Psychologists on the March: Science, Practice, and Professional Identity in America, 1929–1969

by James H. Capshew

• ISBN13: 9780521562676
• ISBN10: 0521562678
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-01-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Psychologists on the March argues that the Second World War had a profound impact on the modern psychological profession in America. Before the war, psychology was viewed largely as an academic discipline, drawing its ideology and personnel from the laboratory. Following the war, it was increasingly seen as a source of theory and practice to deal with mental health issues. With the support of the federal government, the field entered a prolonged period of exponential growth that saw major changes in the institutional structure of the field that spread to include the epistemological foundations of psychology. This book is the first sustained study of this important era in American psychology. Moving back and forth between collective and individual levels of analysis, it weaves together the internal politics and demography of psychology in relation to the cultural environment. It is based on extensive archival research and includes extended discussions of the wartime reformation of the American Psychological Association, the role of gender politics, the rise of reflexivity, and the popularization of psychology, among other topics.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi	(2)
List of Abbreviations	xii
Introduction: The Psychologists' War	1	(8)
Interlude I	9	(6)
1 Growing Pains: After the Great War	15	(24)
2 Mobilizing for World War II: From National Defense to Professional Unity	39	(32)
3 Home Fires: Female Psychologists and the Politics of Gender	71	(20)
Interlude II	91	(6)
4 Sorting Soldiers: Psychology as Personnel Management	97	(19)
5 Applied Human Relations: The Utility of Social Psychology	116	(12)
6 From the Margins: Making the Clinical Connection	128	(15)
7 Engineering Behavior: Applied Experimental Psychology	143	(12)
Interlude III	155	(4)
8 A New Order: Postwar Support for Psychology	159	(28)
9 Remodeling the Academic Home	187	(22)
Interlude IV	209	(3)
10 The Mirror of Practice: Toward a Reflexive Science	212	(29)
11 Beyond the Laboratory: Giving Psychology Away	241	(18)
Interlude V	259	(4)
Epilogue: Science in Search of Self	263	(4)
Index	267