The Church, the Factory and the Market

Abstract

Shifting styles of doing psychology reflect assumptions from the culture at large. In the first section, three cultural metaphors for the science and profession of psychology are put forth—the church, the factory and the market. The picture they provide of psychology is then contrasted with the common histories of psychology as a succession of ideas. The metaphors are thereafter invoked in a discussion of psychology as a postmodern religious, industrial and commercial collage. What counts in a postmodern age is less the truth claims of thedifferent psychological approaches than their marketability. Potentialities of a pragmatic anda culturally situated psychology are discussed in relation to challenges to Western psychologytoday raised by the psychological profession and the globalization of culture.