Macropsychology: Challenging and Changing Social Structures and Systems to Promote Social Inclusion

The coordinates of scaling: Facilitating inclusive innovation

“…Scaling frameworks should introduce nondiscrimination as a key feature and address inclusion as a process and goal (Huss & MacLachlan, 2016). Making scaling inclusive is challenging and demands different types of strategies to achieve inclusion in order to tackle different needs amongst vulnerable groups (MacLachlan et al, 2019). Carter et al (2018, p. 3) highlighted a number of challenges that are specific for inclusive scaling practices: (1) understanding the wider contextual ideologies and vested power of individuals and groups, (2) reaching the most marginalized , (3) dealing with longer times frames, (4) coping with reversals and backlash when working on political and culturally sensitive issues, (5) turning theoretical models and emergency evidence into clear operational guidance and effective practice and (6) learning how to measure the impact, cost‐effectiveness and sustainability of interventions (Carter et al, 2018, p. 27, our italics in the above).…”

Macropsychology: Definition, Scope, and Conceptualization

“…Figure 1 schematically presents a conceptualization of macropsychology, using the example of social inclusion and social dominance, demonstrating how psychological dynamics at the individual level are embedded at the group level, which is embedded at the level of social structures and systems. This meta-system -traversing the micro, meso, and macro levels -illustrates how macropsychology can complement individual and group perspectives, providing a more holistic approach to inquiry and intervention (MacLachlan et al, 2019). Importantly, interventions at one system level may impact on other levels.…”

“…In a system of discipline, the child is more individualized than the adult, the patient more than the healthy man, the madman and the delinquent more than the normal and the non-delinquent… All the sciences, analyses or practices employing the root 'psycho-' have their origin in this historical reversal of the procedures of individualization. Foucault's views on "individualization" chime with those of macropsychology, which emphasizes the importance of "understanding up" in terms of how psychology impacts and is impacted by social structures and systems, to complement psychology's conventional focus on "understanding down" at the level of the individual (MacLachlan, McVeigh, Huss, & Mannan, 2019). As we have argued elsewhere (MacLachlan, 2017a, p. 8), "while interventions focused on individuals may be of some benefit, such interventions in the absence of systemic change may be ineffective, or, worse, see systems failings as failings within individuals.…”

“…Our own work on macropsychology (Carr & MacLachlan, 2014;MacLachlan, 2014MacLachlan, , 2017bMacLachlan et al, 2019) has aimed to strengthen a neglected perspective within psychology, and to also prompt a paradigm shift toward psychology integrating social structures, systems, institutions, and policies into its focus. We have therefore defined macropsychology as "the application of psychology to factors that influence the settings and conditions of our lives" (MacLachlan, 2014, p. 851; italics added).…”

The macropsychology of COVID-19: Psychological governance as pandemic response.

“…A macropsychology perspective has been usefully applied to a broad range of areas, including personality (Furnham, 2021), food systems (McVeigh, 2021), and disability rights (Wescott et al, 2021). Macropsychology aims to strengthen psychology's focus on broader factors that may impact psychological well-being, including policies, institutions, systems, and structures (Carr & MacLachlan, 2014;MacLachlan, 2017;MacLachlan et al, 2019;MacLachlan & McVeigh, 2021). Many psychologists undoubtedly already do this, including those working in the fields of political psychology (Huddy et al, 2013;Singer & Hudson, 2019), policy (MacLachlan et al, 2016Ruggeri, 2017), international psychology (Leach, et al, 2012;Stevens & Wedding, 2004), climate psychology (Clayton & Manning, 2018;Hoggett, 2019), peace psychology (Christie, 2012;Thompson, 2020), and socioecological psychology (Oishi, 2014;Trawalter et al, 2020).…”