Abstract

The case is made that psychology, and the British Psychological Society in particular, should make culture
in all it guises (multiculturalism, diversity, ethnicities, gender, sexuality, class) part of the core curriculum
of undergraduate degrees. It is suggested that this could increase participation by Black and Minority
Ethnic groups (BME) because psychology is a self-reflecting discipline and its diversification will provide
role models, representation and visibility that impact on people’s motivations, sense of identity and
belonging. It is argued that the product of psychology presently is ‘culturally cleansed psychology’ which is
partly a by-product of positivistic science epistemic motives that are implicitly conservative in nature.
Placing psychology’s ‘product’ in culture would increase the palatability of what we ‘give away’ by making
this ‘product’ more suitable for a multi-cultured world and a multicultural society, and hence add to the
betterment of the everyday, civil life of society.