Educational Psychology—Limitations and Possibilities

Postformalism and Critical Multiculturalism 879
analyze and encourage further analysis of how in everyday, mundane, lived culture and cognition
these dynamics of power play themselves out.
In this seemingly banal level of human thinking and interaction the power of race, class, and
gender asserts itself—often under the radar of consciousness. Indeed, it is at these unsuspected
microsocial levels that the power of patriarchy, white supremacy, class elitism, heterosexism, and
other power blocs accomplish their hurtful work. A critical multiculturalism appreciates both
the hidden nature of these operations and the fact that most of the time they go unnoticed even
by those who participate in them. The subtlety of this process is at times disconcerting, as the
cryptic nature of many forms of racism, sexism, class bias, heterosexism, makes it difficult to
convince individuals from the dominant culture of their reality. Such subtlety is matched by the
nuanced but vital cognizance of the fact that there are as many differences within cultural groups
as there are between them. Nevertheless, it is unacceptable that psychologists and educational
psychologists have limited insight into the way these power dynamics work. These scholars must
be leaders in understanding the ways that power shapes those domains traditionally associated
with psychology and educational psychology.
In this context postformalists drawing upon their critical multicultural insights maintain that
educational psychologists must be attuned to the ways that power shapes consciousness. Such
a process involves the means by which ideological inscriptions are imprinted on subjectivity,
the ways desire is mobilized by power forces for hegemonic outcomes, the means by which
discursive powers shape thinking and behavior through both the presences and absences of
different words and concepts, and the methods by which individuals assert their agency and
self-direction in relation to such power plays. Central to the domain of educational psychology,
critical multiculturalism vis-à-vis postformalism works to illustrate how individuals produce,
revamp, and reproduce meanings in contexts constantly shaped and reshaped by power.
How can educational psychologists possibly study cognitive processes—not to mention teaching
and learning—without any appreciation of these dynamics? This culturally informed meaning
making activity always involves the ways power in the multitude of forms it takes helps to construct
collective and individual experiences in ways that operate in the interests of white supremacy,
patriarchy, class elitism, heterosexism, and other dominant forces. Here mechanistic educational
psychologists and the pedagogies they help shape often work in complicity with dominant power
blocs, as they serve as gatekeepers who transmit dominant values and protect the “common
culture” from the “barbarians” at the gates of the empire.
Without an understanding of power and how it undermines the quest for justice, educational
psychology becomes a form of disciplinary power—an apology for the status quo. As a politically
transformative project, critical multiculturalism helps postformalists work with diverse
constituencies who have not traditionally supported movements for social justice. This is why
whiteness studies are so important in critical multiculturalism and postformalism. This is why
class issues are so important in a transgressive educational psychology, where postformalists see
themselves not merely as academic students of culture but as initiators of social movements. An
educational psychology that is unable to lead a social, political, and educational transformation
undermines the traditional critical notion that there is a moral emptiness to academic work that
attempts to understand the world without concurrently attempting to change it.
THE MULTILOGICALITY OF CRITICAL MULTICULTURALISM: MOVING THE
BRICOLAGE INTO EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY
As discussed in my introduction, postformalism calls on educational psychology to bring
multiple perspectives to its work. This concept of multilogicality rests at the heart of critical
multiculturalism and postformalism. I have expanded these notions in my description of the