Left-Wing Rhetoric in Introductory Psychology Textbooks: The Case of Mental Illness

Abstract

In response to a U.S. Government accusation of political bias in social science research discussed by Hogan and Schroeder in 1981, 23 introductory psychology textbooks were examined for evidence of left-wing rhetoric in their discussions of mental illness. Although most texts presented the sociocultural approach to the problem, very few clearly defended it. In addition, less than one-third gave much space to the views of the antipsychiatrists T. Szasz and R. D. Laing, and only a very small number (at most three) took sides with either of them. Finally, since none of the texts developed an explicit socio-psychological thesis by structuring their chapters to link the topic of abnormal psychology to a prior discussion of social psychology, it is concluded that the present sources are not biased in favour of a radical left-wing political ideology.