Alessandra Tanesini September 2017 The psychology of oppression

Alessandra Tanesini September 2017

§ The psychology of oppression § The phenomenology of intellectual THE PLAN servility § Intellectual servility as attitude § Resisting servility

THE PSYCHOLO GY OF OPPRESSI ON W. E. B. DU BOIS “the facing of so vast a prejudice could not but bring the inevitable self-questioning, self-disparagement, and lowering of ideals which ever accompany repression and breed in an atmosphere of contempt and hate” (p. 13) “sense of looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity”(p. 8) Du Bois, W E B. 1990. The souls of black folk. New York: Vintage Books/Library of America.

THE PSYCHOLO GY OF OPPRESSI ON CÉSAIRE AND FANON “I am talking of millions of men who have been skilfully injected with fear, inferiority complexes, trepidation, servility, despair, abasement” (Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, p. 22) "When the Negro makes contact with the white world, a certain sensitising action takes place. If his psychic structure is weak, one observes a collapse of the ego. The black man stops behaving as an actional person. The goal of his behaviour will be The Other (in the guise of the white man), for The Other alone gives him worth. That is on the ethical level: self-esteem“ (Fanon, Black skin, white masks, p. 154)

THE PSYCHOLO GY OF OPPRESSI ON CLAUDIA CARD . . we need to be sensitive to the possibility that members of a sexist society give voice to vices or survival strategies (for which there would be no systematic need in a good social environment) disguised by the honorific language of "justice" and "care, " which enables them to pass for virtues. … The privileged are liable to arrogance with its blindness to others' perspectives. The oppressed are liable to low self-esteem, ingratiation, affiliation with abusers (for example, so-called female masochism), as well as to a tendency to dissemble, fear of being conspicuous, and chameleonism - taking on the colors of our environment as protection against assault. Histories of exploitation lead many women to identify with service, to find our value in our utility or ability to please. Moral damage among both privileged and oppressed tends to be unselfconscious, mutually reinforcing, and stubborn. When our identities are at stake, oppression is hard to face. Beneficiaries face guilt issues and are liable to defensiveness. The oppressed face damage to an already precarious self-esteem in admitting relative impotence (Unnatural Lottery, pp. 53 -4)

THE PHENOME NOLOGY OF INTELLECT UAL SERVILITY § Intellectual conformity (tends to agree with views of dominant individuals) § Keen to please, and to flatter powerful others § Parrots dominant opinions § Holds himself in low regard: attributes failures to limitations of the self and successes to good luck § Feels intellectually inferior to others. I say ‘feels’ because servility is not a matter of believing oneself to be inferior. § Prone to shame § Lacks a sense of entitlement (e. g. , accepts the dismissal of his views).

INTELLECT UAL SERVILITY SOME QUESTION S § What are the psychological underpinnings of the manifestations of intellectual servility which explain why these cluster together as they do? § Why do people tend to respond to oppression by becoming servile?

§ Attitudes are summary evaluations directed at a target object. They can be thought as preferences, as likes or dislikes. ATTITUDES AND THEIR FUNCTION S § The attitude itself is an associative state between the object and a valence (positive or negative). § The strength of an attitude is the strength of the association between the object and the valence.

§ The function(s) of an attitude are the need(s) it serves. § Knowledge: acquiring knowledge and ATTITUDES AND THEIR FUNCTION S understanding (Katz, 1960) § Utilitarian: satisfying one’s preferences § Object Appraisal: usually thought to combine knowledge and utilitarian functions § Social-adjustive- motivation: gaining social acceptance; fitting in one’s social group § Ego-defensive- motivation: defending the self from threats § Value-expressive- motivation: expressing one’s values § An attitude can serve more than one function at the same time and can change its function(s) overtime. (Maio & Olson, 2000 a; Watt et al. 2008)

INTELLECT UAL SERVILITY AS ATTITUDE Intellectual servility is a cluster of strong attitudes (summary evaluations) of features of one’s cognitive make-up intellectual character which are: A. Mostly negative B. Serving a social-adjustive function.

INTELLECT UAL SERVILITY AS ATTITUDE Intellectual Servility is expressed as low self-esteem (negative attitudes directed at self) Low self esteem is shown to predict: § Ingratiation especially as enhancing the esteem of others by showing that one takes oneself to be their inferior (Vohs and Heatherton 2004) § Depressive Attributional style (Schröder. Abé et al. 2007; Vater et al. 2010). § Conformity with dominant and or majority views (Romero-Canyas et al. 2010)

OPPRESSI ON, INGRATIATI ON AND EVER LOWERING SELF ESTEEM § Social acceptance is crucial to self- esteem (Cameron et al. 2013). § Hence, social acceptance is an important motive for everyone § People respond to threats that are selfdefining such as social exclusion when social status matters to one with ingratiation rather than hostility provided they think that those who discriminate may treat them better as a result (Romero-Canyas et al. 2010) § Ingratiation is a survival strategy § Ingratiation occurs when one has a need for social acceptance (social adjustment)

THE MISMEASU RE OF THE SELF

§ Harms to self INTELLECT UAL SEVILITY AND EPISTEMIC DAMAGE § obstacle to self-knowledge because it promotes false beliefs about the self and self-deception § obstacle to knowledge acquisition because promote goal-driven motivated cognition § obstacle to intellectual autonomy and self-reliance § Harms to others § deprives others of valuable critical assessment (since those who are servile have a propensity to defer to the views of the powerful)

§ Character transformation is RESISTING SERVILITY extremely difficult to achieve when it goes very deep § Real solutions must be at structural level § In the meantime, enhancing self- esteem is a way of combating servility

§ Both explicit teaching of virtues and encouraging the emulation of role models are likely to be counterproductive § Self-affirmation (when people are asked to reflect about what really matters to them and why it is of value) makes people feel less defensive and enhances self-esteem § It might thus weaken servility because it involves low self-esteem