German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel says, “Things and events cannot be studied separately, rather many elements of a system are interrelated and must be taken into account while studying events or things. For example, if we want to study the psychological ideas of a person, it is important to study his philosophical, economic and political ideas and the political, economic and social conditions of his country at that particular time. This person’s ideas cannot be understood … in isolation from all these influences.”
A thousand years before the birth of Jesus, a patriarchal and class herding system existed in India. The ruling classes had spread the theory among the people that physical labour is inferior and mental labour is superior. Apart from this, they also propagated the theory that mental abilities are inherited just as wealth and therefore only the heirs of the ruling class can rule because the ability to rule is inherited by them. The ruling class felt the need to spread such theories because the majority of people used to work very hard, but the members of the ruling class kept a large part of the production for themselves. For this reason, hatred and rebellion against the ruling class bred among the people. The ruling class established the army and the law to suppress the rebellion of the people and thus the state came into being. But in establishing the state and army and suppressing the people through them, the ruling class had had to spend a lot of wealth. So they started using psychological methods to suppress people.
Thus the superiority of mental labour and the theories of heredity of mental abilities were presented so that people accepted the rule of the ruling classes. A large number of people were needed to systematically spread these theories among the masses. This need was fulfilled by Brahmin who used to do mental work only. Thus the philosophy of Brahma Sutra and Vedanta came into existence, and then the philosophy of Avagon was given. Then came the theory that knowledge is obtained through revelation. The purpose of spreading such theories was that people would not pay attention to the material and practical world and the exploitation at the hands of the ruling class.
On the other hand, the Greek civilisation began to decline, the reasons for which were related to the system itself. The declining Greek civilisation gave birth to Alexander the Great in the military field and Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in the field of knowledge and philosophy.
Moreover, Christianity emerged as a protest against the exploitation of the slave system. The ruling classes tried hard to suppress this religious movement, but in vain, because the poor people and slaves were frustrated from this exploitative system. As the imperial system developed in different parts of the world, imperialism used different methods to maintain its dominance. By the middle of the 19th century, imperialist governments realised that it is too difficult for them to maintain this coercive rule. Since science had become a new religion in the middle of the 19th century, the imperialist powers clothed various ideas in the scientific garb. This work was done through psychological measurement, an important branch of psychology. Then, as the capitalist system developed, the need to control humans also increased. At the beginning of the 20th century, the ability to control humans through psychology was proven. Therefore, psychology began to be used in various areas of human life as per the need of the capitalist system. World War-I played an important role in the spread of the use of psychology.
In Pakistan too, the elite had started using psychology from the very first day to keep people under control. For this, sometimes religion was resorted to; sometimes the judiciary was used; and certain intellectuals, politicians and religious elements were used again and again. And this continues till today.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 8th, 2023.
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