Abstract
The history of psychology is being increasingly marginalised in British universities. In this article we argue that this marginalisation has been brought about by a combination of material circumstances resulting from the marketisation of the UK Higher Education sector. One consequence of this, the statutory audit known as the Research Excellence Framework, has made it increasingly difficult to undertake historical work as it has traditionally been done in UK psychology departments. At best such a situation challenges the ambition for historical work to have an impact on psychology. At worst it potentially renders the history of psychology irrelevant. Yet the theoretical justification for history of psychology has never been stronger. Psychology’s subject matter is neither exclusively natural nor entirely socially constructed, but lies on that “somewhat suspect borderland between physiology and philosophy” as Wilhelm Wundt put it. The discipline’s ontological claims are therefore always made from within epistemological frameworks which are themselves products of particular historical contexts. Such arguments have persuaded us that history of psychology has a fundamental role to play within the wider discipline. Yet as historians we cannot ignore the constraining social and material circumstances in which our field operates. We conclude that although the constraints of practice suggest that its prospects for influencing its parent discipline are seriously challenged, there are nevertheless opportunities for the history of psychology in areas such as the undergraduate curriculum.
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Notes
- 1.
These arguments are well rehearsed in cultural and historical psychology but have made few inroads into Psychology Departments in the UK.
- 2.
Not all who are sympathetic to history of psychology believe this distinction to be essential or ultimately defensible. Smith (2007), for example, argues that in principle at least, all knowledge interacts with its objects (pp. 93–121; see also Khalidi, 2010; Tsou, 2007). There is insufficient room here to explore these differences in detail.
- 3.
Psychology’s largely abandoned categories include accedie (with occasional revivals, e.g. in relation to burnout in academics, Bartlett, 1994), apperception, chagrin, clairsentience, conation, drapetomania, drive, habit, hysteria, instinct, limerence, moron, motivation, neurasthenia, psychon, race, sympathy, the will, and volition.
- 4.
Securing a sustainable future for higher education: an independent review of higher education funding and student finance. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-browne-report-higher-education-funding-and-student-finance. Accessed 16 April 2016.
- 5.
See Times Higher Education, 23 July 2013, https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/participation-rates-now-we-are-50/2005873.article, and UK Government statistics at https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/458034/HEIPR_PUBLICATION_2013-14.pdf, both accessed 26 May 2016.
- 6.
Nor did research-active academic staff have to submit to the REF panel associated with their home academic department. Some academics submitted their work through an adjunct department.
- 7.
- 8.
One obvious response to marginalisation in both research assessments and curriculum design would be to suggest, along with many of its critics, that historians of psychology should move camp and become members of history departments: history for historians and science for scientists. While history of science is itself a small specialism compared to, say, social and economic history, such a move has the obvious appeal that history of psychology is better aligned with the assessment criteria in history. It would also resolve the related tensions around the appropriateness of the kind of knowledge and knowledge production. While we see this as a possibility for some individuals, it risks undermining the hope of many historians of psychology that history is read by psychologists (Danziger, 1994). It also risks the status of historians within psychology: there is nothing “mere” about institutional structures and divides.
- 9.
One major reason for this is that a BPS-accredited first degree is usually required for further training in professions such as clinical and educational psychology.
- 10.
http://www.qaa.ac.uk/en/Publications/Documents/Subject-benchmark-statement-Psychology.pdf accessed 7 January 2016.
- 11.
The BPS “core domains” are biological psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, individual differences, social psychology, conceptual and historical issues in psychology, research methods, and empirical project. http://www.bps.org.uk/system/files/Public%20files/PaCT/undergraduate_accreditation_2015_web.pdf accessed 6 January 2016. Of all the core domains however, only conceptual and historical issues need not have an associated practical element (qualitative or quantitative). We recommend that this oversight be corrected in subsequent editions of the Standards for the Accreditation of Undergraduate, Conversion and Integrated Masters Programmes in Psychology.
- 12.
Accreditation through Partnership 2015/16 Self-evaluation questionnaire for new undergraduate, conversion and integrated Masters programmes (UK) http://www.bps.org.uk/careers-education-training/accredited-courses-training-programmes/useful-accreditation-documents/undergraduate-and-conversion-pr accessed 6 January 2016.
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Collins, A., Bunn, G. (2016). The Shackles of Practice: History of Psychology, Research Assessment, and the Curriculum. In: Klempe, S., Smith, R. (eds) Centrality of History for Theory Construction in Psychology . Annals of Theoretical Psychology, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42760-7_5
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