ABSTRACT
Finally I wish to touch on the contributions of psychology to cultural practice. In the modernist view, a strong and hierarchical distinction is drawn between pure and applied psychology; the former serves as the origin of knowledge, and the latter as the mere user. From the postmodern view this distinction is largely erased. Theoretical accounts of the world are not mirror reflections of this world, but discursive actions within a community. In effect, theory is itself a form of practice. Such discourse is enormously important because it constitutes an invitation to act in certain ways as opposed to others; it is constitutive of cultural life. In this sense we are not only invited, as we have seen, to ask ourselves what kind of culture we wish to create with our theories and descriptions. But in addition, we are invited to create alternative forms of practice that might better serve society. If psychology is inevitably a cultural practice, how might we enrich the range of practices now available? For example, in the case of research practices, what message do we send to our culture when the manipulation of otherwise valueless subjects is said to be the key to knowledge? And what kinds of relationships do we sustain in our profession in the forms of impersonal, passive, unemotional, and often aggressive forms of writing that have so long formed the mainstay of our journals? Again, this is not to argue for abandonment of our traditions, but rather, reflection and possible expansion of possibilities of our commonplace practices.
