Critical perspectives on positive psychology applied to work and organizations

Lan Thi Nguyen, Matthew McDonald and Linh Viet Nguyen

Chapter 11 in Handbook of Critical Work and Organizational Psychology, 2026, pp 187-209 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The purpose of this chapter is to provide an overview and then critique the theories, practices, and interventions of positive psychology applied to work and organizations. The first part draws on literature from critical psychology and the scholarship of the historian and social theorist Michel Foucault to critique positive psychological workplace practices and interventions, analyzing these through governmentality, power/knowledge, psychologization, and diminished subjectivity. Guided by these critical concepts, the second part of the chapter addresses the limitations of positive psychology by presenting an alternative set of workplace practices and interventions focused on emotions, power relations, and political and public policy activism. It argues that these offer the psychological (intra-psychic) benefits that positive psychology claims to provide while challenging the social and political structures that degrade the experience and conditions of work.

Keywords: Critical Psychology; Foucault; Positive Psychology; Workplace Practices and Interventions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035331055
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