[Xmca-l] Re: Crisis of Social Psychology

[Peter Franks]

Hi Alfredo,

Thanks for the query and interest.

The cover is a painting by Oroszco the Mexican painter from the 1930's. It
comes from a series of Freezes he painted on the walls of Dartmouth
University's library, now the Hoodmuseum that I used to visit while working
on the dissertation during the 70's. It does represent the basic impotence
of liberal science, The series is called The Epic of American Civilization
and is an extensive mural cycle created by Mexican artist José Clemente
Orozco between 1932 and 1934.The crisis I am particularly referring to was
the one in American Social Psychology which led to the calling of a
conference at Carleton University under the auspices of Nato to discuss the
way forward. At the time I ,was a member of the PsychAgitator based at the
State University of New York at Stony Brook's Social Psychology Department
which objected to the idea that NATO and the elite group of social
psychologists could determine the way forward for Social Psychology. This
situation has recently received some attention largely as the crisis of
Social Psychology was never really resolved and it becomes urgent as neo
liberalism collapses.


José Clemente *Orozco* (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a
Mexican painter, who specialized in political *murals* that established the
Mexican *Mural* Renaissance together with *murals* by Diego Rivera, David
Alfaro Siqueiros, and others.

The following analysis sums it up.

The cycle is crucial in illustrating out a fundamental difference between
Orozco and his contemporary Mexican muralists. For instance, Rivera
represented the same general theme but infused it with optimism; his cycle
characterizes white European colonialism as progress rather than
deterioration. Orozco, on the other hand, made the later panels of this
cycle grotesquely mirror the beginning ones: *Ancient Human Sacrifice*
 becomes *Modern Human Sacrifice* in such a way that there's no progress at
all, but merely the exchanging of one barbaric behavior for another much
like it. Thus Orozco brought introspection, criticism, and ambiguity to
Mexican muralism as none of his contemporaries had done.

So. Yes it does reflect my views of Social Psychology at the time.....

Kind regards

Peter


*Prof. Peter E. Franks PhD*

Professor Extraordinary,
School of Public Leadership
University of Stellenbosch
Former Deputy Vice Chancellor
University of Limpopo

44 Firmount Road
Somerset West
7130
Tel: Home: 021 851 9764
       Cell:   082 200 5977
peterefranks@gmail.com
https://sun.academia.edu/PeterEmanuelFranks

For rare and collectible books, Africana and books of special interest
visit bookhuntersden.co.za



On Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 1:05 PM, Alfredo Jornet Gil <a.j.gil@iped.uio.no>
wrote:

> Thanks for sharing, Peter. Two questions having just seen the front cover
> and downloaded the file. First, the front cover picture is quite dramatic
> and intriguing, Is there something about it in the book or that you could
> tell us here (artist, why)? Second, which crisis you refer to in particular
> and is it over now?
>
> Alfredo
> ________________________________________
> From: xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu <xmca-l-bounces@mailman.ucsd.edu>
> on behalf of Peter Franks <peterefranks@gmail.com>
> Sent: 14 September 2017 09:56
> To: xmca-l@mailman.ucsd.edu
> Subject: [Xmca-l]  Crisis of Social Psychology
>
> The following was written during the 1970's crisis although it received
> scant attention at that time it does perhaps contribute to the
> understanding of that crisis.
>
> https://www.academia.edu/8519216/A_Social_History_of_
> American_Social_Psychology_up_to_the_second_world_war_1975_2011
>
> I would be interested in comments.
>
>
>
> *Prof. Peter E. Franks PhD*
>
> Professor Extraordinary,
> School of Public Leadership
> University of Stellenbosch
> Former Deputy Vice Chancellor
> University of Limpopo
>
> 44 Firmount Road
> Somerset West
> 7130
> Tel: Home: 021 851 9764
>        Cell:   082 200 5977
> peterefranks@gmail.com
> https://sun.academia.edu/PeterEmanuelFranks
>
> For rare and collectible books, Africana and books of special interest
> visit bookhuntersden.co.za
>
>