Critical Psychology

Roots and Future

Abstract

In this article critical psychology’s past, pre- sent and future is presented and assessed in light of critical psychology’s overall goal to challenge and change mainstream psychology. Marx and Foucault are introduced as the two philosophical giants of the 19th and 20th cen- tury which have been the most consequential in influencing critical psychology. Despite a number of different schools and epistemolo- gical traditions in the present, critical psycho- logists remain united over the ethical-political imperative to fight oppression and promote social justice. Although the future for criti- cal psychology undoubtedly seems bright, as mainstream psychology looks as if it were to continue its expansion, important poten- tial conflicts between its ideological-Marxian legacy and critical thinking remain. Critical psychology must vigorously be reassessed by its adherents, in order to avoid the abstract re- ifications it originally set out to contest.