Showing papers in "Journal of Social Issues in 2019"

The Psychology of Neoliberalism and the Neoliberalism of Psychology

Abstract: In this article, we approach the relationship between neoliberalism and psychological science from the theoretical perspective of cultural psychology. In the first section, we trace how engagement with neoliberal systems results in characteristic tendencies—including a radical abstraction of self from social and material context, an entrepreneurial understanding of self as an ongoing development project, an imperative for personal growth and fulfillment, and an emphasis on affect management for self-regulation—that increasingly constitute the knowledge base of mainstream psychological science. However, as we consider in the second section, psychological science is not just an observer of neoliberalism and its impact on psychological experience. Instead, by studying psychological processes independent of cultural–ecological or historical context and by championing individual growth and affective regulation as the key to optimal well-being, psychological scientists reproduce and reinforce the influence and authority of neoliberal systems. Rather than a disinterested bystander, hegemonic forms of psychological science are thoroughly implicated in the neoliberal project.

To Be Both (and More): Immigration and Identity Multiplicity

Abstract: Immigrants and their descendants make up a growing share of the population in countries across Europe, North America, and Oceania. This large-scale immigration challenges once relatively stable notions of ethnic, national (or regional), and religious identities. Immigrants and their children confront the task of defining themselves in a new and unfamiliar context. Questions regarding immigrants’ identifications with their ethnic and national groups—but also with local, religious, and supranational groups—have animated national policy debates. This special issue brings together research on migrants’ sense of a “being both,” and the research and policy implications of this particular form of multiple identification. This introductory article discusses the conceptualisation of multiple identification, the importance of group dynamics for the adoption of dual identities, as well as the implications of identification with multiple social groups for immigrants and their receiving societies.

Psychophysiological Stress Responses to Bicultural and Biracial Identity Denial

Abstract: Bicultural and biracial individuals (those who identify either with two cultures or two races) are often denied membership in the groups with which they identify, an experience referred to as identity denial. The present studies used an experimental design to test the effects of identity denial on physiological and self-reported stress, and naturalistic behavioral responses in a controlled laboratory setting for both bicultural (Study 1; N = 126) and biracial (Study 2; N = 119) individuals. The results suggest that compared to an identity-irrelevant denial, bicultural participants who were denied their American identity and Minority/White biracial individuals who were denied their White identity reported greater stress and were more likely to verbally reassert their identity. Bicultural participants also demonstrated slower cortisol recovery compared to those in the identity-irrelevant denial condition. The results are the first to highlight the negative physical health

The Association of Group‐Based Discrimination with Health and Well‐Being: A Comparison of Ableism with Other “Isms”

Abstract: Discrimination has negative consequences for the health and well‐being (HWB) of individuals belonging to disadvantaged groups. Due to social and attitudinal barriers, we argue that disabled people comprise one of the groups most affected by discrimination. Using data from the European Social Survey, including representative samples from 32 countries surveyed in seven waves (2002–2014), we compared the effects of ableism on HWB with discrimination targeting other groups (e.g., sexism and ageism). We tested these effects between individuals (i.e., comparing the effects of individuals belonging to different disadvantaged groups) and within individuals (i.e., examining the case of individuals belonging to multiple disadvantaged categories). Results indicated that facing ableism is associated with lower HWB, and that this effect has a greater magnitude when compared to the effect of being discriminated because of other disadvantaged group memberships. Our findings highlight the significance of addressing ableism in research and social policy.

Forging Diversity-Science-Informed Guidelines for Research on Race and Racism in Psychological Science

Abstract: As race and racism continue to be important subjects of research in psychology, guidelines for scholarship in this domain of inquiry are strongly needed. Drawing from the foundations of previous discussions of diversity science, we propose five principles that can help scholars conduct generative research on race and racism. Specifically, research on race and racism is strengthened when scholars: (1) are mindful of historical patterns of oppression and inequality, (2) adopt a racially diverse team science approach, (3) utilize diverse samples, (4) consider the influence of multiple identity groups on human experience, and (5) promote the translation of knowledge from the laboratory to the field. In outlining our proposed guidelines, we elaborate on why this discussion for research about race and racism is needed at this particular point of the field’s history.

