Psychology education and the neoliberal episteme in Australia

Abstract

This article investigates some of the ways in which neoliberalism and mainstream psychology intersect to maintain a dominant episteme in psychology education within the Australian context. It is argued that the ubiquity and logic of neoliberalism and the philosophical inclination of mainstream psychology create a “culture of positivism” and epistemic deceit within psychology education. Some of the features of psychology as it has developed in Australia are offered to more clearly define what mainstream psychology is, before outlining the current regulatory, political, and economic forces shaping psychology education and the neoliberal university. The article concludes by proposing some of the consequences for a psychology education system that does not interrogate the origins of epistemic power and proposes that a greater focus on epistemological ethics and historical–hermeneutic elements in psychology education may offer some resistance to the neoliberal episteme.