LFU:online

Driven by an international movement, the field of work and organizational psychology currently witnesses a (re-)discovery of alternative paradigms aimed at a fundamental reform of mainstream research, conventionally characterized by a one-sided orientation towards managerial positions, perspectives and profit interests. Especially in the eyes of a new generation of critically-minded researchers, this conventional approach appears to increasingly loose ethical-moral as well as intellectual-ideological and epistemological-methodological integrity, credibility and grounding in reality. The backdrop of this tendency is formed partly by increasingly obvious inherent systemic contradictions, crisis proneness, and social injustice, manifesting in current dysfunctional developments within the core occupational domain of the discipline. The learning goals of this course comprise advanced basic knowledge of the philosophy of science (ontology, epistemology, and axiology) and interdisciplinary (psychological, sociological, and social-philosophical) foundations, central principles, theories, and methods, as well as more in-depth knowledge on selected specific research topics, approaches, concepts, and exemplary results of a currently emerging, explicitly social-critical and radical-humanist perspective within the disciplinary field of work and organizational psychology. Systematic application of the acquired knowledge fosters the ability for the critical-reflexive and theoretically grounded analysis and evaluation as well as independent development of scientific treatises and texts, outlining conceptual issues and questions, empirical research, case studies, organizational practices, and interventions for social transformation, based on the foundations of such a radical critical-humanist perspective.

Exemplary issues of concern in the contemporary world of work are progressing intensification and temporal extensification or “boundarylessness” in conjunction with precarization and polarization, associated shifts in risks and responsibilities, competitive pressure and social conflicts, as well as resulting increases in work-related psychological and psychosomatic symptoms, disorders, and diseases. The latter typically manifest as consequences of chronic overload, inadequate demands, and uncertainty, but are also indicators of overarching societal processes of social corrosion, alienation, and disintegration that are reflecting back on the domain of employed labor. This course puts the focus on the historical and interdisciplinary background and influences, streams, activities and milestones, current debates and implications, as well as resistance, controversies and counterarguments, associated with the described development and further establishment of critical and radical-humanist perspectives in work and organizational psychology. Concrete course contents and concentrations reflect the influences of critical traditions within psychology (e.g., psychology of the subject, analytic social psychology, psychoanalysis, political psychology), close connections to theories of social critique (e.g., sociological Marxism, neo-Marxism, Frankfurt School), and the model character of radical critical streams in related fields of organizational and management research (e.g. critical management studies, labor process theory). Based on these thematic complexes, the fundamentals, principles, theories, concepts, methods, and exemplary results of the currently emerging, critical-humanistic and emancipatory research direction will be interactively conveyed, developed, and discussed as well as evaluated based on meta-theoretical and ethical-normative considerations together with course participants. 

Teaching methods in this course comprise initial background information and introductory lectures by the class instructor and subsequent thematically specified and independently elaborated oral presentations by the course participants, based on reading assignments and own reviews of the literature, including interactive discussions, exercises, and follow-up. Building on these, and facilitated by supervision and feedback through the course instructor, the formulation, development, and presentation of independent project studies will take place in small groups and/or individual assignments, including scientific documentation by means of graphic representation and written elaboration. Included in the course curriculum are current developments, projects and activities (publications, editorships, talks, and workshops, organized conference in 2022) in which the Innsbruck Research Group on Critical Work and Organizational Psychology (I-CROP) is involved. For students, this opens a stimulating venue of access to current research activities, including opportunities to even go beyond direct knowledge transfer by becoming actively involved in shaping a present discourse within the academic field of applied psychology.  Lectures of the course director, discussions and presentations of the students, research and group work, writing of written contributions.

In this course, grades are based on continuous assessment. Among others, the assessment includes oral presentations and submitted presentation materials, as well as provision of written reports and development, communication, and documentation of independent study projects. Further, this extends to fulfillment of regular attendance requirements as well as active participation in class discussions and exercises. Specific components of the academic performance assessment and their weighting will be announced and explained in the first class.