Another Voice and Position: Psychoanalysis across Civilizations

Abstract

This paper deeply appreciates the comprehensiveness of Hermans’ (2001) theory of the dialogical self, his critiquing of Western cultural assumptions that pervade psychological (and psychoanalytic) theory, his emphasizing hybridization and globalization, and his trying to move psychology toward an interdisciplinary orientation. His theory would be significantly improved if he were to adopt much more of a historical dimension in his critique of psychological theory, in the very composition of the dialogical self, and in his theory of culture and globalization. The paper also critiques how some of the very philosophical/psychological assumptions Hermans criticizes unreflectedly enter into his own theory. All of this is to add another voice and position to his theory.

Keywords

culture dialogical self globalization history hybridization

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