Motivation and Self-Determination in German-Nordic Critical Psychology

Abstract

The article is about the theory of motivation that was developed in the 1970s in German-Nordic critical psychology, especially by Ute Osterkamp, ​​and its continued development and current relevance. Central to that theory is the concept of desire for agency (originally called ‘productive needs’): The urge and need to (develop one’s) participation in the common anticipatory care for our living conditions. This concept is a key to overcoming the dualism between nature and culture that generally still prevails, also in critical theories, despite intentions to think sustainably and in care. It also forms an important alternative to self-determination theory and cognitive theories, which are the leading attempts to resolve a contradiction in motivational psychology: Namely, that ‘motivation’ is on the one hand examined as the question of whether people want to do what they should do, while on the other hand self-determination is increasingly demanded. But the potential of Osterkamp’s alternative was weakened by utopian features of her theory, which were accentuated by Holzkamp’s ‘subject science’ that proclaims the ‘first-person perspective’ of the person as an à priori. I propose instead to rethink the question of what we participate in, as the particular and individual aspects of practice and community, and to situate it historically. In continuation of this, a critique of self-determination theory follows, which in turn provides an opportunity to highlight some important dimensions of a critical psychological theory of motivation – i.e. a theory that deals with what people want and why, without believing that it can be done without continuing to critically relate to the practical embodiments of this ‘what’ and to the psychologies that represent it. The relevance of all this is that we can think out of the hamster wheel to a broader care and deeper formation than the positivist theories of motivation can see.

Keywords:
Motivation, self-determination, critical psychology, desire for agency, practice, individuation