The criticism of psychology, work, and the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

Faced with the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that put workers in the Latin American region in a more vulnerable condition, this article considers some of the responses provided by conventional industrial-organizational psychology, which have been characterized by their technical and uncritical emphasis aiming at holding workers accountable for the current situation. Also, the proposals constructed by critical psychology are analyzed to indicate that these collective solutions appeal to State, organizational, union and group instances to design interventions that contribute to mitigate the situation of greater vulnerability at work. Finally, the responses derived from perspectives external to psychology that critically examine this discipline are considered to show the government operations that are possible through psychological interventions related to the containment of the pandemic. It is pointed out how the so-called crisis of criticism is permeating those psychologies that assume non-hegemonic perspectives, as well as in the criticism of psychology itself when they consider the current situation.