Introduction
A defining feature of abuse is the reduction of human welfare. Abuse can be perpetrated in covert, systemic forms (e.g., discrimination, inequality) and overt, direct forms of interpersonal violence (e.g., hate crimes, rape). From a systemic standpoint, abuse is connected to multiple invisible power structures and relations that produce and maintain social inequity. In understanding abuse, psychology is uniquely positioned as both a power structure that has created and perpetuated abuses and a social science that contributes to scholarly knowledge of abuse.
Judging by its absence from the indexes of several introductory critical psychology readers (e.g., Fox, Prilleltensky, & Austin, 2009; Hook, 2004), “abuse” is not often a directly explored concept by critically minded psychologists. Although seldom named, abuse has been both a rich topic of inquiry and a motivational force in examining psychology’s own knowledge and practices. This has involved the study of abusive...
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MacKay, J., Goodbaum, J. (2014). Abuse, Overview. In: Teo, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_623
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