Subject science

In the 1980s , the psychologist Klaus Holzkamp described critical psychology as subject science : It must aim to place the subject at the center of psychological thinking and research, while at the same time critically reflecting on one's own subjectivity .

Conception

The concept of the subject brings about a decisive change in the direction of view compared to other psychological theories that consider an individual essentially as an object of his or her relationships. All activities of an individual then appear as reactions caused by external or internal stimuli. However, like any other organism, a person is an intentional center from the start , i.e. In other words, it does not stand neutrally as an object in the world, but relates to it as a sensual and physical, needy and interested subject.

Holzkamp differentiates his approach of "subject-scientific research" from conventional "qualitative social research with subject orientation". While, according to Holzkamp, such “subject-oriented” research continues to argue and analyze “from the external point of view” and also formulate the research results from this supposedly “objective” external point of view, Holzkamp wants his subject-scientific approach to be understood and practiced as “research from the point of view of the subject itself” .

This means that subject-scientific theories are formulated from the first-person point of view of those whose views and modes of action are to be "explored" and whose point of view and perspective should be clearly distinguished from the (equally subjective) point of view and the perspective of the "researcher". Subject-scientific theories are therefore (grammatically) formulated in the first person. This is a parallel to the research method of psychoanalysis. Holzkamp gives clear linguistic criteria and step-by-step instructions for describing research results based on the subject sciences as well as for the “reinterpretation of subject sciences” of psychological theories that are not based on subject sciences.

The specifics of the human subject result from the “social nature” of the human being, which Holzkamp derives from evolution , in which during the transition from the animal, for example, the division of labor in the social network - the group - to the “second”, in social terms actually “actual” “Human nature has become. To this extent, human society and nature do not appear as opposed; Rather, society, like humanity, belongs to human nature. It is learning the crucial ability in human development.

This approach follows Karl Marx in the analysis that the material environment ( co ) determines being. However, this relationship is not a one-sided limit; rather, it gives rise to both possibilities and necessities for action. The “subjective well-being” is therefore dependent on one's own ability to help determine the environmental conditions, including the social conditions. Even if these possibilities are limited, the effort to participate in community life is an active process of the subjects.

With this concept, critical psychology turns against the “objective” or “neutral” claims of empirical psychology . In particular, it stands in contrast to the classic experimental approach in psychology, according to which the test subject and also the researcher consciously isolate themselves from social factors and create a reduced and artificial experimental situation. This experimental situation excludes exactly what, according to a critical-psychological understanding, defines the subject: the integration and interaction with its social environment, i.e. the reasons for its actions and behavior.

Subject science, however, also distinguishes itself from the esoteric forms of the psychoboom with their “self-discovery” and “consternation ceremonies”, even if they do try to arrive at generalizable statements. As a method, she uses, for example, the qualitative evaluation of interviews to work out the social forms of thought and justification patterns contained in the statements. It is important not to exclude the action of the researcher, but rather to take into account the interaction between the subject of the researcher and the subjectivity of the researched in the scientific process.

According to this approach, science should not be limited to a “third-party point of view”, but scientists must also be understood as subjects in a social process. Your social position is to be reflected in the scientific procedure as well as the function of science for the respective power relations.

Holzkamp applies this approach in particular to pedagogy , which is traditionally viewed as a “special event” between adults and children or young people who have a social power relationship to one another. Even if this externally determined upbringing ostensibly aims at emancipation, it remains an act of external determination that students will repeatedly evade through " resistant learning ".

As a consequence of the radical application of the “subject's point of view” as the “point of view of research”, Holzkamp ended up with the subject of “lifestyle from the point of view of the subject”.

literature

Klaus Holzkamp: The human being as a subject of scientific methodology. Lecture, 1st International Vacation University Critical Psychology from 7th – 12th March 1983 in Graz.
Klaus Holzkamp: Foundations of Psychology. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1983; 2nd edition 2003, ISBN 3-593-33572-7 .
Klaus Holzkamp: Learning. Subject-scientific foundation. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-593-35317-2 .
More Markard : Critical Psychology: Methodology from the Point of View of the Subject. In: Forum Qualitative Social Research Vol. 1, No. June 2, 2000.

Günter Rexilius (ed.): Psychology as social science . History, theory and practice of critical psychology. Westdeutscher Verlag, Opladen 1988, ISBN 3-531-12017-4 .

Lorenz Huck, Christina Kaindl, Vanessa Lux, Thomas Pappritz, Katrin Reimer, Michael Zander (eds.): Abstract negation is half understood. Contributions to Marxist subject science - More Markard for his 60th birthday. Volume 56. Forum Science Studies, Marburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-939864-05-9 .

Gerhard Vinnai : The expulsion of the subject from science . In: Hans Zygowski (Ed.): Critique of Mainstream Psychology. Contributions to the 1st Spring Academy for Critical Psychology from June 18 to 21, 1992 in Bielefeld. Bessau, Münster 1993.

Web links

Critical psychology

Individual evidence

↑ Klaus Holzkamp: The importance of Freudian psychoanalysis for Marxist-based psychology . In: Forum Kritische Psychologie 13th Argument, Hamburg / Berlin 1983, pp. 15–40.
↑ Klaus Holzkamp: The misunderstanding of reasons for action as empirical correlation assumptions in social psychological theories: methodological misorientation as a result of confusion of terms . In: Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie 1986, 17, pp. 216-238.
↑ Klaus Holzkamp: Introduction to the process of problem development . In: Klaus Holzkamp: Learning. Subject-scientific foundation. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1993, pp. 17-38.
↑ Klaus Holzkamp: Everyday lifestyle as a basic subject-scientific concept . In: Das Argument, magazine for philosophy and social sciences, No. 212, Hamburg 1995, pp. 817–846.

[1] Klaus Holzkamp: The importance of Freudian psychoanalysis for Marxist-based psychology . In: Forum Kritische Psychologie 13th Argument, Hamburg / Berlin 1983, pp. 15–40.

[2] Klaus Holzkamp: The misunderstanding of reasons for action as empirical correlation assumptions in social psychological theories: methodological misorientation as a result of confusion of terms . In: Zeitschrift für Sozialpsychologie 1986, 17, pp. 216-238.

[3] Klaus Holzkamp: Introduction to the process of problem development . In: Klaus Holzkamp: Learning. Subject-scientific foundation. Campus, Frankfurt am Main 1993, pp. 17-38.

[4] Klaus Holzkamp: Everyday lifestyle as a basic subject-scientific concept . In: Das Argument, magazine for philosophy and social sciences, No. 212, Hamburg 1995, pp. 817–846.