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A History of â€œRelevanceâ€ in Psychology

By (author) Wahbie Long

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This book represents the first attempt to historicise and theorise appeals for â€˜relevanceâ€™ in psychology. It argues that the persistence of questions about the â€˜relevanceâ€™ of psychology derives from the disciplineâ€™s terminal inability to define its subject matter, its reliance on a socially disinterested science to underwrite its knowledge claims, and its consequent failure to address itself to the needs of a rapidly changing world. The chapters go on to consider Â the â€˜relevanceâ€™ debate within South African psychology, by critically analysing discourse of forty-five presidential, keynote and opening addresses delivered at annual national psychology congresses between 1950 and 2011, and observes how appeals for â€˜relevanceâ€™ were advanced by reactionary, progressive and radical psychologists alike. The book presents, moreover, the provocative thesis that the revolutionary quest for â€˜social relevanceâ€™ that began in the 1960s has been supplanted by an ethic of â€˜marketrelevanceâ€™ that threatens to isolate the discipline still further from the anxieties of broader society. With powerful interest groups continuing to co-opt psychologists without relent, this is a development that only psychologists of conscience can arrest. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â