Is Group Therapy Democratic? Enduring Consequences of Outward Bound’s alignment with the Human Potential Movement. A Response to “How to Be Nice and Get What You Want: Structural Referents of 'Self’ and ‘Other’ in Experiential Education as (Un)Democratic Practice."

Authors

Jayson Seaman, University of New Hampshire - Main CampusFollow

Abstract

Franklin Vernon provided an example of how programs viewing themselves as “cultural islands” are in fact embedded within historical capitalist relations, through the discourses of self that they promote. In this response, I expand on Vernon’s argument to situate the quasi-therapeutic practices he identified in the history of the human potential movement, which effectively merged with Outward Bound starting in the 1960s and continues to define outdoor experiential education. Where Vernon sought the structural referents to different models of self, this response seeks their historical origins. The response concludes by linking Vernon’s argument with existing critiques and parallel efforts in the literature on youth development and identity formation.

Response to Article

Franklin Vernon, "How to be Nice and Get What You Want": Structural Referents of "Self" and "Other" in Experiential Education as (Un)Democratic Practice

Recommended Citation

Seaman, J. (2016). Is Group Therapy Democratic? Enduring Consequences of Outward Bound’s alignment with the Human Potential Movement. A Response to “How to Be Nice and Get What You Want: Structural Referents of 'Self’ and ‘Other’ in Experiential Education as (Un)Democratic Practice.". Democracy and Education, 24 (2), Article 13.
Available at: https://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol24/iss2/13