Introduction
The consciousness-raising (CR) group came about in the 1970s in the context of second-wave feminism and gay liberation. Its essential element was the use of group process for the transformation of individual awareness from a personal to a political frame of reference. Specifically, it aims to explore the origin of dissatisfaction and unhappiness that was previously experienced as resulting from a personal flaw to being the result of social oppression. It explicitly linked the broader understanding of societal structure to personal experience. This sort of transformation of awareness has a particular resonance to critical psychology, though its origins are outside of the discipline.
Definition
A consciousness-raising group is a small group process composed of peers for a particular minority group. The purpose of the group process is to examine the sociopolitical structures that create and sustain discrimination and disadvantage. By becoming more aware of the ways in which...
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Larson, P. (2014). Consciousness-Raising Groups. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_603
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