Working psychodynamically and psychosocially with women who have been raped

In this paper, I analyse aspects of the experience of some female University students who have been raped drawing on a Kleinian psychoanalytic perspective and Layton’s concept of ‘normative unconscious processes’. I suggest that Klein’s writing provides a theoretical basis for thinking about the projective and introjective processes that may be at play between perpetrator and ‘victim’. Here, I focus upon Kleinian conceptualisations of castration anxiety, fragmentation, envy, greed and guilt. In terms of ‘normative unconscious processes’, I explore how castration anxiety (in a more symbolic sense of powerlessness), fragmentation, envy, greed and guilt may also operate within social discourses around sexual violence. Specifically, I draw upon Freyd’s concept of DARVO and Payne’s Rape Myth Acceptance Scale which both explain ‘victim blaming’ in terms of the social reversal of the positions of perpetrator and ‘victim’. I illustrate this social process with reference to representations of rape within the mainstream media. My hypothesis is that, although the ‘psychic’ and the ‘social’ are two contrasting positions theoretically, it is possible to draw on both of them to make sense of the experience of working with rape clinically.

The clinical context of this paper is my work as a psychodynamic counsellor at a modern London-based University. I draw on composite case studies of women who have been raped, drawing on both ‘psychic’ and ‘social’ perspectives. I seek to explore how the ‘psychic’ and the ‘social’ can be integrated in different ways depending upon the clinical situation. I suggest that they can be mutually enriching ways of working. Through approaching how the ‘psychic’ and the ‘social’ might interrelate from a clinical viewpoint, I conclude that the idea of ‘working psychosocially’ is of most use when approached as a flexible concept that different clinicians may draw on in different ways with different patients.     

Organizing Race

Faith‐based community organizing is receiving an increasing amount of attention from scholars of religious ethics. This essay is motivated by the worry that accounts of such organizing depend on a problematic embrace of multiculturalism, an embrace characteristic of our neoliberal era. Like the powers that they purport to challenge, organizing efforts often embrace difference (racial, gender, and religious) only when it is carefully managed. This is being challenged by theological accounts of organizing that take the religious dimension of such efforts seriously, as well as by feminist critiques of community organizing. This essay probes how race might be taken just as seriously by religious ethicists who study community organizing. Drawing on the civil rights movement's legacy of faith‐based community mobilization as well as traditions of Black theological reflection, this essay challenges the easy embrace of multi‐racial coalitions in faith‐based organizing.     

Are Adewale and Ngochi more employable than Jamal and Lakeisha? The influence of nationality and ethnicity cues on employment-related evaluations of Blacks in the United States

ABSTRACT

Previous research has consistently shown that racial bias can influence employers’ perceptions and evaluations of Black individuals in hiring and promotion decisions. However, within-race differences (e.g., skin tone, Afrocentric features) can lead to variation in these decisions. In addition to phenotypical variation, ethnicity cues (e.g., perceived country of origin, name) may be important within-race factors influencing the perception and evaluations of Black job applicants. Using a resume evaluation paradigm, participants evaluated one of three resumes in which the target applicant’s name provided cues about ethnicity (either Black American, Black African, or White American). Results suggest that Black Americans may experience more discrimination in hiring and are generally perceived less positively across several employment-related domains than both White and Black African applicants. Specifically, we find that Black Americans are less likely to be selected for an interview or offered a job and are evaluated more negatively overall relative to Black Africans.