In what ways can marginalized perspectives enrich mainstream Essay

In what ways can marginalized perspectives enrich mainstream psychology - Essay Example A minority stress model is used to understand psychological well-being among lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. Specifically, this model posits that lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and ethnic minorities may be at increased risk for mental distress because of exposure to stressors related to social antigay attitudes. There has also been increased attention to understanding psychological resilience and the ways in which lesbians, gay men, and ethnic minorities successfully cope with stress and stigma. In addition, assertiveness as a positive psychological process is demonstrated by different aspects of coming out as a lesbian, gay man, or bisexual: identity commitment, identity disclosure, and community involvement. Edward Sampson (1993) argues that the dissatisfaction expressed by minority groups about mainstream psychology can be explained in relation to the notion of identity politics. He defines identity politics as: â€Å"a politics based on the particular life experiences of people who seek to be in control of their own identities and subjectivities and who claim that socially dominant groups have denied them this opportunity† " (p. 1219). The ideology of identity politics may be admirable (or not), the reality is that, as often happens with ideology; the political movement has lost touch with the analytic meaning of its key concept. Just what is an identity The analytic potential needs to be extricated from ideologies of identity (Gainor, K. A. 2000). While the reduction of identity to power has its pitfalls, so too does an essentialist position. To argue that identity is race, or is sex, is to engage in a curious political maneuver. If identity is determined by an unchangeable characteristic of the self, then we have the basis for arguments of separatism. If I am my race or my gender, then all those who do not share my essential characteristic are alien and separate. It becomes very difficult to confront racism and sexism on any terms other than force or numbers. It is to argue that identity precedes existence. Current struggles over "difference feminism" reflect a great ambivalence over the political implications of this kind of argument. To juxtapose the essentialist argument to the thesis that identity is socially constructed through customs and conditioning is to be confronted with a contradiction. It is obvious that aspects of gender roles and racial stereotypes are socially constructed for reasons having to do with power, among other considerations. The implication of this proposition is that these roles and stereotypes can be deconstructed, as surely they can. But the question remains: what is left of identity when deconstruction has taken place Is there some primordial human essence Or is each individual, thus released from social constraint, free to assert whatever identity seems appealing If this is so, we are back to the self-centered individualism of classical liberal political theory. While images of autonomy and self-sufficiency have great appeal, they do not fit with what we know about the social interdependence that characterizes human nature.