The crossroads of identity: Psychology’s (re)action to the Great Depression

ABSTRACT

It was clear as the economic crash deepened in the 1930s that the American people were suffering psychological shock. President Hoover regularly suggested that the economic problems of the country were “largely psychological,” and Roosevelt worried in his inaugural address that the people might succumb to “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.” Daniel Starch observed in Faith, Fear and Fortunes (1934) that the “‘New Deal’ is a psychological term” which “sums up in two words the aspirations of a great people.” Many understood the importance of addressing the underlying psychological uncertainty brought about by the crash and presenting to the people a compassionate ear so as to soothe their fears. Academics and experts from a wide swath of disciplines descended on Washington, all hoping to help ease the pain of the Depression or design plans for a new future. Yet, as The New York Times asked in 1934,” Where are the psychologists themselves, with their complexes and their reflexes?” The field had grown in both numbers and prominence in the years leading to the crash, and while other social and behavioral sciences had wrestled and dealt with the issue of social relevance, psychology lagged behind. The calamity of the era seemed to call out for their voices; however, the profession was undergoing a crisis of identity, where the divisions concerning its role as part of the recovery process were subsumed by debates concerning theory, employment, accreditation, and generational issues. I examine the core of these debates and explore their ramifications on the profession and American society.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychology
• Great Depression
• Social psychology
• Fear
• Positivism

Highlights

• Psychology in the 1930s.

• Great Depression and fear.

• Psychology and social responsibility.

• Modernism and psychology.