IX. Critical Psychology Symposium (October 2026, İzmir)
"Oppressor's Whim, Society’s Woe: The Role of Psychology in the Pursuit of Justice”
Since 2008, when we began with the motto “From the Critique of Psychology to Critical Psychology,” the Critical Psychology Symposium has served as a space to reflect on the social, ethical, and political dimensions of psychology. Over the past eighteen years, one commitment of ours has remained constant: psychology should not serve the needs of the hegemonic order. Instead, it should stand with labor, fight social inequalities, advocate for gender and sexual orientation equality, and uphold human rights.
Psychology is not a neutral science but a value-laden enterprise, shaped by relations of power. Within this discipline, decisions about what counts as a “disorder,” which emotions are pathologized, and whose voices are silenced reflect power relations. Reducing trauma to diagnostic categories or treating psychological suffering as a commodity can obscure psychologists’ ethical and political responsibilities. Critical psychology opposes this psychologizing approach by highlighting the structural forces behind experiences such as poverty, violence, and despair, and by emphasizing human capacity for resistance, solidarity, and collective action rather than individual adaptation to an unjust society.
Today, both in Turkey and across the world, the deepening capitalist–imperialist contradiction, accompanied by arbitrary governance practices, weakened legal protections, and social tensions has created not only a repressive political climate but also a widespread sense of insecurity, helplessness, and alienation. In this sense, “society’s woe” is not just an individual mood but a collective experience shaped by systems of domination.
This year’s symposium in İzmir will focus on themes including:
The symposium approaches the quest for justice not as an individual endeavor but as a collective experience shaped by organization, solidarity, and collective action. We aim to explore hope, resistance, and joint action as psychological concerns. We invite academics, practitioners, students, and activists—from psychology and other social sciences, as well as feminist, queer, labor, ecology, and animal rights movements—to contribute through papers, workshops, or other forms of expression.
Abstract Submission: Submit abstracts by July 1, 2026, using the form at https://forms.gle/SDur3cRHP8AF8ech6
Submissions addressing the symposium theme directly or aligned with its broader principles will be considered. Contributions from diverse disciplines and experiences are especially welcome.
Visit http://elestirelpsikolojisempozyumu.todap.org/ or follow TODAP on social media, or contact elestirelpsikolojisempozyum@gmail.com for your questions.
Organizing Committee
Begüm Ergün
Bengi Balcılar
Bilge Sözüer
Cem Arslan
Deniz Aygil
Elif Gökçen Çakır
Erol Aslan
Ersin Aslıtürk
Ezgi Bayırlı
Furkan Uzel
Gizem Avcı
Hüda Tuğlu
Ilgaz Emre
Mukadder Okuyan
Nihal Ağaoğulları
Rabia Ada
Öykü Demir
Özge Dinçbaş
Zeynep Dinç
Review Committee
Aysel Gürel Kayaoğlu
Baran Gürsel
Barış Özgen Şensoy
Can Önalan
Doğa Eroğlu
Düzgün Uğur
Ebru Ergün
Esra Mungan
İdil Atabinen
İlker Özyıldırım
İpek Demirok
Mete Sefa Uysal
Olga Selin Hünler
Pınar Önen
Sercan Karlıdağ
Sertan Batur
Umut Şah
Yudit Namer
Zeynep Biter
"Oppressor's Whim, Society’s Woe: The Role of Psychology in the Pursuit of Justice”
Since 2008, when we began with the motto “From the Critique of Psychology to Critical Psychology,” the Critical Psychology Symposium has served as a space to reflect on the social, ethical, and political dimensions of psychology. Over the past eighteen years, one commitment of ours has remained constant: psychology should not serve the needs of the hegemonic order. Instead, it should stand with labor, fight social inequalities, advocate for gender and sexual orientation equality, and uphold human rights.
Psychology is not a neutral science but a value-laden enterprise, shaped by relations of power. Within this discipline, decisions about what counts as a “disorder,” which emotions are pathologized, and whose voices are silenced reflect power relations. Reducing trauma to diagnostic categories or treating psychological suffering as a commodity can obscure psychologists’ ethical and political responsibilities. Critical psychology opposes this psychologizing approach by highlighting the structural forces behind experiences such as poverty, violence, and despair, and by emphasizing human capacity for resistance, solidarity, and collective action rather than individual adaptation to an unjust society.
Today, both in Turkey and across the world, the deepening capitalist–imperialist contradiction, accompanied by arbitrary governance practices, weakened legal protections, and social tensions has created not only a repressive political climate but also a widespread sense of insecurity, helplessness, and alienation. In this sense, “society’s woe” is not just an individual mood but a collective experience shaped by systems of domination.
This year’s symposium in İzmir will focus on themes including:
- Arbitrary detentions, arrests, and rights violations in prisons
- Gender and body politics, and the devaluation of women’s labor
- Criminalization and prohibition of LGBTQ+ communities
- The erosion of childhood as a stable and inalienable right
- Regulation of bodies and desire under “Family Year” discourse
- Psycho-political effects of ecological destruction and animal rights violations
- Racism, ethnic and faith-based discrimination, and anti-immigrant policies
- Connections between poverty, precarity, labor, and subjectivity
- Limits on psychology’s public responsibility due to marketized mental health services
The symposium approaches the quest for justice not as an individual endeavor but as a collective experience shaped by organization, solidarity, and collective action. We aim to explore hope, resistance, and joint action as psychological concerns. We invite academics, practitioners, students, and activists—from psychology and other social sciences, as well as feminist, queer, labor, ecology, and animal rights movements—to contribute through papers, workshops, or other forms of expression.
Abstract Submission: Submit abstracts by July 1, 2026, using the form at https://forms.gle/SDur3cRHP8AF8ech6
Submissions addressing the symposium theme directly or aligned with its broader principles will be considered. Contributions from diverse disciplines and experiences are especially welcome.
Visit http://elestirelpsikolojisempozyumu.todap.org/ or follow TODAP on social media, or contact elestirelpsikolojisempozyum@gmail.com for your questions.
Organizing Committee
Begüm Ergün
Bengi Balcılar
Bilge Sözüer
Cem Arslan
Deniz Aygil
Elif Gökçen Çakır
Erol Aslan
Ersin Aslıtürk
Ezgi Bayırlı
Furkan Uzel
Gizem Avcı
Hüda Tuğlu
Ilgaz Emre
Mukadder Okuyan
Nihal Ağaoğulları
Rabia Ada
Öykü Demir
Özge Dinçbaş
Zeynep Dinç
Review Committee
Aysel Gürel Kayaoğlu
Baran Gürsel
Barış Özgen Şensoy
Can Önalan
Doğa Eroğlu
Düzgün Uğur
Ebru Ergün
Esra Mungan
İdil Atabinen
İlker Özyıldırım
İpek Demirok
Mete Sefa Uysal
Olga Selin Hünler
Pınar Önen
Sercan Karlıdağ
Sertan Batur
Umut Şah
Yudit Namer
Zeynep Biter