Psychology and Capitalism is a critical and accessible account of the ideological and material role of psychology in supporting capitalist enterprise and holding individuals entirely responsible for their fate through the promotion of individualism.
One of the troubles with statistical norms is that from being purely descriptive their use can shift imperceptibly to being prescriptive –used as a basis for saying not how things are but how they should be.
Aniehas quoted9 months ago
The development of statistics as a discipline leads to normative descriptions of human beings and human social groups –height, weight, family size, age etc. Only in the 19th century did statistics escape this enclave to become a general method of analysis and interpretation of data.
Aniehas quoted9 months ago
Despite the almost ubiquitous presence of statistics in contemporary psychology, it is imperative to stress that it began not to enhance human well-being or to promote a deeper understanding of the natural world, but to serve the needs of government and central administrative bodies