Professor Barry Richards, Head of the Department of Human Relations at the University of East London, and Dr Amal Treacher, Principal Lecturer in Psychosocial Studies, outline the emergence of an exciting new subject area.
Psychosocial studies is a new interdisciplinary framework which is becoming established in British universities. The term 'psychosocial' has a long pedigree in the social sciences, but in recent years it is being adopted more widely by groups of scholars intent on working systematically across the boundary between psychology and sociology, and on developing new interdisciplinary perspectives on key social issues. It draws on a range of theories and research traditions, such as social and developmental psychology, psychoanalysis, contemporary sociology, and cultural theory.
This new approach has grown out of a recognition that in many professions where working with people is central to the task, it is necessary to have some knowledge of what individuals bring to situations, from their unique make-up and histories, and also of how social contexts set agendas for individuals. Psychosocial studies thus provides a valuable foundation at undergraduate level for many professional careers, while also offering at postgraduate level a sophisticated framework for the in-depth study of specific social phenomena. It encourages the development of a psychology informed by understandings of social structure, and of individual-sensitive sociology.
From a psychosocial viewpoint, the concept of identity is a very important one. A key aim is to understand how we acquire and maintain our identities, and a key principle is to give priority to neither individual nor social perspective. For example, in the study of childhood, a psychosocial approach would examine education policies and provision, family structures, media representations of children, and other 16-scale social and cultural forces. It would also address the inner development of the individual child, and explore the world of emotion and fantasy, considering how forces inside the individual mind can determine how a person relates to the outside world. It would try to clarify the inter-relationships between gender, class and ethnicity, as these major social forces are played out in the minds of individuals.
At Universities in Britain there are many pioneering courses in psychosocial studies now established, with teaching staff trained in psychology, sociology, cultural studies, literature, psychotherapy, law, women's studies, politics and philosophy. There are a vigorous research programmes, focusing on the use of ideas, of 'narrative' in understanding identity, and on the development of a psychoanalytic sociology.
Students of psychosocial studies are encouraged to give equal attention to two worlds - the external world of social and material realities, and the internal world of feeling and subjective reality. The aim of courses in this area is to understand the different nature of these public and private realities, while also examining how they interconnect - how the one contributes to the many, and how the many are in the one.
Professor Barry Richards
Dr Amal Treacher
University of East London
Department of Human Relations
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