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23
THIRD AND FOURTH
WORLD CONCERNS:
TOWARD A LIBERATION
PSYCHOLOGY
Eduardo Duran
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
Menlo Park, California
Bonnie Guillory
University of California
Berkeley, California
and
Michael Villanueva
Pacific Graduate School of Psychology
Palo Alto, California

We chose the title of this chapter in order to focus concern on the ways in
which psychology currently is dispensed in cross-cultural settings and to designate
the future direction that we hope psychology will follow. The people of the world
can be divided into four groups according to their worldviews. The First World is
made up of people who sustain a Western worldview. No one disputes the fact
that most psychology (clinical and research) is based on a Western (Euro-American)
worldview and philosophical ideology, sociopolitically entrenched in a capitalistic
and individualistic system of cognition. (Traditionally, the First World has been
used to denote people from developed countries such as the United States and
Western Europe.) The Second World consists of people from developed Com-
munist countries. (Psychology, as practiced and researched in Second World coun-
tries, is not discussed in this chapter.)
The Third World comprises people from developing countries. The Fourth World
is composed of indigenous people living on their traditional lands under the occu-
pation of a colonialistic government. Fourth World people, for example, include Native
Americans, Australian Aborigines, and Palestinians. People of color and people from
the Third and Fourth Worlds are woven into the fabric of American society. At present,

