ABSTRACT
Retrospective introduction This chapter reproduces an article that was originally published in Person-Centred Practice, the journal of the British Association for the Person-Centred Approach (BACPA), of which I was a member for a number of years (1993-2010). The journal, which ran from 1993 to 2004, was edited by Tony Merry, who, sadly, died in 2004. Tony, with whom I had written a Dictionary of Person-Centred Psychology (Tudor & Merry, 2002), had invited me to edit a special issue of the journal, to which I responded by offering one on the theme of “The Person-Centred Approach and the Political Sphere”. Three other members of the BAPCA responded: Anne Kearney, herself the author of a book on Counselling, Class and Politics (Kearney, 1996), wrote an article on class and politics in relation to the training of counsellors (Kearney, 1997); Rose Cameron offered a re-reading of Rogers in the context of (then) current criticisms and, in doing so, reclaimed the political relevance of key concepts of the person-centred approach (Cameron, 1997); and, drawing on the work of Fujio Tomoda, who translated much of Rogers’ work into Japanese, Judy Moore discussed the concepts of “reality” and “the self” from a cultural perspective (Moore, 1997). Tony was pleased with the issue and obviously liked the article as he later reproduced it in a collection of articles from the journal (Merry, 2000). Tony was a big man, both physically and psychologically, and, although, I didn’t know him for very long, I enjoyed and appreciated the contact we had, especially over the dictionary, as well as a number of long and lively discussions with him, usually over some pints of real ale! To him I dedicate this chapter with profound appreciation for his contribution to the person-centred approach, and love.
