Skip to main content

Feminisms, Psychologies, and the Study of Social Life

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Social Psychology

Abstract

A key goal of feminists in psychology has been to understand and challenge social relations of inequality, privilege, and oppression. Several orienting assumptions of mainstream psychology present obstacles to achieving this goal. For example, one assumption is internalism—focusing on inner motives, traits, and capacities as the determinants of human behaviour, while ignoring the sociocultural context. Another is universalism—the assumption that psychological theories and explanations can hold for all people everywhere and at all times. The chapter also reviews the history of feminism in psychology and provides an overview of methods and practices utilized by feminist psychologists.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allport, G. W. (1954). The historical background of social psychology. In G. Lindzey (Ed.), The handbook of social psychology, Vol. 1: Theory and method. Cambridge, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronson, E. (1972). The social animal. San Francisco: Freeman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, D. (2014). One nation under stress: The trouble with stress as an idea. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Becker, D., & Marecek, J. (2008). Dreaming the American dream: Positive psychology and individualism. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 1767–1780.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155–162.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bem, S. L., & Bem, D. (1973). Does sex-biased job advertising “aid and abet” sex discrimination? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 3, 6–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bishop, R. C. (2007). The philosophy of the social sciences. London: Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohan, J. (Ed.). (1992). Seldom seen, rarely heard: Women’s place in psychology. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowleg, L. (this volume).

    Google Scholar 

  • Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christopher, J. C., Wendt, D., Marecek, J., & Goodman, D. (2014). Critical cultural awareness: Contributions to a globalizing psychology. American Psychologist, 69, 646–655.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawford, M., & Marecek, J. (1989). Psychology reconstructs the female: 1968–1988. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 13, 147–165.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cushman, P. (1995). Constructing the self, constructing America: A cultural history of psychotherapy. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobson, A. S. (2014). Performative shamelessness on young women’s social network sites: Shielding the self and resisting gender melancholia. Feminism & Psychology, 24, 97–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edley, N. (2001). Analysing masculinity: Interpretative repertoires, ideological dilemmas, and subject positions. In M. Wetherell, S. Taylor, & S. Yates (Eds.), Discourse as data: A guide for analysis (pp. 189–228). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleck, L. (1935/1979). Genesis and development of a scientific fact. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox-Genovese, E. (1991). Feminism without illusions: A critique of individualism. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freud, S. (1926/1959). The question of lay analysis. In J. Strachey (Ed.), The standard edition of the complete psychological works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 20, p. 212). London: Hogarth.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gavey, N. (1992). Technologies and effects of heterosexual coercion. Feminism & Psychology, 2, 325–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gavey, N. (2005). Just sex?: The cultural scaffolding of rape. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haavind, H. (1973). Myten om den gode mor [The Myth of the Good Mother]. In H. Haavind (Ed.), Myten om den gode mor [The Myth of the Good Mother] (pp. 35–98). Oslo, Norway: Pax Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hare-Mustin, R. T., & Marecek, J. (1986). Autonomy and gender: Some questions for therapists. Psychotherapy: Theory, Practice, and Research, 23, 205–212.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hare-Mustin, R. T., & Marecek, J. (1988). The meaning of difference: Gender theory, postmodernism, and psychology. American Psychologist, 43, 455–464.

