Exam

Question 1

Ontological concerns (3)

Answer 1

That mainstream is:

1. Mechanistic - neglects subjectivity and agency of people
2. Individualism- it separates society and individual when they are interlinked
3. Psychology is a natural science- psyc has elements of human science and concepts are constructed

Question 2

Epistemological concerns (3)

Answer 2

1. that there is no relationship between ontology and epistemology- they are actually intertwined
2. Empirical methodology- use hypotheses- neglects human scientific perspective
3. objective observations and measurements- lacks interpretation of data

Question 3

Ethical-political concerns (4)

Answer 3

1. Focuses on human control and adaption- neglects emancipatory potential
2. Humans act like machines- humans are meaning-making agents
3. Separation of knowledge and action- praxis over theory
4. Value-neutral research- neglects psyc’s involvement in maintaining capitalism, patriarchy, colonisation.

Question 4

5 Dimensions of Marxism

Answer 4

1. Marxism is the theory of the social- social, cultural and psychological conditions
2. Marxism is critical social theory- cannot separate social realities from individual
3. Marxism analyses the exploitative effects of economic, political and social arrangements- Alienation
4. A structural level of analysis distinctions- distinctions between reality and appearance
5. Dialects- identity is constructed through interactions with other people

Question 5

How has mainstream psych constructed gender identities?

Answer 5

1. the production of knowledge about men and women (alpha and beta biases)
2. gender and pathologisation - gender disorder, gay cure camps

Question 6

What can feminism contribute to critical psyc?

Answer 6

1. feminism challenges the representation of women in psyc discourse.
2. challenges the depoliticisation of professional psychology training as raceless, classless and degendered
3. challenges the feminisation of professional psyc that positions women as ‘caring’ but not ‘professional’

Question 7

1 way of seeing feminist movement (white)

Answer 7

1. First wave: Feminist Empiricism (late 1800s-early 1900s- women’s suffrage, property rights and smash myth of gender difference)
2. Second Wave: Feminist Standpoint (1960s and 1970s- overthrowing patriarchy, women’s experiences as separate to men’s)- the beginning of black feminists being vocal about one sidedness of white feminist movement
3. Third Wave: Feminist Relativism (1990s- critical of scientific inquiry, beginning of intersectionality)

Question 8

other way of seeing feminist movement (black)

Answer 8

in USA:

1. Black Feminist Abolitionists (1800s, human and civil rights for newly emancipated slaves, Truth)
2. Community and Family Defence (late 1800s- early 1900s, resisting race and gender control, anti-lynching movement, domestic workers rights)
3. Civil Rights Movement (1960s, fight against Jim Crow laws, Rosa Parks, equality, education and poverty)

Question 9

Intersectional Theory (3)

Answer 9

1. Axes of Identity (race, gender, class etc)
2. Social Structural Oppressions- arrangements in society which divide people into groups, create inequalities and oppressions
3. Matrix of Domination:
   structural- law, religion, politics, only changed through war or revolution
   Disciplinary- exists to manage oppression, hides behind rules of fairness to cover up oppression, UCT, changes through insider resisitance
   Interpersonal- personal relationships, eg. xenophobia
   Hegemonic- makes oppression legitimate, values, ideas, language, eg. TV, media, change is through self-reeducation

Question 10

How men have reacted to changes post-apartheid

Answer 10

1. reactive: try to protect old privilege, men ‘in crisis’, fear losing power, want to go back to old patriarchal values, rape of women as patriarchal policing
2. Accommodating: constructing manhood based on responsibility and wisdom
3. Progressive

Question 11

Gender-based violence and Psychology’s role

Answer 11

1. role of psych in shaping representation of abused women (pathologises, stereotyped femininity to describe women’s position in violent relationships)
2. disorders (battered women syndroms, co-dependency, self-defeating personality disorder)
3. focus on quantitative methods of domestic violence which overlooks complexity and trauma of violent relationships

Question 12

hegemonic masculinity

Answer 12

• dominant and ideal form of masculinity by which other masculinites are judged.
• establishes norm of male behaviour
• not all men have equal power- some men dominate over other men and women - this regulated male power over women and distributes power
• eg. white capitalism controls rap artists but rap artists control mentality towards women.