Cognitive counsellors' constructions of social power

Abstract

The theory of cognitive counselling makes little reference to issues of social power but, nonetheless, we are likely to find ideas about social power (whether implicit or explicit) embedded within cognitive counselling discourse. For this research five cognitive counsellors were interviewed about the social context of counselling. The transcripts were analysed using a discourse analytic approach, and four interpretative repertoires around social power were identified. In this paper we discuss how these four repertoires are used by the interviewees to manage the ideological dilemma of individualism and social responsibility described by Billig (1988). We conclude with a discussion of the potential significance for counselling of the multiple and flexible explanations of social power construed in these interviews.