Is There a Marxist Psychology?

Elhammoumi, Mohamed

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511509568.003

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Ivan Sechenov (1829–1905) was honored because he was considered to have heralded Pavlov’s theorization. Although today’s scholars often view Vygotsky’s work as reflecting Marxism (Elhammoumi, 2006), at that time it suffered political suppression until Stalin’s death (Spencer, 2004).…”

Section: Pavlovianization Of Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Forging Marxist psychology in China’s Cold War geopolitics, 1949–1965.

Gao¹

2019

History of Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article investigates the history of psychology in China from 1949 to 1965, with a focus on the geopolitics involving Western, Soviet, and Chinese schools of psychology. In the early 1950s, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pressured psychologists to replace existing Western approaches with Pavlov’s Soviet-sanctioned psychological theory. The shaky marriage of Pavlovian theory with Marxism, coupled with domestic and international political shifts, paved the way for two leftist criticisms of psychology, one in 1958 and the another before the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Both criticisms demanded that psychologists conceptualize mental phenomena as sociopolitically contingent and replace experimentation with class analysis. The clash between two views of human nature—the natural-biological view, which emphasized intrapersonal mental processes, and the revolutionary view, which highlighted individual connections to the sociopolitical milieu—stemmed from the Cold War ideological division, shifting Sino-Soviet relations, the CCP’s conflicting commitments, and the power dynamic between the CCP and psychologists. Both critical movements were self-undermined by their violent enactment and failed to generate a fully developed Marxist psychology. In tracing these historical events, this article explores two questions. First, inspired by postcolonial historiography of psychology, it excavates Chinese Marxist critiques to rethink Western natural-scientific psychology regarding its disciplinary identity, subject matter, research methods, and social commitments. Second, by situating various schools of psychology in China’s revolution, it argues that whereas natural scientific approaches of the West served scientific modernization, Chinese revolutionaries’ sociopolitical approach to psychological research was tethered to class struggle.

show abstract

Section: Pavlovianization Of Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Forging Marxist psychology in China’s Cold War geopolitics, 1949–1965.

Gao¹

2019

History of Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Thus, a useful way of looking at the history of interpretation of Marxist psychology through research in the West (Au, 2007;Bickley, 1977;Clot, 1977;Elhammoumi, 2001aElhammoumi, , 2001bElhammoumi, , 2002aElhammoumi, , 2002bElhammoumi, , 2002cElhammoumi, , 2006Elhammoumi, , 2009Elhammoumi, , 2010Eskola, 1992;Holzkamp, 1992;Le Ny, 1970;Marlieu, 1983;Mather, 2003;Naville, 1948;Newman & Holzman, 1993;Packer, 2008;Parker, 2007;Petrovsky, 1990;Quiniou, 1983;Reich 1929Reich /1966Reich , 1934Reich /1972Roth & Lee, 2007;Sawchuk, Duarte & Elhammoumi, 2006;Shah-Shuja, 2008;Shames, 1984;Spears & Parker, 1996;Veresov, 1999;Vergnaud, 2000) may shed light on this topic.…”

Section: Marxist Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is surprising that Marxist ideas were omitted in the process of appropriation of Vygotsky in the West (Elhammoumi, 2001a;2001b;2002a;2002b;2002c;2006;2009;2010). In conclusion, this means that Marxist psychology should remain within the orbit of Marx's paradigm.…”

Section: The Roots Of Marxist Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Marxist psychology: a research paradigm whose time has come

Elhammoumi

2012

Estud. psicol. (Campinas)

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper seeks to retrieve Marx's ideas about the development of psychology. It offers historical perspectives on different attempts to create a Marxist psychology that shed light on its scope and trajectory. According to Marx, concrete social and material real life play a key role in the development of human psychological functions. Later, Vygotsky, Wallon, Politzer, Leontiev, Luria, Sève among others built on Marx's ideas. These psychologists suggested that individual psychological functions are formed and shaped in concrete, cultural, social, historical circumstances, and pictured an organizing, creative force driving individual activity (instead of behavior). Marxist psychology is the study of the social individual within social relations of production. In a Marxist sense, the emphasis is placed on production, both material and social as the essence of social relations. Hence, psychology cannot be dealt with in an abstract, private and individual manner as the capitalist mode of production would want, but must be seen in terms of the social individual that is formed, structured, and shaped within the social relations of a production framework. In this context, the social production of the individual (as developed in Marx's Die Grundrisse) signifies social relations between people connected with concrete common real social conditions and material production. Production, both social and material, is the totality of social relations. In the process of production, social individuals act not only upon nature but also upon one another, they enter into a definite rich web of connections and relations to one another. Marx's writings encompassed the fields of psychology and made a substantial contribution to the stock of knowledge about human nature processes. Marx never wrote a full-length treatise on psychology, though his own work is the outstanding example of psychological conceptualizations. This paper stresses the decisive relevance of Marx's psychological conceptions for a paradigm shift whose time has come. Uniterms

show abstract

Concepção histórico-cultural do cérebro na obra de Vigotski

Silva¹

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Is There a Marxist Psychology?

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Forging Marxist psychology in China’s Cold War geopolitics, 1949–1965.

Forging Marxist psychology in China’s Cold War geopolitics, 1949–1965.

Marxist psychology: a research paradigm whose time has come

Concepção histórico-cultural do cérebro na obra de Vigotski

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About