
> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the UK.
> To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML
> For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator at
> [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
>
> ___________________________________
>
> COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the
> UK. To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
> http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML For any problems or
> queries, contact the list moderator at [log in to unmask] or
> [log in to unmask]
Annie Mitchell
Lecturer in Psychology,
Clinical Director, Doctorate in Clinical and Community Psychology,
School of Psychology,
Washington Singer Building,
University of Exeter,
Exeter,
EX4 4QG
Phone 01392 264621 or
Liz Mears, Programme Administrator 01392 403184
___________________________________
COMMUNITYPSYCHUK - The discussion list for community psychology in the UK.
To unsubscribe or to change your details visit the website:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/COMMUNITYPSYCHUK.HTML
For any problems or queries, contact the list moderator at [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
|
