Claire Wagner

The psychological bases of ideology and prejudice: Testing a dual process model

The issue of personality and prejudice has been largely investigated in terms of authoritarianism and social dominance orientation. However, these seem more appropriately conceptualized as ideological attitudes than as personality dimensions. The authors describe a causal model linking dual dimensions of personality, social world view, ideological attitudes, and intergroup attitudes. Structural equation modeling with data from American and White Afrikaner students supported the model, suggesting that social conformity and belief in a dangerous world influence authoritarian attitudes, whereas toughmindedness and belief in a competitive jungle world influence social dominance attitudes, and these two ideological attitude dimensions influence intergroup attitudes. The model implies that dual motivational and cognitive processes, which may be activated by different kinds of situational and intergroup dynamics, may underlie 2 distinct dimensions of prejudice.

Group Identification and Outgroup Attitudes in Four South African Ethnic Groups: A Multidimensional Approach

Although Sumner’s ethnocentrism hypothesis, which expects stronger group identification to be associated with more negative outgroup attitudes, has been widely accepted, empirical findings have been inconsistent. This research investigates the relationship of four dimensions of ethnocultural group identification previously proposed by Phinney, that is, salience, evaluation, attachment, and involvement, with attitudes to ethnic outgroups in four South African ethnocultural groups (Africans, Afrikaans Whites, English Whites, Indians). The findings supported the factorial independence of the four identification dimensions and indicated that only one, ethnocultural evaluation (ingroup attitudes), was systematically related to outgroup attitudes, but the association could be positive, negative, or zero. Both functionalist and similarity-dissimilarity approaches to intergroup relations seemed to provide plausible explanations for the pattern of relationships obtained between ingroup and outgroup attitudes.

Teaching research methodology : implications for psychology on the road ahead

This article examines the ways in which academics who teach undergraduate research methodology courses conceptualise research and scholarship and the role these aspects play in the way they construct their courses. In-depth interviews were conducted with nine academics who have been intimately involved in constructing social science research courses at South African universities. Carspeckens (1996) critical hermeneutic method was adapted and applied to the interview material. Four beliefs held by participants on how and why their course curricula came into being are presented. The first and second beliefs relate to the position of some of the participant academics as expert researchers and also expert teachers of research. The third belief is that the construction of curricula is affected by what has traditionally been taught to students about research, but also by severe criticisms of historical content. Political repositioning in South Africa is the fourth belief held by participants about what has shaped research courses. Academics in psychology need to take cognisance of the fact that methodological debates in the social sciences and current thinking about knowledge and learning are pointing to new directions in how we should train students to study the human realm. If we want to remain relevant to the social world in which we live, we need to discuss these directions and forge a new way of acting in this world.

The application of critical psychology to facilitate reflective clinical practice in orthotics/prosthetics

The co-construction of a psychology module for a postgraduate training course in orthotics/prosthetics is socially constructed for the first time in Southern African history. This paper elucidates the integration of theory and practice in a model for the development of a professional identity as orthotist/prosthetist. In creating a context where trainees can learn to develop their practice while also enabling them to deconstruct notions of ‘expert knowledge’, orthotist/prosthetists move from a position of scientist-practitioner to negotiating an alternative position of reflective practitioner. In the process of co-constructing knowledge, an alternative story of teaching and learning evolves. The result is a celebration of life as it is really lived by health professionals.

On the relation between social dominance orientation and environmentalism : a 25-nation study.

Approval of hierarchy and inequality in society indexed by social dominance orientation (SDO) extends to support for human dominance over the natural world. We tested this negative association between SDO and environmentalism and the validity of the new Short Social Dominance Orientation Scale in two cross-cultural samples of students (N = 4,163, k = 25) and the general population (N = 1,237, k = 10). As expected, the higher people were on SDO, the less likely they were to engage in environmental citizenship actions, pro-environmental behaviors and to donate to an environmental organization. Multilevel moderation results showed that the SDO–environmentalism relation was stronger in societies with marked societal inequality, lack of societal development, and environmental standards. The results highlight the interplay between individual psychological orientations and social context, as well as the view of nature subscribed to by those high in SDO.

