PSYCHOLOGYCLUB

By Dr. Laura Paskell-Brown

Without theory action is blind. Thus, in order to be effective,
participatory action researchers require sharp conceptual tools,
obliging us to constantly examine and re-examine our core philosophies
and assumptions. With this in mind, this paper engages with the ways in
which action research can be enriched by an emancipatory (and
action-oriented) theory of identity and the self.

Specifically, this paper explores narratives of British anti-racist
activists whose mission (or even job in some cases) is to have an impact
on society, analyses their visions of themselves/the world and attempts
to track the inextricable effects that such visions have on their
ability to affect anti-racist change. It finds that the participants’
self-concepts are intimately entwined with their worldviews and with the
actions that are both a cause and a consequence of such views. Following
from this, it argues that those who regard the world – and themselves –
in terms of a set of essentialised characteristics (in this case
ethnicity, but in other cases gender, nationality and so on), struggle
not only with their self-construals but also with their ability to
affect the very social ills they wish to challenge. By contrast, those
who define themselves in terms of their actions and the ability of those
actions to change society are less troubled by their own ‘identity’ and
their place in the world. This in turn renders them more effective
social activists, a far from insignificant finding for researchers who
wish to aid them.

On this basis it is argued that progressive researchers and scholars
must seek to learn from this latter group of actors by examining our
assumptions, philosophies and the theoretical positions we (sometimes
unwittingly) take in our own research. It posits the need to regard
human ‘essence’ as a conversation – both mental and physical – with the
world, arguing that ‘who we are’ is composed as much through what we do
as what we are born with. In conclusion it suggests a modification of
the term ‘identity’, one that privileges actions over essences and thus
regards shared ideas, strategies and visions of a future society as the
best motivational and cohesive forces in social collectives aimed at
social and psychological change. Following from this it challenges
scholars of psychology to begin to regard human self and identity as
anchored not in ‘being’ but in ‘doing’, a conjecture that sits well
within the CHAT tradition and might enable a more effective PAR.