Revista da Abordagem Gestáltica
Print version ISSN 1809-6867
Abstract
VIEIRA, Emanuel Meireles; PINHEIRO, Francisco Pablo Huascar Aragão; MOREIRA, Jacqueline de Oliveira and GUERRA, Andréa Maris Campos. Prosperity, contestation and technocracy: the rogerian thought in its context of gestation. Rev. abordagem gestalt. [online]. 2018, vol.24, n.3, pp.300-311. ISSN 1809-6867. https://doi.org/10.18065/RAG.2018v24n3.4.
The paper aims to debate the cultural conditions from which Carl Rogers' thinking was created. Events that happened in american society from the beginning of second World War until the end of 1970's are discussed. It is understood that the war represented an opportunity for the United States to start a new economically virtuous cicle. There was, during this time, a strong feeling of prosperity for part of its population combined with the advent of a conservative middle class. In parallel, contestatory movements of historically marginalized populations emerged. These movements sought civil rights and questioned the ways of social and cultural organization in force. Therefore, it was developed a more practical psychology which evaded itself from technocratic references of production and validation of knowledge. Within this cultural context, it is indicated that Rogers responded, among others, to the themes: authenticity tied to the quest to become a person; technocracy as an element to be questioned in life and in the production of knowledge; And, finally, self-care linked to the serious risk of falling into a narcissistic way of existence.
Keywords : Person-Centered Approach; American Cultural Context; Humanistic Psychology.