Rethinking Psychology

Book excerpt: In recent years, a range of perspectives across psychology have challenged the experimental, positivist and cognitivist orientation that has dominated the field for so long. This critique of the mainstream has come out of a broad spectrum of theoretical influences, from phenomenology and symbolic interactionism to cultural and feminist approaches, and also takes in the new emphasis on discourse. Rethinking Psychology overviews these developments. The outstanding international contributors have produced a coherent and wide-ranging guide to the key strands of theory, showing how they feed into the debate about the creation of a new psychology.