There is concern that in times of crisis, psychological theory may retreat into positions of political neutrality and avoid entanglement with power structures. In this paper we argue that the declarative mapping sentence (DMS) can provide theoretical psychology a methodological framework that explicitly engages with the political dimensions of psychological inquiry whilst dealing with socio-political phenomena in dark times.

The DMS was developed out of the quantitative facet theory approach to be used in qualitative and philosophical domains. Facet theory’s traditional mapping sentences impose a predetermined structure upon research data. However, the DMS is a reflexive framework written in ordinary prose that responds and adapts to emerging understandings during a research study where this responsiveness makes it particularly suited for theorising in unstable political contexts. This avoids the danger that rigid analytical frameworks may reify existing power relations.

We discuss the ways that the DMS operates reflexively during political engagement by examining its application to socio-political issues including social and environmental issues. We consider how the DMS requires researchers to explicitly articulate the ontological and mereological structure of the components of their research domains, as the significant aspects of a research domain and their interrelationships. We show how the DMS reveals the psychological structure of socio-political issues and concepts and has the capacity for iterative modification throughout a research project, a responsiveness mirroring the changeability of dark times themselves.

By providing an approach to theorising that is both structured and flexible approach, the DMS offers philosophical psychology a way to maintain theoretical rigour whilst, simultaneously being politically responsive. The DMS is both a method for describing socio-political reality and a participatory tool for depicting psychological theory's relationship to power, ideology, and resistance.