211
 212 I Duran, Guillory, and Villanueva
what is of critical importance to psychology is how practice, research, and training
affect these people-the underserved groups that are the focus of this chapter.
Sociopolitical Outcomes of Professional Practices
In any system where there is an unequal distribution of resources and power,
systems of domination exist that act symbolically or instrumentally to reinforce that
domination. Because psychology does not exist in a vacuum, it is important to examine
some sociopolitical issues that directly affect the profession. The fact that American
society is racist is indisputable. In this chapter, racism is defined as the principle of
social domination, by which a group that is seen as biologically inferior is exploited
economically and oppressed socially and psychically (Blauner, 1969).
The devastating psychological effects of colonization on indigenous people has
been well documented by Fannon (1963) and Memmi (1965)-voices for oppressed
people and recognized leaders in understanding psychological oppression. According
to Fannon (1963), oppressed people are plagued with self-hatred and identity prob-
lems because of negation of their humanity by the colonizer. Many times, the colonized
may resort to assimilation as a way of escape from oppression. The cqlonizer, however,
does not accept the assimilated as equal (Memmi, 1965).
Psychology has been a very useful tool in the effort to control oppressed people.
The profession openly assists oppressive systems to continue to perpetuate supremacy.
This is particularly evident in professional practices such as testing, research, diagnosis,
treatment, and training.
Testing
The whole assessment movement has its roots deeply entrenched in the biological
deterministic world view of the past century (Gould, 1981). The inability of therapists
to relate to different world views is compounded by a plethora of assessment instru-
ments that are irrelevant and, at times, result in institutional racism. Gould (1981)
traced the evolution of testing as a method to support White supremacy. To this day,
this view continues to be fueled by proponents of genetic inferiority. The history of
psychology and its continued use against people of color in this country are immoral.
Yet, these practices always have been considered inside the boundaries of "ethical"
observance.
Only a few dec;1des ago, teSting was used to justifY massive sterilization of men
and women of color. Early pioneers in testing paved the way for the justification of
racism based on testing (Termah, 1916). The violence, justified through the use of
psychological testing, continues to exist as the U.S. educational system currently chan-
nels children of color into vocational and dead-end educational tracks. Some of the
leading forces in psychometrics, such as Jensen (1969), continue to expound ide-
ologies (Gould, 1981) that support activities performed under the guise of legitimate
empirical science.
Research and Diagnosis
The very tools that are available to research psychologists are contaminated with
the ideology of White supremacy. Statistics, which are used to validate and generalize
Third and Fourth World Concerns: Toward a Liberation Psychology
1 213
the science, have deep historical roots in the attempt to discriminate against people
of color (Gould, 1981). There is historical evidence that traces the development of
statistical techniques as a process to find the g factor of intelligence that confirms the
preconceived racial genetic inferiority theory to which its founders were committed
(Gould, 1981).
The use of testing and the formulation of diagnostic categories have played a
major role in the justification of harsh diagnoses for people of color (Gross, Knat-
terude, & Donner, 1969; Malgady, Rogier, & Constantino, 1987). Once diagnosed,
patients are medicated or shocked (Morgan, 1985) to a point approaching psycho-
logical genocide, thereby extinguishing any hope to engage with a First World life-
style. Psychology has become a tool that has had great impact in social control situ-
ations. Paradoxically, First World psychologists deem similar practices, actuated by
psychologists in so-called totalitarian countries, as immoral.
Treatment
One problem in the delivery system is its inability to move from a linear Western
cosmology toward different worldviews held by people of color. Providing service
per se is not sufficient, because irrelevant service equates with no service. The lit-
erature indicates that psychological services and approaches reflect a middle- and
upper-class bias (Pine, 1972). The research and clinical literature on the delivery of
mental health services to ethnic minority populations consistently reports inadequa-
cies in provision of services. In summarizing the work of its Asian and Pacific-American,
Black American, Hispanic American, and Native American/Alaska-Native subpanels, the
Special Populations Task Force of the President's Council Commission on Mental
Health (President's Council, 1978) concluded that ethnic minorities "are clearly un-
derserved or inappropriately served by the current mental health system in this
country" (p. 72).
In places where ethnic minorities have sought treatment, regardless of utilization
rates, all ethnic minorities had significantly higher drop-out rates than Whites (S. Sue
& Zane, 1987). Furthermore, S. Sue and Zane (1987) stated that "without belaboring
the point, we believe that there is ample evidence that ethnic minorities are not faring
well in our mental health system" (p. 37). Many factors contribute to making the
mental health system inadequate for ethnic minorities. However, "the single most
important explanation for the problems in service delivery involves the inability of
therapists to provide culturally responsive forms of treatment" (S. Sue & Zane, p. 37).
Most therapists are unable to devise culturally appropriate forms of treatment; there-
fore, minorities find services foreign and unhelpful (S. Sue & Zane, 1987).
Training
Since the 1960s, there have been many policy statements concerning equality of
services for all populations in this country. Yet equality of services has not been
achieved. The recent setbacks of the accomplishments of the civil rights movement
have made discrimination, via institutional racism, m.ore widespread and acceptabl~
Manv schools of professional psychology (SPPs) vo1ce concern about underserve
peo~le and people of color. The reality is, however, that institutional policies make
r 214 I Duran, Guillory, and Villanueva
it very difficult for ethnic people to enter and .successfully complete psychology
training programs. At present, the percentages of ethnic students completing training
programs is less than their representation in the general population. This is indicative
of ongoing institutional racism.
Institutional explanations for this disproportion are varied, imaginative, and well
thought out. The reality, however, is that the SPPs are failing and excuses or reasons
for the failure are of little or no consolation to the people who remain underserved.
SPPs must make a firm commitment to ameliorate the situation by assigning a high
priority to the inclusion of people of color. The time for straddling the fence must
come to a close. As institutions, SPPs must be either part of the solution or part of
the problem.
Some contend that the historical implications are grave and appear to predispose
the profession to some sort of pessimistic future. Yet, if history is openly confronted,
with no denial, the way will be paved for a healing catharsis. The initial process of
the therapeutic endeavor must be cathartic in order for subsequent healing and
progression to occur. It is this spirit of honesty that must pervade efforts to look at
the hi.story of psychology. Then, perhaps the past errors of the profession may be
avoided in the future.
Different Worldviews
The lack of a systematic and relevant cross-cultural psychology has its genesis in
both the fundamental differences in the worldview between people of the First World
and people of the Third and Fourth Worlds and policies that perpetuate the low
socioeconomic status of the majority of people of color. There is an inherent problem
in attempting to impose one system of cognition onto a group of people who have
a different system of cognition. White Americans have a linear orientation to their
thinking, but it does not follow that this is the only way to think or conceptualize the
world. Primitive peoples, as they are called in the anthropological literature, have a
different way of being in the world. The phenomenological essence, in terms of
conceptualization of space and time, is radically different from that of "civilized"
people. For instance, some Native American tribes do not conceptualize history as a
temporal event but as a spatial phenomenon. This basic difference in seeing the world
can become an uncrossable bridge for the practitioner who has been trained in a
colonialistic institution where only the Western worldview is seen as valid (Duran,
1984).
Most of the cultures currently served by psychology originally had their own
useful systems of psychotherapy until the colonialization process removed or sup-
pressed them. The way in which a culture conceptualizes disease and healing is one
of the crucial issues that needs to be addressed by psychology. Traditional treatment
modalities are not relevant to a culture that sees psychopathological phenomena as
having an etiological ideology that is different from that of the dominant culture.
Those who impose First World theoretical constructs on Third and Fourth World
populations are guilty of conspiracy to commit ethnocide (United Nations, 1949).
Native Americans, for example, derive some of the most useful practices for health
from their religious beliefs. Yet, prior to 1981, religious freedom was not a Native
American right. In reality, for most Fourth World peoples, mental health cannot be
explicated separately from holistic spiritual and religious practices.
l
Third and Fourth World Concerns: Toward a Liberation Psychology I 215
Consciously or unconsciously, psychologists often violate the essence of culture
by inappropriately treating culturally bound behavior as if it were pathological. This
is a practice that must not be tolerated, because culture is not intrinsically good or
bad, it just is. The essence of culture is a way or system of being in the world. Under
no circumstances should people be penalized for being in the world using a different·
system of cognition. Equally as important in the recognition of culture as a factor in
treatment or prevention of mental illness is the relationship between members of
certain cultural groups and society's institutions. The relationships among people of
color or anv underclass individuals and business, industries, the legal and correctional
institutions: social service agencies, and governmental power structures are key de-
terminants of mental health status.
The world of relevant cross-cultural psychotherapy is not unattainable, but much
work needs to be done in order to realize it. It must be acknowledged that policies
of service delivery have been an integral part of a system that is searching for any
means of social control in order to continue the social, political, economic, and
spiritual exploitation of Third and Fourth World peoples. By being aware of the part
that they have played in the colonialistic process, psychologists can begin to implement
healthier strategies for all people. .
In the development of a relevant and new cross-cultural psychology, it is im-
perative to stop psychological imperialism. Undoubtedly, this will have its genesi~ in
the research area. Researchers who further the interests of institutions that function
for a svstem interested in the continual oppression of people of color must be opposed.
It is v~rv easv even for researchers from an· oppressed group, to continue working
toward ~ppr~~sing their brothers and sisters, especially when all of the institutional
rewards are given to those who are part of the status quo.
Not one SPP overt~y specifies the oppression of people of color as part of its
policy. This policy is very subtle and difficult to detect, but it does exist no~etheless.
In recruiting ethnic faculty and students, for instance, criteria can be established that
allow onlv the selection of those who fulfill certain requirements-usually that the
person of color exhibit some or all of the qualities that strengthen the stat~s quo.
Yet these policies are legal and even ethical according to the rules governmg the
pr~fession. Otherwise, there would be sanctions and expulsions fr~m psychological
fraternities for these violations, and we have no knowledge of a smgle case bemg
brought to light in regard to these issues.
Recommendations
It would be unscrupulous and unacademic to discuss the issues mentioned in
this chapter without suggesting solutions. Self-determination is the fundamental ide-
ology in attempting to construct relevant research and clinical psychology. ~recede~ce
has been provided by the U.S. government's passage in 1978 of the Amencan Indian
Self-Determination Act (Public Law 93-638), which gave Native Americans the right to
be self-determined. (No one, however, has addressed the political narcissism of an
audacious government that thinks it has the power and morality to allow self-deter-
mination. Self-determination is an a priori right, not one to be granted by convention.)
 216 I Duran, Guillory, and Villanueva Third and Fourth World Concerns: Toward a Liberation Psychology I 217