    Google Scholar 

  • Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). The weirdest people in the world? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 65–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollingworth, L. S. (1916). Sex differences in mental traits. Psychological Bulletin, 12, 377–384.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollway, W., & Jefferson, T. (2000). Doing qualitative research differently: Free association, narrative, and the interview method. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornstein, G., & Star, S. (1990). Universality biases: How theories about human nature succeed. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 20, 421–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jayawardena, K. (1986). Feminism and nationalism in the Third World. London: Zed.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jellison, K. (1987). History in the courtroom: The Sears case in perspective. The Public Historian, 9, 9–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzinger, C. (Ed.). (1994). Should psychologists study sex differences? [Special Feature]. Feminism & Psychology, 4, 501–546.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kitzinger, C. (2000). Doing feminist conversation analysis. Feminism & Psychology, 10, 163–193.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kravetz, D., Marecek, J., & Finn, S. E. (1983). Factors influencing women’s participation in consciousness-raising groups. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 7, 257–271.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lukes, S. (1974). Power: A radical view. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magnusson, E. (2005). Gendering or equality in the lives of Nordic heterosexual couples with children: No well-paved avenues yet. Nordic Journal of Women’s Studies, 13, 153–163.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magnusson, E. (2011). Women, men and all the other categories: Psychologies for theorizing human diversity. Nordic Psychology, 63, 88–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magnusson, E., & Marecek, J. (2012). Gender and culture in psychology: Theories and practices. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magnusson, E., & Marecek, J. (2015). Doing interview-based qualitative research: A learner’s guide. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marecek, J. (1995). Gender, politics, and psychology’s ways of knowing. American Psychologist, 50, 162–163.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Melbin, A., Sullivan, C. M., & Cain, D. (2003). Transitional supportive housing programs: Battered women’s perspectives and recommendations. Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, 18, 445–460.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mill, J. S. (1869/1929). The subjection of women. London: Everyman’s Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J. B. (1976). Toward a new psychology of women. Boston: Beacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, P. H., & Scholnick, E. K. (2015). Feminist theory and contemporary developmental psychology: The case of children’s executive function. Feminism & Psychology, 25, 266–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morawski, J., & Bayer, B. (2013). Social psychology. In D. Freedheim & I. Weiner (Eds.), The history of psychology (2nd ed., pp. 248–278). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parlee, M. B. (1982). Changes in moods and activation levels during the menstrual cycle in experimentally naive subjects. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 7, 119–131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Radtke, H. L. (2009). Theorizing mothering in the context of intimate partner violence. In T. Teo, P. Stenner, & A. Rutherford (Eds.), Varieties of theoretical psychology: ISTP 2007. Concord, Ontario, Canada: Captus Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ray, R. (1999). Fields of protest: Women’s movements in India. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ray, R. (2012). Handbook of gender. Delhi, India: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riger, S. (1988). Comment on “Women’s history goes to trial: EEOC v. Sears, Roebuck and Company”. Signs, 13, 897–903.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riley, S. (this volume).

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford, A., Capdevila, R., Undurti, V., & Palmary, I. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook of international feminisms. New York: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutherford, A., Marecek, J., & Sheese, K. (2012). The psychology of women and gender. In D. Freedheim (Ed.), The history of psychology (2nd ed., pp. 241–268). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, E. E. (1977). Psychology and the American ideal. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 767–782.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson, E. E. (1993). Celebrating the other: A dialogic account of human nature. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Segal, L. (1996). Freud and feminism: A century of contradiction [Introduction to Special Feature]. Feminism & Psychology, 6, 290–297.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherif, C. W. (1978/1992). Bias in psychology. In J. Bohan (Ed.), Seldom seen, rarely heard: Women’s place in psychology (pp. 107–146). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shields, S. A. (1975). Functionalism, Darwinism, and the psychology of women: A study in social myth. American Psychologist, 30, 739–754.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shields, S. A. (2008). Gender: An intersectionality perspective. Sex Roles, 59, 301–331.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spence, J., & Helmreich, R. (1978). Masculinity and femininity. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stewart, A., & McDermott, C. (2004). Gender in psychology. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, 519–544.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson Woolley, H. (1910). Psychological literature. A review of the recent literature on the psychology of sex. Psychological Bulletin, 7, 335–342.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torre, M. E., Fine, M., & Fox, M. (2012). Critical participatory action research as public science. In H. Cooper et al. (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol. 2: Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychology, and biological (pp. 171–184). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Unger, R. K. (Ed.). (2004). Handbook of the psychology of women and gender. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warner, L., & Shields, S. A. (2013). The intersections of sexuality, gender, and race: Identity research at the crossroads. Sex Roles, 68, 803–810.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weedon, C. (1987). Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisstein, N. (1968/1993). Psychology constructs the female; or the fantasy life of the male psychologist (with some attention to the fantasies of his friends the male biologist and the male anthropologist). Feminism & Psychology, 3, 194–210.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wetherell, M. (1998). Positioning and interpretative repertoires: Conversation analysis and poststructuralism in dialogue. Discourse & Society, 9, 387–412.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, S. (Ed.). (1986). Feminist social psychology: Developing theory and practice. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, S. (1988). The role of reflexivity in feminist psychology. Women’s Studies International Forum, 11, 493–502.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, S. (Ed.). (1996). Feminist social psychologies: International perspectives. Philadelphia: Open University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, S. (1997). Prioritizing the political: Feminist psychology. In T. Ibañez & L. Íñiguez (Eds.), Critical social psychology (pp. 178–194). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilkinson, S. (2004). Focus group research. In D. Silverman (Ed.), Qualitative research: Theory, method and practice (2nd ed., pp. 177–199). London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, R. (2004). Boundaries of the mind: The individual in the fragile sciences: Cognition. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wollstonecraft, M. (1792/1996). A vindication of the rights of woman. Mineola, NY: Dover Thrift Editions.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Magnusson, E., Marecek, J. (2017). Feminisms, Psychologies, and the Study of Social Life. In: Gough, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Social Psychology. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51018-1_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics