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P190


Psychology in STS: situating its expertise and the process of ‘making up people’ 
Convenor:
Stéphanie Pache (UQAM)
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Format:
Combined Format Open Panel
Location:
HG-05A00
Sessions:
Friday 19 July, -, -, -, -
Time zone: Europe/Amsterdam

Short Abstract:

This panel brings together STS researchers who chose psychology as their object of study. We invite papers to contribute to the analysis of the production and expansion of psychological expertise, as well as to the analysis of psychologization processes and the making of a “therapeutic culture”.

Long Abstract:

This panel aims to bring together STS researchers who chose psychology as their object of study. This versatile human science has no specific scientific framework. Its methods and epistemologies, as much as its objects, are not specific enough to characterize it. And yet, even if we adopt Fernando Vidal's position that psychology is only what psychologists do (Vidal 2008), we must recognize that "psychology" is an entity that has taken on a meaning of its own in contemporary societies. Since the 19th century, especially in North America, psychological expertise has also taken a particularly important role in policies (Herman 1995) as much as in policing everyday life and politics (e.g., Aubry and Travis 2015).

We can approach the social object that is psychology as a scientific discipline, with its divergent currents, epistemologies and various modes of knowledge production. We can study its institutions: the organization and development of the profession, both clinical and scientific, its networks and conflicts with other professions, such as psychiatry. And we can study how it became such a legitimate expertise in the political and public sphere. But STS researchers are also invited to consider the use of psychological knowledge and concepts by non-psychologists. Psychological language is now pervasive and mobilized to make sense of many social phenomena (i.a. racism, gender violence, conflicts, etc.). We invite papers to contribute to the analysis of the production and expansion of this expertise, as well as to the history and analysis of psychologization processes and the making of a “therapeutic culture”. Papers addressing the specificity of the study of psychology from an STS perspective will also be considered. We welcome traditional papers, dialogue sessions and other workshop formats.

Accepted contributions:

Session 1 Friday 19 July, 2024, -
Session 2 Friday 19 July, 2024, -
Session 3 Friday 19 July, 2024, -
Session 4 Friday 19 July, 2024, -