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A History of “Relevance” in PsychologyIntroduction

A History of “Relevance” in Psychology: Introduction CHAPTER 1 An invasion of armies can be resisted , but not an idea whose time has come . ( Victor Hugo ) A QUESTION OF “RELEVANCE” It was early 2005  in Cape Town, South Africa. I had just submitted a formal request to the Professional Board for Psychology to have my name removed from the professional register. Having completed a year of com- pulsory community service as a newly qualifi ed clinical psychologist, all that stood between me and my chosen career was the mandatory board examination. The trouble was that 12 months of visiting community health centers in the most impoverished areas of the Western Cape had left me feeling disillusioned about the social value of the profession. It was not for me. So I traveled instead, did some contract research and, by the end of the year, found myself back where I had left off. I wrote the exam. But after 4 years as a military psychologist, addic- tions counselor, and university lecturer, the same questions remained. How “relevant” was the “talking cure” in a country with eleven offi - cial languages, where 80 % of psychologists could only speak English or Afrikaans—historically, the languages of privilege? http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png

A History of “Relevance” in PsychologyIntroduction

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Publisher
Palgrave Macmillan UK
Copyright
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016. The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
ISBN
978-1-137-47488-9
Pages
1 –15
DOI
10.1057/978-1-137-47489-6_1
Publisher site
See Chapter on Publisher Site

Abstract

CHAPTER 1 An invasion of armies can be resisted , but not an idea whose time has come . ( Victor Hugo ) A QUESTION OF “RELEVANCE” It was early 2005  in Cape Town, South Africa. I had just submitted a formal request to the Professional Board for Psychology to have my name removed from the professional register. Having completed a year of com- pulsory community service as a newly qualifi ed clinical psychologist, all that stood between me and my chosen career was the mandatory board examination. The trouble was that 12 months of visiting community health centers in the most impoverished areas of the Western Cape had left me feeling disillusioned about the social value of the profession. It was not for me. So I traveled instead, did some contract research and, by the end of the year, found myself back where I had left off. I wrote the exam. But after 4 years as a military psychologist, addic- tions counselor, and university lecturer, the same questions remained. How “relevant” was the “talking cure” in a country with eleven offi - cial languages, where 80 % of psychologists could only speak English or Afrikaans—historically, the languages of privilege?

Published: Jun 24, 2016

Keywords: American Psychological Association; Market Relevance; Critical Discourse Analysis; Social Relevance; Political Upheaval

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