Multicultural Counseling as the "Fourth Force"

Recent contributors to the multicultural counseling debate seem to suggest that multicultural counseling has almost attained the status of a new paradigm, a new theory. This article examines the field of multicultural counseling as a new paradigm in counseling theory and suggests that although there has been a heightened awareness in multicultural counseling theory, the need to recognize the cultural and political context of human development in clinical practice has been very slow. It is argued that the progress made seems to be only in theory and research and that as scientist-practitioners, we need to work hard at supporting competent practice. A call is made to the profession for action.