Constructing alternatives: Envisioning a critical psychology of prefigurative politics
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Trott, Carlie D.
Abstract / Description
Psychological contributions to social movement scholarship have disproportionately concentrated on a "politics of demand", rather than on a "politics of the act", or prefigurative politics. Prefigurative actors, rather than making demands of power-holders, take direct action aimed at creating change in the ‘here and now’ by constructing alternative modes of being and interacting that reflect a given movement’s desired social transformations. Given that the prefigurative process takes place within and between individuals—with aims of changing the macrostructure by altering micro-relations—psychological perspectives are imperative to their understanding. Despite relevant theories and concepts, a psychology of prefiguration has yet to emerge. This theoretical discussion explores several reasons why prefigurative practices have been largely overlooked and at times misunderstood within mainstream social movement scholarship, traces the distinctive dimensions of prefiguration deserving of further (especially psychological) inquiry, and calls for methodological techniques both responsive to the context-driven nature of prefigurative praxis and consistent with the ‘bottom-up’ approach embodied within these unique spaces of resistance. After highlighting important points of disjuncture and possibility within the study of prefiguration, this discussion offers critical questions and methods aimed to envision and invigorate a critical psychology of prefigurative politics.
Keyword(s)
activism collective action psychology prefiguration prefigurative politics social movementsPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2016-05-24
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
4
Issue
1
Page numbers
266–285
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Trott, C. D. (2016). Constructing alternatives: Envisioning a critical psychology of prefigurative politics. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 266–285. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.520
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Trott, Carlie D.
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-26T12:45:09Z
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Made available on2018-11-26T12:45:09Z
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Date of first publication2016-05-24
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Abstract / DescriptionPsychological contributions to social movement scholarship have disproportionately concentrated on a "politics of demand", rather than on a "politics of the act", or prefigurative politics. Prefigurative actors, rather than making demands of power-holders, take direct action aimed at creating change in the ‘here and now’ by constructing alternative modes of being and interacting that reflect a given movement’s desired social transformations. Given that the prefigurative process takes place within and between individuals—with aims of changing the macrostructure by altering micro-relations—psychological perspectives are imperative to their understanding. Despite relevant theories and concepts, a psychology of prefiguration has yet to emerge. This theoretical discussion explores several reasons why prefigurative practices have been largely overlooked and at times misunderstood within mainstream social movement scholarship, traces the distinctive dimensions of prefiguration deserving of further (especially psychological) inquiry, and calls for methodological techniques both responsive to the context-driven nature of prefigurative praxis and consistent with the ‘bottom-up’ approach embodied within these unique spaces of resistance. After highlighting important points of disjuncture and possibility within the study of prefiguration, this discussion offers critical questions and methods aimed to envision and invigorate a critical psychology of prefigurative politics.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationTrott, C. D. (2016). Constructing alternatives: Envisioning a critical psychology of prefigurative politics. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 266–285. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.520en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1399
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1758
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.520
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Keyword(s)activismen_US
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Keyword(s)collective actionen_US
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Keyword(s)psychologyen_US
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Keyword(s)prefigurationen_US
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Keyword(s)prefigurative politicsen_US
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Keyword(s)social movementsen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleConstructing alternatives: Envisioning a critical psychology of prefigurative politicsen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers266–285
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Volume4
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record