Community Autonomy
People of color should be encouraged and allowed by institutions to define the
direction of psychological research and practice within their communities. This is the
sine qua non of having a relevant psychology and would be the beginning of the
process of absolution for the profession. Blauner (1969) has supported the notion of
complete community autonomy, which radically opens doors and fully allows partic-
ipation in mainstream institutions. For psychologists to believe that solutions can
come from outside the oppressed communities is akin to professional narcissism,
bordering on imperialism. Such solutions merely ensure that the problems will con-
tinue and eventually the whole society suffers from such thinking.
Critical pedagogy seeks emancipation from the "hidden curriculum" of modern-
day American education that works to socialize students to conformitv obedience
passivity, and to the perpetuation of values of the predominant culture C~pple, 1971):
According to the thinking of Freire (1986), it is impossible for the oppressor to liberate
the oppressed. In an ideal situation, the oppressed people, in enacting their liberation,
also will liberate the oppressor. Thus, the act of liberation is a process that has love
as a basic guiding principle-something that is never mentioned in most Western
psychology.
Freire (1986) delineated the process by which communities can be empowered
solution that would empower a relevant cross-cultural psychology. In order to begin
the dialogue, SPPs must have people of color within their institutions. SPPs can lead
the way by making it possible for faculty to be more integrated. This can be done by
hiring and giving tenure to faculty of color. The hiring and tenure, however, can come
about ohly if people of color see the institutional environment as committea to the
resolution of these age-long problems. The solution does not reside in hiring people
of color who will be expected to perform according to a White status quo, because
this will be interpreted as perpetuation of colonialistic praxis. Once SPPs are safe
places for critical analysis and praxis at the faculty and administrative levels, then it
follows that students from these communities will be attracted by the cultural releY.mce
of training programs.
Culturally Relevant Research
The fact that culture needs to be relevant at the research level as well as the
clinical training level cannot be stressed too strongly. Researchers traditionally think
that they are free from bias because they are practicing science. This obliviousness
allows them to reinforce the status quo. ~othing is further from the truth than to
believe that all science is free from bias. •Researchers need to make their research
~

