Psychology, in particular clinical Psychology, has experienced strong growth in the twentieth century. This growth has been the strongest in industrialised, urbanised democracies, and as a result, the discipline has come under criticism for its Western bias. While not denying the possibility of such bias, this paper argues that an historical analysis provides a more thoroughgoing explanation for what has happened in the relationship between Psychology and these societies. Following Foucault, it is argued that there is a special affinity between Psychology and the government of individuals, and as a result, between Psychology and the self-understanding of individuals. As a result, the subject matter of the discipline itself is historically variable, and Psychology is reflexively involved in this process. The discipline already has an inescapable presence in “non-Western” countries, but how the interplay between government, Psychology, and its subject matter constructs and reconstructs human subjectivity in these societies remains unpredictable.
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