Troubling history and diversity: disciplinary decadence in Community Psychology

Abstract

According to Lewis Gordon, one is said to adhere to disciplinary decadence when disciplinary orthodoxy is prioritised over how particular problems are addressed. Under neoliberal capitalism, disciplinary decadence oftentimes reproduces a politics that is based on individual – rather than collective – freedoms (i.e. a liberal politics). This article interrogates two common disciplinarily decadent ways of politicising community psychology (CP), namely: parochial historicization and respect for diversity as liberal tolerance. We argue that in both cases, pseudo-progressive language is used to advance a liberal politics that distorts the collective change-making capacities of CP. In an attempt to break from such liberal politics, we consider how an ethic of discomfort can allow community psychologists to move beyond disciplinary decadence. This ethic, we contend, can be advanced through pedagogy (i.e. unlearning disciplinary comforts) and solidarity-making (i.e. embracing, rather hurriedly resolving, conflict when forming political alliances). We conclude by calling for a CP that signifies a critical approach rather than a set of disciplinarily-bound dictums.