Overcoming modern-postmodern dichotomies: Some possible benefits for the counselling profession

Zvi Bekerman*, Moshe Tatar

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

The rhetorical/discursive turn, in its multiple disciplinary masks, is here to stay. Even psychology is giving in to its charm. The Sophists can smile again, the agora is back and the solipsistic self is in retreat. Biological, narrative and cultural psychologies, as well as the counselling profession, triumph the return of the social, the contextual, and the historical to the conceptual realm of the autonomous individual. Though we encourage and enjoy critical views of modern perspectives, such as that supported by poststructuralist and postmodern perspectives, we wonder whether orthodoxies might not be more inclined towards relocation than to eviction. Based on our conviction that a positivist/ relativist dichotomy is a poor exchange for older modern dichotomies (self/other), the paper critically reviews the poststructuralist turn in therapy and counselling, and discusses the implications for counselling theory and counsellors' work.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)411-421
Number of pages11
JournalBritish Journal of Guidance and Counselling
Volume33
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2005

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