This book introduces key issues and historical contexts in critical discursive research in psychology. It sets out methodological steps for critical readings of texts, arguments that can be made for qualitative research in academic settings, and arguments that could be made against it by critical psychologists.

Ian Parker is Professor of Management in the School of Management at the University of Leicester, and Honorary Professor in Manchester Institute of Education at the University of Manchester. He is co-Director of the Discourse Unit (www.discourseunit.com) and a visiting professor at universities in the UK, Brazil, Belgium, South Africa and Spain.

Introduction 1. Theoretical Discourse, Subjectivity and Critical Psychology PART I: ENLIGHTENMENT, REALISM AND POWER (AND THEIR REVERSE) 2. Against Postmodernism: Psychology in Cultural Context 2a. Against Against-ism: Comment on Parker; Fred Newman and Lois Holzman 2b. Critical Distance: Reply to Newman and Holzman 3. Against Relativism in Psychology, On Balance 3a. Regulating Criticism: Some Comments on an Argumentative Complex; Jonathan Potter, Derek Edwards and Malcolm Ashmore 3b. The Quintessentially Academic Position 4. Against Wittgenstein: Materialist Reflections on Language in Psychology 4a. The Practical Turn in Psychology: Marx and Wittgenstein as Social Materialists; John. T. Jost and Curtis D. Hardin 4b. Reference Points for Critical Theoretical Work in Psychology PART II: THE TURN TO DISCOURSE AS A CRITICAL THEORETICAL RESOURCE 5. Discursive Psychology Uncut 6. Discourse: Definitions and Contradictions 6a. Discourse: Noun, Verb or Social Practice?; Jonathan Potter, Margaret Wetherell, Ros Gill and Derek Edwards 6b. The Context of Discourse: Let's Not Throw the Baby Out With the Bathwater; Dominic Abrams and Michael A. Hogg 6c. Real Things: Discourse, Context and Practice PART III: CRITICAL DISCURSIVE RESEARCH, SUBJECTIVITY AND PRACTICE 7. Reflexive Research and Grounding of Analysis: Psychology and the Psy-Complex 8. Tracing Therapeutic Discourse in Material Culture 9. Constructing and Deconstructing Psychotherapeutic Discourse 10. The Psychosocial Turn 11. Critical Reflections