The psychology of liberation, as the readers will find out in the first chapter of this
book, has its roots in a paradigmatic change that started in the second half of the
twentieth century, in Latin American social sciences. One could say that the idea of
liberation arose from a fresh and renovating spirit that reflected the times as change
traversing across the continent. And as also can be read in the chapters included in
this book, there are certain characteristics that have marked those initial moments.
During the 25 years between the sixties and the mid-eighties, when the creation of
a psychology of liberation was proposed by its pioneer, Ignacio Martín-Baró, the
disciplines of sociology, anthropology, pedagogy, philosophy, and theology, were
introducing and discussing certain conceptions and ideas linked to social and political
movements while denouncing oppression, exclusion, exploitation.