The church, the factory and the market - Scenarios for psychology in a postmodern age

Author:Kvale, S

Article Title:The church, the factory and the market - Scenarios for psychology in a postmodern age

Abstract:
Shifting styles of doing psychology reflect assumptions from the culture at large. In the first section, three cultural metaphors for the science and profession of psychology are put forth-the church, the factory and the market. The picture they provide of psychology is then contrasted with the common histories of psychology as a succession of ideas. The metaphors are thereafter invoked in a discussion of psychology as a postmodern religious, industrial and commercial collage. What counts in a postmodern age is less the truth claims of the different psychological approaches than their marketability. Potentialities of a pragmatic and a culturally situated psychology are discussed in relation to challenges to Western psychology today raised by the psychological profession and the globalization of culture.

Keywords: consumption; history; industry; postmodern; religion

DOI: 10.1177/09593543030135005

Source:THEORY & PSYCHOLOGY

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