Historical, Personal And Political: Psychology And Revolution

Abstract

The development of psychology has been often interrupted by historical events that escape its control, which mark this discipline until today. Instead of treating revolutions simply as historical remains of past times, we can consider them key elements in the collective memory of psychology and examine them as part of the "history of the present".

The conventional history of psychhology is a partial version, told from a particular point of view, and the way we tell it again, from the perspective of the oppressed, has consequences in the way we think about ourselves. This chapter deals with the revolutions that forced psychologists to rethink their work, and about how the radical ideas that once affected the discipline survive today.