Question 2: Critically discuss the basic principles of CP. Situate your argument by referring to how a specific school can be manipulated to either perpetuate ideologies and ideas or how it can facilitate critical thinking.
In discussing the basic principles of Critical Psychology, we need to establish what Critical psychology is – what its basic concerns are, etc. After doing that and reaching an understanding of what critical psychology is, we can look at how specific schools can be manipulated to either perpetuate ideologies and ideas or how it can facilitate critical thinking.
Critical psychology is an approach rather than a theory, an orientation towards psychological knowledge and practice – and to relations of power in general. It is an orientation that cuts across the various sub-disciplines in psychology and is made up of diverse theoretical perspectives and forms of practice. An omnipresent theme is critical psychology is that of psychology and power itself. At its most basic it is an investigation of the relationship between power and psychology. It is an awareness that psychology itself is powerful and that it plays a role in maintaining and extending existing relations of power. Critical psychology is concerned with both critiquing oppressive uses of psychology and with enabling potentially transformatory forms of practice that disrupt imbalances of power and which have social equality as their goal. The mainstream practice of psychology has attempted to play down its political nature, whereas critical psychology aims to play up this very political nature of psychology. In simpler terms, critical psychology is concerned with the kind of knowledge that psychology produces, knowledge that is seemingly scientific, based on an objective, neutral ‘knowing’ of the world that sells itself as ‘the truth’. CP is concerned with this supposed truthfulness, with