The Crisis in Social Psychology Under Neoliberalism: Reflections from Social Representations Theory

Abstract: This article examines the material and ideational conditions in academia and broader society under neoliberalism and their effects on social psychology, both as an academic community and as a source of knowledge production. Social representations theory (SRT)—embedded in the discipline of social psychology—is taken as a case study, which mirrors not only the specific impacts of neoliberalism on the theory and scientific community of SRT, but by extension also on social psychology as a whole. Specifically, we observe how neoliberalism has impacted SRT's ability to address those features of social psychology which led many scholars to label it “a discipline in crisis” by the 1960s and which included its reliance on a realist ontology, positivist epistemology, and quantitative methods, as well as the absence of an axiological frame which led to its distancing away from a humanistic, action-oriented social psychology. Rather than lessening these challenges, it is argued that neoliberalism has, in fact, further entrenched them in two interconnected ways. First, at the level of academic practice, neoliberalism has structured academic work or labor in the neoliberal university/academia in ways that are more consistent with the production of knowledge that subscribes to positivist principles. Second, on a conceptual level, the hegemony of neoliberalism has been accompanied by a corresponding hegemony of conceptual and methodological individualism in the social sciences. This in turn has led to an environment conducive to and encouraging of positivist approaches in social psychology.

Why Immigrants’ Multiple Identities Matter: Implications for Research, Policy, and Practice

Abstract: Immigrants and their descendants typically identify with ethnic, national, religious, and/or regional groups, in various combinations and with varying degrees of compatibility or conflict. Research and theorizing on these patterns of identification, as represented in this issue, suggest guideposts for future research and domains for policy development. Here, we identify some of the issues that warrant additional research and we consider implications of existing research on dual (or multiple) identification for the development and implementation of policies related to immigrants. Examples of the former include the need for careful specification of concepts, the consideration of multiple dimensions of identity, deeper examination of identity meanings, methodological extensions in time and space, and greater theoretical integration. Policy development will require greater attention to various identity combinations, advocacy for national inclusivity, the promotion of sites for positive intergroup contact, and maximizing the potential for immigrants with multiple identities to help bridge intergroup gaps.

The Up- and Downside of Dual Identity: Stereotype Threat and Minority Performance

Abstract: Social identity and acculturation research mostly documents benefits of dual identity for immigrant minorities’ adaptation. Drawing on stereotype threat research, we argue that dual identity can be (1) beneficial in low-threat contexts and (2) costly in high-threat contexts. Two field experiments in schools induced stereotype threat by randomly assigning minority students (Study 1: N = 174, Study 2: N = 735) to stereotype threat (making ethnicity salient) vs. control conditions before taking a test. We assessed dual identity as dual commitments to (combined) minority and majority cultures. In support of the predicted benefits of dual identity in low-threat contexts, dual identifiers outperformed and had higher self-esteem than did otherwise-identified students in the control condition, while the advantage of dual identity disappeared in the threat condition (Study 1). In support of the predicted costs of a dual identity in high-threat contexts, dual identifiers reported more anxiety (Study 1) and performed worse (Study 2) in the threat condition compared to the control condition. These experimental findings suggest that dual identities may either help or hinder minority performance depending on stereotype threat in academic contexts.

Disability: Missing from the Conversation of Violence

Abstract: The data on violence against disabled people are scarce. The data on prevalence that does exist is staggering, however: disabled people make up one third to one half of all people killed by law enforcement and experience twice the rate of violence that others do. To study the relationships among ableism, violence, and disability as an intersectional identity, we use a DisCrit theoretical framework to conduct a selective review of three reports: a Bureau of Justice Statistics (2017) report on violence and disability, a Ruderman Foundation white paper on media coverage of police violence and disability (Perry and Carter-Long), and a report from the Center for American Progress (CAP) investigating the mass incarceration of people with disabilities in the United States (Vallas). The authors examine ways the available data tell a particular story about disability and violence and identify crucial missing conversations. The findings from these analyses suggest that to combat ableism and the violence it causes, oppressive systems must be named, the voices of disabled individuals must be included, and data on disability must be more systematically gathered in all national efforts related to violence and violence prevention. We also present the implications of this work for social policy, psychologists, and larger contributions to the literature on victimization.