ERIC Number: EJ1196466
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0965-948X
EISSN: N/A
Disciplining Psychology Education -- A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
Dempsey, Imogen
Psychology Teaching Review, v24 n2 p12-23 2018
This paper explores: (a) the impact of psychology education governance on our understanding of subjectivity and (b) how this functions for neoliberal capitalist structures. The ways-of-knowing, power relations and perceptions of subjectivity are approached through texts selected from official documents governing the curriculum, and qualitative interviews with psychology students, including postgraduates with teaching responsibilities. Discourse is analysed using Foucauldian theory. The key findings are that a positivist psychology curriculum (a) is largely market driven, (b) is a way-of-knowing that subjugates and objectifies the subject (c) works to substantiate individualist discourses and that, finally, (d) despite claims of neutrality, constructs a subject that works to meet neoliberal capitalist objectives.
Descriptors: Discourse Analysis, Psychology, Governance, Neoliberalism, Power Structure, Student Attitudes, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Students, Educational Philosophy, Commercialization, Social Systems, Curriculum, Foreign Countries
British Psychological Society, Division for Teachers & Researchers in Psychology. St Andrews House, 48 Princess Road East, Leicester, LE1 7DR, UK. Tel: +44-1162-529551; Fax: +44-1162-271314; e-mail: directmail@bps.org.uk; Web site: http://www.bps.org.uk/publications/journals/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A