Psychology Beyond Western Perspectives

Kwame Owusu-Bempah is Lecturer in Psychology in the School of Social Work at the University of Leicester, UK. Dennis Howitt is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University, UK.

• 1. Beyond the limitations of Western psychology. 2. A universal psychology.3. The influence of Western psychology upon psychological practice.4. Interactions between cultures.5. The social construction of failure.6. Race, culture and the family.7. Race, self and culture.8. Normal development - beyond the Western model.9. Mixed race and mixed cultures.10. Euro-centric assumptions, counselling and psychotherapy.11. Integrating perspectives: meeting wider needs.

"This is an ambitious book that forces the reader to think more deeply about the role of psychology in perpetuating structural forms of societal prejudice, especially racism. Considerable evidence is presented that strongly supports this thesis. It is a book that succeeds in meeting its main objective - provoking further critical thought about the ideology and practice of dominant psychologies."Dr Gerry Finn, Reader in Department of Educational Studies, University of Strathclyde, UK "A well-written and well-researched book that makes a powerful and persuasive plea for psychology to break out of its self-imposed confines and reach beyond Western perspectives so that it may serve the needs of peopple of all cultures equally well." Dev Sharma, Educational Psychology in Practice, Vol 18, 2002 "This book represents an important step forward in the field of (Western) psychology because it is one of the few books that attempts to carve out an archaeology of psychological knowledge that goes beyond Western perspectives... Owusu-Bempah and Howitt must be commended for producing a provocative text that is much needed within the field of psychology. They deserve praise for foregrounding issues of race, ethnicity and gender with a degree of bluntness and forthrightness that is often lacking in much psychological research." Sunil Bhatia, Connecticut College, Theory & Psychology, Vol. 13(2): 285-287