Wendy Drewery

Some reflections on the therapeutic power of poststructuralism

Social constructionism is fast gaining currency as a major theory of social and personal change. Although its origins are in philosophy and sociology, social constructionism has major implications for psychology, and in particular, for applied psychology. This paper looks at some of the poststructuralist assumptions which underpin social constructionism, contrasting these with some of the major beliefs upon which much of humanistic psychology is based. It argues that many of the practices of liberal humanistic psychology are fundamentally pessimistic, in that they essentialise aspects of the ‘self’ and the personality, suggesting strategies of adaptation rather than personal transformation. Further, the absence of an adequate psychological theory of context renders applied psychology all but helpless in confronting issues of power and social control. Poststructuralist theory suggests ways of theorising human interactions without denying agency, or indeed, claiming too much. The paper suggests ways in which counsellors are well placed to take theoretical and practical advantage of these perspectives.

Restorative Practice in New Zealand Schools: Social development through relational justice

Abstract This article proposes that restorative justice practices (RJPs), as used in New Zealand schools, are better understood as an instrument of social development than a behaviour management practice. Concerns about the achievement of Māori students are relocated, from an individualised psychological and pedagogical problem to an interdisciplinary context of historical and social development. Social constructionist theory is suggested as a lens through which RJPs in schools may be seen as the intentional production of respectful social relationships, rather than as behaviour management. A restorative process has the productive capacity to restore healthy relational functioning, both for those who have been offended against and those who have offended. It is argued that the primary function of restorative justice in schools is not about resolving specific conflicts, but rather, about the production and maintenance of respectful relationship, which is the antithesis of colonised relationship. Such a position reflects accountability on a communal, rather than individualised basis, and accords with recent moves in the United Nations Development Programme to look at Human Development as building agentive capacity.

Unemployment : What kind of problem is it?

This paper uses poststructuralist ideas to describe aspects of the battle to retain personal power of one mother of four late adolescent children, when she became unemployed during the restructuring of the New Zealand economy, which began in 1984 and continues in the present. A deconstructive analysis of the text of unstructured interviews with Sonya shows how agencies of the State, including the Welfare, gradually increase their practices of surveillance over her domestic life and reduce her options for agentic action in public life. These practices are linked to an analysis of discourses of economic rationalism and liberal humanism to show that this insidious exclusion and regulation is underpinned by ‘possessive individualism’—a model of the person/citizen who has rights to speak in the public sphere insofar as he/she owns property. It is argued that this model of personhood, which pervades much community psychology, at the same time devalues both the traditional work of women and forms of non-material productivity which can be characterized as human service. The paper claims that the discursive approach can help to avoid disrespectful implications of deficit in people whose voices are silenced by dominant discourses, including those which dominate much psychological theorizing.

The Changing Face of Human Development.

The literature in the field of human development currently conveys a variety of puzzling messages to the thoughtful student. This paper identifies some of the sources of the increasing theoretical confusion in the field, and indicates some of the ways in which this confusion might be thought about. The topic is not so much human development itself, as the metatheory of human development. It is argued that the difficulties referred to proceed from a lack of clarity concerning the nature of the developmental project. The discussion calls for a reorientation of the perspective of individual researchers, both within and towards themselves, and towards those whom they study.

Discourse and Cognition. Edwards, D. (1997). Sage, London: pp. 368. £49.50 ISBN 0‐8039‐7696‐8 (hardback), £15.99 ISBN 0‐8039‐7697‐6 (paperback)

Wendy Drewery is a philosopher by training and teaches health development and counselling at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Copyright