Social Psychology of Public Health: Building a Historical-Critical Perspective

Vijay Kumar Yadavendu

Abstract: The hegemonic philosophy and dominating socio-political ideology of neoliberalism represent bourgeois values in every field, including psychology and health psychology. Those who adopt a more health-promoting lifestyle, where people are relatively free agents with needs, interests, "rights," and so on, may benefit from the epistemic shift of emphasis on heightened health awareness along the lines of personal control and change. Essentially, the remedies for illness are reductionist, and the person is detached from their social context. The individual is abstracted from their social location, and the solutions prescribed for disease are essentially reductionist. The comparatively unfettered exercise of individual freedom and choice explains current social structures and institutional developments. Behaviour modification, self-help, and self-care have become the guiding principles of public health. The social and economic factors influencing occupation choice, lifestyle, sanitary conditions, and various other determinants of health are largely beyond individual control. The outcome was a pronounced focus on identifying specific aetiology, creating curative medications and preventive vaccines, and advocating for individual responsibility. In the process, it may also create the illusion that individuals control their existence, and that taking personal action may improve health and satisfy the longing for a varied set of needs. This effectively obviates the dynamics of interaction between the individual and their environment, with its consequent impact on health and promotes individual risk and responsibility.

Keywords: Critical psychology, public health, neoliberalism, medicine, psychologism, behaviour-modification, self-care, self-help