Discourse Analysis of the Perceptions of Bereavement and Bereavement rituals of Tshivenda Speaking Women

This article examined the discourses of bereavement and bereavement rituals that inform Tshivenda speaking womens positions within their social structure. The Tshivenda speaking community that participated in this study is located in the Vhembe District of the Limpopo province in South Africa. The study specifically explored the social constructions of bereavement and bereavement rituals with the focus on how discourses shape bereaved womens perceptions, actions and interactions when they are subject to particular positions within the social structure of Tshivenda speaking communities. Six focus groups were conducted with widows to gain their constructions of bereavement rituals in relation to their positions. Participants used language that implicated them as not “normal” and in need of healing, as subordinate and powerless in relationships, as women, wives and mothers. They also spoke in a way that justified their positions as subjected by others and themselves as they belong to a collectivist culture.

Understanding domestic fuel use practices in an urban township

ABSTRACT Due to the complex interactions between socio-economic, cultural and political factors, some urban households consume a portfolio of energy sources, e.g. electricity, coal, paraffin, gas and solar power. A social construction of technology perspective is used to understand the choices underlying these multiple fuel practices. Nine participants (household energy managers, consumers and users) were purposefully selected from Soshanguve, an urban township in Pretoria, South Africa. Data were collected through individual in-depth interviews and narrative analysis was used to generate findings. Stories about multiple fuel use in the household showed this practice is common and forms part of the participants’ lifestyles. Social, cultural and political meanings of fuel use are identified in the narratives. Suggested interventions to optimize multiple fuel use in this context include additional technology such as solar power, collaborations with manufacturers to improve existing fuel types that are seen as potentially hazardous, and leveraging women’s knowledge and position in the household to formalize education about multiple fuels. The role of government in providing subsidies for alternative energies and reviewing accessibility to electricity was also highlighted by the participants. This research demonstrates that policy-makers should actively involve consumers in household energy system decisions through deliberative dialogue with communities.

A SYSTEMIC STUDY OF SOUTH AFRICAN EMIGRANTS' EXPERIENCE OF THE CANADIAN ENVIRONMENT

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate the coupling between the immigrant and the new environment by focusing on South African emigrants in Canadas experience of the environment. Thus far, acculturation and adaptation research has excluded the physical environment as a study unit. This study focused on the immigrants ‘adaptation as a whole by including the physical environment as a component of the acculturation and adaptation processes. Systems theory constituted a framework for studying the interactions between people, culture and the physical environment. Twenty-four interviews were conducted via the Internet. The first order analysis identified 36 categories of experience. The second order analysis identified nine pattern categories that constitute a shared experience. The third order analysis placed the immigrants’ experience as a whole in the context of interacting systems. In conclusion recommendations are made for interdisciplinary co-operation, further research and the practical implementation of migration research.

Musical Elicitation Methods: Insights From a Study With Becoming-Adolescents Referred to Group Music Therapy for Aggression

Music is an underutilized resource for research in the social sciences. This article presents examples of musical elicitation methods that were used within a study that explored how adolescents who were referred to group music therapy for aggression produced meanings of aggression through the therapeutic process. The study was conducted within a poststructuralist paradigm, particularly using the theoretical thinking tools of Deleuze and Gergen. The elicitation methods discussed include drumming, creating images during music listening, and songwriting. The article argues for the role of musical elicitation methods particularly within research that values a radical relational stance that allows participants to comfortably territorialize the research encounter, and in light of considering the transformative potential of research itself.

A dance of ambiguous constructions: White South African transracial adoptive and foster mothers’ discourses on race

‘Transracial’ adoption and fostering offer fertile ground for exploring how constructions of race can operate. This qualitative study engaged in a discourse analysis of interviews with 17 South African mothers identifying as White who have adopted and who foster transracially. Focus was placed on how they talk about race through their discussions of mothering. Findings highlight how race is constructed largely in an ambivalent manner and how aversive racism can coexist with intentionally devoted mothering. Some mothers in this study, however, do assume a consciously reflexive stance in their deconstruction of race.