to develop their own autonomy. Psychology should learn to facilitate group praxis
through listening to the communities.
To Freire, the purpose of education should be human liberation so that learners can
be subjects and actors in their own lives and in society. To promote this role, Freire
proposes a dialogue approach in which everyone participates as equals and co-learners
to create social knowledge. The goal of group dialogue is critical thinking by posing
problems in such a way as to have participants uncover root causes of their place in
society-the socioeconomic, political, cultural, and historical context ofpersonal lives.
But critical thinking continues beyond perception-towards the actions that people
take to mol'e beyond powerlessness and gain control over their lives. (Wallerstein &
Bernstein, 1988, p. 382Y
and research methodology relevant to Third and Fourth World peoples. Rewarding
research that maintains the status quo encourages co-conspir~ with the imperialism
and White supremacy mentality within psvcholo~'s Fafl:ks. \
I• 1
The task ahead is a great and chal!enging one. 'fsycholegy has the opportunity
to address some very difficult problems. By so doing, it can begin to turn itself into
a force that can empower and liberate people who are disenfranchised and oppressed.
By meeting the challenge in an honest and open way, psychology can set the standard
for other disciplines and contribute to the well-being of all segments of society.

SPP Leadership

The Freirian approach is relatively simple and can be implemented at once by

SPPs. It consists of a three-stage method to be performed with the equal partnership
of the community. Decisions are not imposed as much as thought out criticallv bv
the partnership model. As described by Wallerstein and Bernstein (1988), the Frelria~
approach comprises the following steps:
1. Listening to and understanding the thematic content of the issues important to
the community.
2. A participatory dialogue using a problem-posing method.
3. Praxis or positive changes that people have conceptualized in the dialogue.

The Freirian method, if implemented within SPPs, would be the beginning of a

1
From "Empowerment Education: Freire's Ideas Adapted to Health Education" by N. Wallerstein and E.
Bernstein, 1988, Health Education Quarterly, 15, p. 382. Copyright © 1988 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reprinted
by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.