La psicologización del mal-estar social: Imaginarios sobre la psicología en estudiantes de ingreso reciente a la carrera

Abstract

The increase of psychologists in Colombia has potential effects on the employability and working conditions of these professionals. Why is this career attractive nowadays? This article tries to answer this question, analyzing the social imaginaries about psychology in undergraduate students from two private universities. As a method we used a qualitative design and discourse analysis. A structural metaphor and three interpretative repertoires are identified, which articulate the imaginary ones about psychology to the neoliberal discourse of self-management, promoting the psychologization of social discomfort. The psychologist appears as a manager of the competences of the others, in a precarious and risky world. The dominant psychology in Colombia continues to be imagined through an adaptationist metaphor, based on methodological individualism and on the image of the psychologist as a subject with privileged gaze, who knows the truths about discomfort. It is specifically in a neoliberal historical period, breeding ground for individualistic and competitive practices, where psychology is in great demand.