On Psychology, Ideology and Individuals' Societal Nature

Abstract

This paper attempts to show the relevance of a subject-orientated understanding of ideology as it has been developed by Critical Psychology, an approach closely associated with the name of Klaus Holz-kamp. Ideology, in this view, is understood as a one-sided world view from the perspective of the dominant classes; it doesn't need to be imposed but is `voluntarily' sustained by subordinated classes since it appears to embody a proven method of coming to terms with life under given power relations. One of ideology's essential functions is to explain away or justify the asocial consequences of suppression and one's own unavoidable participation in it. Contrary to the common-sense view, participation doesn't alleviate our own suppression but rather aggrevates it. To understand this fully, we need to examine the prevailing dichotomy of individual and society and to critically review both the ideology of people's natural asociality and the `progressive' inclination to avoid the issue of `human nature' altogether.

New perspectives on context-based chemistry education: using a dialectical sociocultural approach to view teaching and learning

“…For example, what a teacher or student can do in a classroom is mediated by the structures they find in it, such as the material structures of a chemistry classroom with laboratory facilities at the back and a whiteboard at the front, or the social structure of teacher-led lessons compared to group work. The term 'agency' refers to social actions by individuals and groups that 'question the "normality" of the given order and their own part in it' (Osterkamp, 1976(Osterkamp, , 1999. Structures are enacted by what Giddens calls 'knowledgeable' human agents (i.e., people who know what they are doing and how they do it), and agents act by putting into practice their necessarily structured knowledge (Sewell, 1992).…”

“…Structures shape people's practices but it is also people's practices that constitute (and reproduce) structures (Sewell, 1992). 'Structure' can be explained simplistically as referring to the social arrangements, relations and practices that exert power and constraint over our lives (Osterkamp, 1999). For example, what a teacher or student can do in a classroom is mediated by the structures they find in it, such as the material structures of a chemistry classroom with laboratory facilities at the back and a whiteboard at the front, or the social structure of teacher-led lessons compared to group work.…”

Social Psychology: Social or Sociological?

“…Ironically, most social psychologists think of people as· largely self-contained units, conceding only that occasionally these units come into contact with each other. (p. 75) Arguments of similar import have been made by authors of different epistemological orientations (Augoustinos, 1999;Marková, 2000;Osterkamp, 1999;Smith, 1999).…”

Individual and Collective Leadership in School Science Departments

“…As Musolf (2003, p. 10) argued, "to say that humans are both shaped and shapers means that structure and agency construct each other," and more generally, "social life is a dialectical struggle between structure and agency" (p. 8). The term structure refers to the social arrangements, relations and practices that exert power and constraint over our lives while agency refers to social actions by individuals and groups that question, challenge, resist or oppose the "normality" of the given order and their part in it (Osterkamp, 1999). Through social interactions each action reproduces and produces structures that become resources for possible actions of participants.…”