TOPICS: POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY in Spring 2023 (PO2091B)

This course explores political psychology as an interdisciplinary field that applies a psychological lens to approach global political affairs. Moving away from a simple assumption of human rationality, we will examine how various psychological phenomena – such as emotion, memory, socialization, resilience, self, and identity – complicate our political engagement. We will analyze political psychology in terms of two-way traffic, namely a) how psychological mechanisms feed into politics; and b) how political milieu influences the ways in which people think, feel and act. More specifically, we inquiry into four types of psychopolitics. First, we examine the shaping of psychological phenomena in the reproduction of political institutions such as partisanship and election campaign. Second, we study the formation of political subjects in historical and contemporary movements: such as genocide, (post)colonialism, neoliberalism, and post-truth politics. Third, we explore how seemingly ordinary, everyday experiences such as gender, health and even humor are inextricably embedded in cultural politics. Finally, we turn a critical eye on our own discipline by reflecting on how psychology as a practical field reconfigures modern sociopolitical issues.

*This course is offered as part of the Global Liberal Arts Alliance's "Global Course Connections" program. Specifically, this course is connected to the "Comparative Theories of Political Subjectivity" course offered by Professor Sharon Wesoky at Allegheny College through digital means, including four online class meetings.