What Is a White Epistemology in Psychological Science? A Critical Race-Theoretical Analysis

Teo, Thomas

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.861584

Cited by 13 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…These assumptions concern our field's epistemic stance vis-à-vis the creation and promulgation of knowledge and ignorance about race, the positioning of race as a variable in psychological research, the presupposition that such research is beneficial vis-a-vis the eradication of racism, and the conceptual repercussions of suggesting psychological treatment for groups that are harmed by racism. In keeping with critical psychology scholarship (e.g., Fox et al, 2009;Teo, 2022), our contention is that addressing the tacit, rarely questioned level at which these assumptions exist can illuminate the resilience of racism in our field despite decades of stated opposition to it. Our investigation is designed to correspond to one of the recommendations made in the APA's follow-up to its apology, the Racial Equity Action Plan (American Psychological Association, 2022a), which was to "[r]edesign the traditional methodologies used to conduct, review, communicate, disseminate and report psychological research to ensure equity, diversity and inclusion, including expanding ways that the psychology community documents scientific, scholarly and social impact" (para.…”

mentioning

confidence: 69%

Psychology, race, and “the politics of truth”.

Smith,

Madon,

Gordon

et al. 2023

Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

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In October 2021, the American Psychological Association issued a statement apologizing for its complicity with systemic racism and the coinciding failure in its mission to benefit society (American Psychological Association, 2021a). What accounts for the persistence of racism in the field despite decades of disavowals and stated commitments to work against it? In this article, we describe our analysis of the resilient operations of racism and whiteness within foundational dimensions of contemporary psychological paradigms—dimensions that are so foundational that they represent taken-for-granted tenets of how research in psychology is done. This article presents a critical discourse analysis (Van Dijk, 1993) of a fourteen-article corpus representing the post-2020 psychological health disparities literature, a subset of psychological scholarship whose focus explicitly concerns race-related dimensions of mental health. Its discursive characteristics were found to include the practice of partial to full decontextualization of historical and present-day systemic injustices, the effective creation of race as an individual-level variable, and the production of ignorance regarding the operations of racism and whiteness. We interpret the operations of this discourse to reproduce racism in psychology via the existence of a Foucauldian truth regime, and we explore the implications for psychological research and authorship.

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mentioning

confidence: 69%

Psychology, race, and “the politics of truth”.

Smith,

Madon,

Gordon

et al. 2023

Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

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“…In this way, we conceptualize stereotypes as racial propaganda that have functioned to support oppressive societal systems and limit the agency and influence of people of color. In doing this we heed recent calls to take historical context into consideration in our attempts to understand and address psychological processes that perpetuate racism (Salter et al, 2018;Teo, 2022;Trawalter et al, 2022;Trawalter et al, 2020). Addressing historical oppression and injustice has the potential to target racist systems from multiple angles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Construction of Racial Stereotypes and How They Serve as Racial Propaganda

Melson-Silimon¹,

Spivey²,

Skinner-Dorkenoo³

2023

Preprint

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In social psychology, stereotypes have generally been viewed as overgeneralized beliefs about social groups in society. Although stereotypes—especially those that are negative—tend to be recognized as contributing to prejudice and discrimination of marginalized communities, they are often conceptualized as containing a “kernel of truth.” Meanwhile, there has been relatively little consideration of the historical and cultural origins of racial stereotypes. This is an important oversight given that stereotypes have and continue to be used as a means to excuse and reinforce the systemic oppression of communities of color. Thus, the current paper uses a historical framework to review major stereotypes that have targeted communities of color throughout U.S. history, with a focus on stereotypes of Black people. In doing so, we conceptualize racial stereotypes as propaganda that have historically functioned to support oppressive societal systems in the U.S. by both (a) shaping public perceptions and expectations and (b) by influencing the thoughts and behavior of members of stereotyped groups. By situating stereotypes within their historical and cultural frames, readers can recognize the way stereotypes reinforce systems of oppression. We conclude with research implications and encourage stereotyping scholars to foreground the social construction of stereotypes and the function that they serve by contextualizing their work in the social and historical context in which stereotypes emerged.

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“…In addition, the practice of critical reflexivity has been a core component of feminist research (Hesse-Biber & Piatelli, 2012). Thus, building on previous research on race and gender, we believe an explicit identification of researcher positionality and how elements of this positionality has informed and shaped the research project, is a critical element in the use of empirical scholarship to combat anti-Black racism and confront the hegemony of White epistemology in psychological science (Settles et al, 2020;Teo, 2022). Furthermore, when considering the peer review publication process it would be helpful for reviewers to also consider and outline positionality, which is one step toward confronting racial bias and White supremacy endemic in the peer review and publication process (Roberts et al, 2020).…”

Section: Althoughmentioning

confidence: 98%

Dismantling and eradicating anti-Blackness and systemic racism.

Pieterse¹,

Lewis²,

Miller³

2023

Journal of Counseling Psychology

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Anti-Blackness and systemic racism are long-standing pressing social issues that have received increasing attention in the counseling psychology literature. However, the past few years have demonstrated what can only be described as an emboldening of anti-Blackness-the brutal individual and systemic threats of emotional and physical violence and loss of life that Black individuals and communities face on a daily basis-and a harsh reminder of the systemic racism that continues to threaten the well-being of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. In this introduction for the special section on Dismantling and Eradicating Anti-Blackness and Systemic Racism, we provide readers an opportunity to pause and reflect on the ways in which those of us in the field can more intentionally seek to disrupt anti-Blackness and systemic racism. We believe that counseling psychology has an opportunity to increase its real-world relevance as an applied specialty area of psychology to the degree to which it evolves its ways of disrupting anti-Blackness and systemic racism in every content area and domain of the field. In this introduction, we review exemplars of work that helps the field re-envision its approaches to anti-Blackness and systemic racism. We also offer our perspectives on additional ways in which the field of counseling psychology can increase its relevance and real-world impact in 2023 and beyond. Public Significance StatementThis article introduces a special section on advancing efforts to dismantle and eradicate anti-Blackness and systemic racism through the application of counseling psychology science and practice and highlights the pressing need for the field to re-envision its approach to the work.

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What Is a White Epistemology in Psychological Science? A Critical Race-Theoretical Analysis

Cited by 13 publications

References 64 publications

Psychology, race, and “the politics of truth”.

Psychology, race, and “the politics of truth”.

The Construction of Racial Stereotypes and How They Serve as Racial Propaganda

Dismantling and eradicating anti-Blackness and systemic racism.

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