>> BARRY RICHARDS (Professor of Political
Psychology): Here in Bournemouth we’ve developed
a course which we think is very distinct,
different from other places where, at the
moment, you can study Political Psychology.
It’s an idea whose time has come, if you
can use that cliché. I think it’s becoming
more obvious to people in academia that in
studying politics you study society in any
form and to people out there in the general
public that to understand what’s happening
you need some kind of psychological insight.
>> CANDIDA YATES (Professor of Culture and
Communication): The course that we’ve developed
is brand new and it is unique, I think, in
taking a largely psycho-dynamic perspective
which focuses on the emotional dynamics of
politics and political behaviour and the irrational,
unconscious fantasies that underpin political
behaviour.
>> BARRY RICHARDS (Professor of Political
Psychology): There is now a widening understanding
that you need psychology to understand politics.
>>CANDIDA YATES (Professor of Culture and
Communication): …and whether we are talking
about the motivations of people involved in
terror and the psychology of that through
the work of Professor Barry Richards or through,
say, the dynamics of social media and voting
behaviour, we’ve got Darren Lilleker. My
research is into political culture and the
cultures of politics and the emotions and
psychology of that.
>>BARRY RICHARDS (Professor of Political Psychology):
So it’s a course with focus on depth psychology
but in an interdisciplinary context, so there
are elements of sociology, of politics itself
as a discipline, of anthropology and history
that we certainly try and draw upon and which
come into it. This is one reason why there
is no specific undergraduate degree required
as a qualification. We will expect to get
applications from people doing politics as
a first degree, or having done politics, people
who have done psychology as a first degree
but, also, people from other social sciences
and allied disciplines. The ideal cohort for
this degree would be a group of students representing
every continent and as many different countries
as possible because we’ve built it into
the curriculum that discussions in seminar
groups will draw quite heavily on the different
experiences of individual students. Many of
the people who would be interested in this
programme will have academic careers in mind,
but also we are finding that people who are
maybe already working in or around politics,
whether that’s working in government or
embarking on careers as politicians, or thinking
about careers as politicians, or political
activists or political communicators.
>>CANDIDA YATES (Professor of Culture and
Communication): We very much learn from our
students so we look forward to them contributing
to what we do but also, they get a lot from
us that way too. I think we have a good relationship
with our students, we really like them and
enjoy working with them.
