AGAINST POSTMODERNISM - PSYCHOLOGY IN CULTURAL-CONTEXT

Postmodern writing has forced psychology to confront a series of probl ems pertaining to the nature of human consciousness, personal integrit y and language. It invites us to rethink notions of undivided and unit ary self-hood that have underpinned much orthodox empirical research a nd theory in the discipline, and it does so in the story-worlds of Pro gress, Reflection and Opportunity. At the same time as it performs a d ispersion of psychological concepts, postmodernism has encouraged a sp irit of deconstructive critique and challenge to the modem academic an d professional apparatus of the 'psy-complex'. However, 'the postmoder n', as a movement of sustained playful theoretical reflection linked t o an account of a new cultural context for theoretical research, has n ow outlived its usefulness. Even the story of 'the modern' that postmo dernists pitch themselves against misleads psychologists, traditional and critical. The progressive potential of postmodernism has been exha usted, and those who engage in critical theoretical work in psychology need to attend to the ideological assumptions it carries about social relations and structures of power that threaten a radical political a genda in the discipline. The dangers that flow either from an optimist ic naive adoption of postmodern nostrums (relativism, amoralism, colle ctivism or autonomy) or from a pessimistic disappointed embrace of the alternative visions it incites (scientism, fundamentalism, individual ism or organicism) need to be urgently addressed.