Psychology & Social Critique (German: Psychologie & Gesellschaftskritik; abbr. P&G) is among the few critical psychological academic journals from the 1970s that still exist. P&G is considered an unorthodox publication organ for critical psychology and as initiator of much discourse pertaining to ›lowercase c‹ critical psychology in the German speaking countries (as opposed to the ›uppercase C‹ Critical Psychology of the Berlin Klaus Holzkamp school).
Contents
History
Psychology & Social Critique was founded in 1977 as »Psychology & Society« (German: Psychologie und Gesellschaft) by Siegfied Grubitzsch and Günter Rexilius. Peter Mattes is the only founding member who belongs to the editorial team to this day. The journal was renamed »Psychology & Social Critique« in 1979 to mark its contrast from the book series called »Psychology & Society«. P&G was founded as a critical psychological journal but its authors pursued different paths than the Holzkamp school by consciously refraining from developing an overarching theoretical tradition. As a consequence, P&G refused to be pinned down to a unifying consensus. In contrast to Holzkamp’s Critical Psychology, Marxist social theory has become somewhat less significant in this process. P&G is characterized by key topics rather than a theoretical framework. These topics build the central nodes of critical psychological discussion at P&G. Selected topics (in chronological order) include: psychiatry, psychotherapy, psychosocial practice (1978–80); psychology and politics, psychology during National Socialism (1979/80); aesthetic practices, mass communication and the media (1981); measurements, the industrialized psyche (1982); therapeutic practice, institutional practice, social control (1983/84); women and social (from 1983); identity]], subjectivity]], subject and politics (1987/89); National Socialism, euthanasia, and modernization (1991); postmodern challenges, construction, being oneself (1992/93), subject construction and subjectification (1996ff.), gender, childhood, and adolescence (since 2002), critical-psychoanalytic topics and articles (since 2003), and, again and again, critical-deconstructivist reflections on diverse aspects of life, culture, and institutions. Since the 1990s, the journal has witnessed an increasing influence of poststructuralist and discourse analytic concepts and of French and North-American postmodernist philosophy as well as social constructionism. Psychology & Social Critique has considerably diversified social psychologies in the German speaking countries. The critique of psychology, as exemplified by Psychology & Social Critique, deconstructs power and seeks out possibilities, in and around psychology, to think differently, to entertain discourses of ‘desubjugation’ (Foucault), and to defy the dictates of normal scientific discourse. Since the mid 1990s, the journal is being edited by an editorial collective with alternating members. Editorial members came mostly from the German Federal Republic and the West Berlin scene initially and from German and Austrian universities, where they engaged in research and teaching that offered alternatives to the psychological mainstream, since the 1990s. A heavy focus lay on the universities Bielefeld, Oldenburg, GH Wuppertal, Bremen, FU Berlin, and later Munich, Erlangen-Nurnberg, and Vienna. Over the years, Psychology & Social Critique has reconstructed, accompanied, and actively influenced critical intellectual discourse in and around psychology with its core topics. Psychology & Social Critique is published as a German speaking journal quarterly (two of the four annual issues usually constitute a double issue). P&G is currently (as of 2014) in its 38th year and will publish its 150th thematic issue in 2014. P&G participates in the Social Science Open Access Repository (SSOAR) and provides of all articles for download. Papers published within the previous two years are not available for open access.
Objectives
Psychology and Social Critique both accompanies and criticizes mainstream psychology and aims at countering efforts to streamline all psychological knowledge into a single natural scientific method. The journal draws upon Anglo-American critical psychological, discourse theory and analysis, narrative and (de-)constructionist approaches, science and technology studies, gender studies, and psychoanalysis beyond the couch. Psychology and Social Critique mainly publishes theoretical papers as well as empirical studies based on qualitative social research.