Fantasies & Future Directions September 1993

We devised this list of possible Radical Psychology Network activities right after our August 1993 founding meeting. A lot of it still sounds worth pursuing. See Help! for more ways to contribute.

• Proposals for next year's [1994] APA convention in Los Angeles
• Proposals for other conventions
• Mutual support for research, therapy, teaching, rabble rousing, etc.
• Activist Activities
• Publicity
• Self-Definition

Distribute mailing list, summary of Toronto discussion, ideas for future. [Done!]

Proposals for next year's APA convention in Los Angeles

• Panel of formal papers [topic? division?]
• Several panels on ongoing theme in single division [which theme/division?]
• Several panels on similar theme in different divisions
• Conversation hour [e.g., Should SPSSI's liberals become radicals?]
• Informal get togethers [hanging out; discussing strategy; staying in same hotel]
• Being listed in schedule as "nonaffiliated group" [What does this require?]

Proposals for other conventions

• Divisional, regional APA meetings
• Non-APA psychology groups (APS, mental health meetings, etc.)
• Non-psychology academic groups (sociology, history, etc.)
• Activist organizations

Mutual support for research, therapy, teaching, rabble rousing, etc.

• Research ideas/feedback: What's worth doing?
• Teaching ideas: Raising issues in classes
• Therapy issues
• Reading suggestions for each other [Distribute reading lists]
• Collect/Write articles for edited book, special issue of journal
• Job search help&emdash;distribute job notices, etc.

Activist Activities

• Public statements on relevant issues [How would we reach agreement?]
• Critiques from radical perspectives of APA & division positions
• Political protest [When's the last time APA's been picketed?]

Publicity

• Notices to division newsletters, APA Monitor, non-APA publications
• Newsletter to anyone we know of who might be interested
• Electronic mail networking [getting on existing networks; starting our own]

Self-Definition

• Decide what we mean by "radical psychology": What do we agree on, if anything?
  • Psychology focused on radical social change?
  • Changing the daily work of psychologists?
    • e.g., radical therapy; feminist methodology
  • Changing organized psychology: fighting marginalization in APA?
  • Hanging out with like-minded people: mutual support group?
• Create new APA division: e.g., Psychology and Social Structure
• Focus on a single division: SPSSI? Community Psychology? History?
• Create cross-division formal organization with legitimizing name:
  • Radical Psychology Network (RadPsyNet)
  • Psychologists for Social Change
  • APA Radical Caucus
  • Critical Psychologists
  • Those Annoying People Who Won't Go Away