Just Because We Don't See It, Doesn't Mean It's Not There: Everyday Resistance in Psychology

Abstract

This article outlines some contentions within conventional Western psychology and across the social sciences to define what counts as legitimate forms of “resistance” amongst members of historically marginalized groups (e.g. people of Color, working class/poor groups) in efforts to push back against injustice and foment social change. Without an expansion of what is understood as resistance, the discipline risks imposing narrow models and reifying deficit narratives about marginalized groups' capacity for resistance. In contexts where overt forms of resistance (e.g. marches), may lead to incarceration, deportation, death, or other egregious punishments, people located in “tight spaces” of oppression may engage in everyday off‐stage practices of resistance that are covert and not observable to those in positions of privilege or who exercise state power. This article encourages psychologists to take a political stance in solidarity with marginalized groups to acknowledge that not all forms of resistance are observable or measurable. This stance can allow psychologists to begin to dismantle deficit narratives of people mistakenly understood as being passive in the face of oppression and instead observe agency, aspirations for change, and resistance.

Feeling and thought in collective action on social issues: Toward a systems perspective

“…From a macro perspective, Snow (2004) defined collective action as a collective challenge to systems of authority, whether institutional, organizational, cultural, or political. This brings collective action close to conceptualizations of social movements, resistance, contention, and rebellion (e.g., Leach & Livingstone, 2015; Rosales & Langhout, 2020; Snow et al., 2004). In contrast, social psychologists have tended to refer to most action in response to social issues as “collective action”: the use of voice or force by (groups of) individuals to benefit a group or society at large (e.g., Wright & Taylor, 1998).…”

“…(2020) suggest that critical systemic thinking is an important element in the sociopolitical development and actions of racially marginalized youth in the USA. But, it is neither necessary nor sufficient (e.g., Rosales & Langhout, 2020). When such an association is found, it is contingent on critical agency—a combination of motivations and efficacy beliefs (Anyiwo et al., 2020).…”

“…Most of the time this boils down to mass public protest against governments in the West. But this view is a rather limited construction emergent from the history, biases, and fragmentation of psychology research on this topic in the West (Bou Zeineddine et al., in press; Rosales & Langhout, 2020; Snow, 2004). For example, why has our conceptualization of collective action not considered until recently collective action in support of a system (Jost et al., 2017), when social movement scholars have long argued that this was important (for a review, see Snow et al., 2004)?…”

“Did I see what I really saw?” Violence, percepticide, and dangerous seeing after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid

“…For example, cultural, structural, and direct violence create tighter spaces for oppressed groups to show organized or collective resistance (Farmer, 2004). Tight spaces are spaces that are heavily constricted due to domination; subjugated peoples find it difficult to register their resistance in these spaces because to do so would put them at even more danger (Cruz, 2014, 2016; Lugones, 2003; Rosales & Langhout, 2020). Moreover, violence reduces consciousness formation, which minimizes community cohesion, which facilitates misrecognition and misrepresentation of subordinated social groups; this often limits organizing for social justice by the oppressed group, public outrage at state‐led violence by all groups, and solidarity and coalitional mobilization by dominant groups (Bell, 2016; Bourdieu, 2000; Farmer, 2004; Maguire, 2017; Martín‐Baró, 1996; Scheper‐Hughes, 2004; Taylor, 1997).…”

“…Indeed, just like wherever there is power, there is resistance (Foucault, 1978), wherever there is violence, there is resistance. That resistance might or might not be legible to dominant groups (Rosales & Langhout, 2020). It is outside the scope of this paper to develop a typology of resistance, yet we discuss two forms that can create ruptures for solidarity and mobilization.…”