I was thinking of writing a post, but I dont quite have the language yet to do, so I thought I would crowdsource the idea first on here and see if you can relate or disagree -- and that is a trend that I notice that sometimes makes me feel a step behind the times. I think it is being a child of the 1970s where I grew up under the construct of the importance of psychology (think of all those Woody Allen movies) rather than sociology, with psychology being the study of the mind of the individual over a larger culture, and sociology studying behavior as dictated by social relationships – gender, race, religion, and social class. I think both are important, but I think psychology has been kicked to the curb in order to focus on sociology, especially as we focus more on structural issues in society, Maybe it is a necessary reaction to our culture becoming too narcissistic and me-centered, and wanting to change the world rather than ourselves. And therapy being seen as mostly for the elite. Maybe it is the economic downfall of recent times. I think sociology is also easier to discuss in the public arena. For instance, the talk online after yesterdays Sydney Siege mostly revolves around religion, culture, Australias use of hashtags, and the politics of terrorism. But remember when we all used to talk about mental illness? Has that been shoved aside, because it is about individuals rather than society? Cant we learn something by trying to understand why people become extremists -- clearly they are troubled people who probably have mental illnesses -- and explore ways to help prevent them from doing things like this? I think psychology is somehow superior to sociology in helping to promote empathy for individuals rather than seeing people as mere representatives of gender, race, religion, and social class. This guy was more than just a Muslim or a terrorist. He was a troubled person. How does a person get that way? Why are people racist? Are they angry and unhappy? How can they learn more empathy for others? How do you stop extremists from thinking violence is the answer? In some ways, we need to get a lot more people into therapy. From someone in therapy.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Dec 2014 18:43:02 +0000
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