Comments on: Live-Blogging ‘Feminism For Real’: On Learning How Not to Be An Asshole Academic Feminist

By: Skada

Skada — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 22:36:14 +0000

Even in the counseling field (I’m working on my MA in counseling through a graduate program now), many classes/professors emphasize an etic perspective: “Good counseling is good counseling.” In other words, you just be objective and treat everyone the same and be a good counselor, and it will all work out. I have taken a few classes (like multicultural counseling) where professors have challenged this idea and encouraged us to be sensitive to the needs and cultures of different groups (without stereotyping). But I guess all of that is to say that even in a “clinical” program, there is very little emphasis on social justice. I’ve only had one or two classes with professors who stressed advocacy and getting out of the office to effect real change in the world on behalf of our clients.

As for the conversations with someone who has dropped out of university…

For me, there was a real sense of shame. (I took a 3-year break in my undergrad.) Like I couldn’t hack it, like I wasn’t good enough, like I was destined to work a menial job for minimum wage. It was a touchy subject for me, because of my own baggage. If I had dated someone who was still in university, working on a degree, I would’ve brought that baggage to the table, and it would’ve been hard. I think I would’ve needed reassurance that the person didn’t think badly of me or look down on me, and I think I would’ve needed that voiced aloud, explicitly. Also, I’m pretty sure I would’ve been ridiculously envious, since I actually had wanted to be in university. Even if I had dropped out because I felt it wasn’t for me, I think I still would’ve been both envious and resentful of the societal approval of my date’s path. It’s just such a fraught subject. And so many people *SAY* “college isn’t for everyone” and “you need to do what’s right for you,” but they don’t actually *MEAN* it. It’s like saying, “You’re free to choose whatever you want! Go for it! …But just so you know, there’s a right answer a wrong answer, and I’m watching.”

By: annajcook

annajcook — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:10:57 +0000

Thanks for the thoughts, Sara! Your perspective definitely helped to clarify my thinking. I do know (from friends in the field, and from reading) that research science is painfully behind when it comes to understanding sex and gender in cultural context. So perhaps generalizing out from that, it would be very easy to imagine how research psychology could lose sight of sociological factors in the interest of conducting studies with isolated variables and control groups.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:37:59 +0000

Oh, and as for psychology education, the emphasis on “reducing bias” and “encouraging objectivity” in research methods classes is entirely justified – that’s the point of a research methods class. In the topic-specific classes, the approach taken is much more variable. It may be the case that discussions of social justice issues are less fleshed out in psychology classrooms than some other classrooms at least partially because psychology is often one of the largest majors at a university. People assume that it is “easy,” so some sign up for it based on that assumption alone, with no concern for the actual content. This can have a dramatic effect on the classroom atmosphere. In my English classes as an undergrad, the majority of people there were actually interested in the topic. Same with my history classes. I don’t think I ever had an undergraduate psych class in which that was the case.

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:30:29 +0000

I’m a social psychology Ph.D. student. In order to address the concern raised in the quotation you posted, it’s important to first point out that psychology is not just counseling or even mostly counseling. Any system of categorization for the subfields of psychology is bound to be somewhat arbitrary, but one example system is the APA’s set of 56 “divisions” of psychology research, only 7 of which are classified as “clinical” or “clinical child.”

My research interests center around stereotyping, prejudice, stigma, etc. Prejudice is probably the most-researched topic in social psychology. I believe that research on topics related to prejudice is worthwhile, and that it has real implications for social justice. That said, it is true that most psychology research does not explicitly take a “social justice” approach. I do wish that psychologists would be more open about the sociopolitical goals and implications of their research – I think that leaving these goals unstated does them a disservice – but I do not think that psychology is a “black hole for social justice,” because that suggests that the work done in the field is counterproductive rather than merely less productive than it could be.