Abstract
Although feminist and community psychology share a number of epistemological and methodological perspectives that guide their respective theories and research practices, it has been argued that community psychology has not fully integrated a feminist perspective into the discipline. This paper examines how community psychology and feminist research methods might combine to help us better understand women's experiences without essentializing or universalizing those experiences. The authors offer a series of suggested directions for feminist research that may also prove promising for community psychology. Particular attention is paid to feminist social constructionist approaches insofar as they address the complex relationship between epistemology and methodology.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Banyard, V. L., & Miller, K. E. (1998). The powerful potential of qualitative research for community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 26, 485–505.
Belenky, M., Clinchy, B., Goldberger, & Tarule, J. (1986). Women's was of knowing: The development of self, voice, and mind. New York: Basic Books.
Billig, M. (1994). Repopulating the depopulated pages of social psychology. Theory and Psychology, 4, 307–335.
Bleir, R. (1984). Science and gender: A critique of biology and its theories on women. New York: Pergamon.
Bohan, J. (1993). Regarding gender: Essentialism, constructionism and feminist psychology. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 17, 5–21.
Bond, M. (1997). The multi-textured lives of women of color. American Journal of Community Psychology, 25, 733–745.
Bowker, L. (1984). Coping with wife abuse: Personal and social Networks. In A. R. Roberts (Ed.), Battered women and their families (pp. 168–191). New York: Springer.
Bristow, A., & Esper, J. (1988). A feminist research ethos. In Nebraska Sociological Collective (Ed.), A feminist ethic for social science research (pp. 80–88). Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press.
Burr, V. (1995). An introduction to social constructionism. New York: Routledge.
Contratto, S. (1994). A too hasty marriage: Gilligan's developmental theory and its application to feminist clinical practice. Feminism and Psychology, 4, 367–377.
Cosgrove, L. (March, 1999). Developing social action research for homeless women. Paper presented to the Association for Women in Psychology, Providence, RI.
Cosgrove, L., & McHugh, M. (1998, March). Gendered subjects in psychology: A dialogic approach. Paper presented to the Association for Women in Psychology. Baltimore, MD.
Davisdon, L., & Cosgrove, L. (1991). Psychologism and phenomenological psychology revisited: The liberation from naturalism. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 22, 87–108.
Davis, K. (1994). What's in a voice? Methods and metaphors. Feminism and Psychology, 4, 353–361.
Delphy, C. (1984). Close to home: A materialist analysis of women's oppression. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Derrida, J. (1982). Margins of philosophy. (Alan Bass, Trans.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Devor, H. (1989). Gender blending: Confronting the limits of duality. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Fedigan, L. M. (1997). Is primatology a feminist science? In L. Hager (Ed.), Women in human evolution. New York: Routledge.
Fine, M. (1992). Disruptive voices: The possibilities of feminist research. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Flax, J. (1990). Thinking fragments: Psychoanalysis, feminism,& postmodernism in the contemporary West. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Foucault, M. (1980). The history of sexuality (Volume One). (R. Hurley, Trans.). New York: Vintage.
Gilligan, C. (1982). In a different voice. Cambridge MA: Harvard Univeristy Press.
Gremmen, I. (1994). Struggling at the crossroads. Feminism and Psychology, 4, 362–366.
Gondolf, T. (1985). Men who batter: An integrated approach for stopping wife abuse. Holmes Beach FL: Learning Publications.
Gondolf, T. (1993). Treating the batterer. In M. Hansen, & M. Harway (Eds.), Battering and family therapy: A feminist approach (pp. 105–118). Newbury Park CA: Sage.
Harding, S. (1986). The science question in feminism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Harding, S. (1991). Whose science? Whose knowledge? Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Hare-Mustin, R. (1994). Discourses in the mirrored room: A postmodern analysis of therapy. Family Process, 33, 19–35.
Hare-Mustin, R. T., & Marecek, J. (Eds.). (1990). Making a difference: Psychology and the construction of gender. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Hare-Mustin, R. T., & Marecek, J. (1994a). Asking the right questions: Feminist psychology and sex differences. Feminism and Psychology, 4, 531–537.
Hare-Mustin, R. T., & Marecek, J. (1994b). Feminism and postmodernism: Dilemmas and points of resistance. Dulwich Centre Newsletter, 4, 13–19.
Henriques, J., Hollway, W., Urwin, C., Venn, C., & Walkerdine, V. (1984). Changing the subject. London: Methuen.
Hollway, W. (1989). Subjectivity and method in psychology: Gender, meaning, and science. London: Sage Publications.
hooks, b. (1984). Feminist theory: From margin to center. Boston: South End Press.
hooks, b. (1989). Talking back: Thinking feminist, thinking black. Boston: South End Press.
Hoshmand, L., & O'Bryne, K. (1996). Reconsidering action research as a guiding metaphor for professional psychology. Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 185–200.
Keller, E. F. (1985). Reflections on gender and science. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
Kelly, J. G. (1986). Content and process: An ecological view of the interdependence of practice and research. American Journal of Community Psychology, 14, 581–589.
Kelly, J. G. (1992). On teaching the practice of prevention: Integrating the concept of interdependence. In M. Kessler, S. E. Goldston, & J. M. Joffe (Eds.), The present and future of prevention: In honor of George W. Albee (pp. 251–264). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Kelly, L., Burton, S., & Regan, L. (1994). Researching women's lives or studying women's oppression? Reflections on what constitutes feminist research. In M. Maynard & J. Purvis (Eds.), Researching women's lives from a feminist perspective (pp. 22–48). London, Britain: Taylor and Francis.
Kessler, S., & McKenna, W. (1998). Lessons from the intersex. NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Kingry-Westgaard, C., & Kelly, J. (1990). A contextual epistemology for ecological research. In P. Tolan, C. Keys, F. Chertok, & J. Leonard (Eds.), Researching community psychology: Issues of theory and methods (pp. 23–31). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Kitzinger, C. (1995). Introduction. In S. Wilkinson & C. Kitzinger (Eds.), Feminism and discourse: Psychological perspectives (pp. 1–9). London: Sage.
Lather, P. (1991). Getting smart: Feminist research and pedagogy within the postmodern. London: Routledge.
Lather, P. (1992). Postmodernism and the human sciences. In S. Kvale (Ed.) Psychology and postmodernism (pp. 88–109). London: Sage
Lowe, R. (1993). Postmodern themes and therapeutic practices: Notes towards the definition of 'family therapy': Part 2. Dulwich Centre Newsletter, 3, 41–52.
Lyotard, J. F. (1979/1984). The postmodern condition: A report on knowledge. (G. Bennington & B. Massumi, Trans.). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Marks, D. (1993). Case conference analysis and action research. In E. Burman & I. Parker (Eds.). Discourse analytic research: Repertoires and readings of texts in action (pp. 135–154). New York: Routledge.
Maynard, M. (1992). Methods, practice, and epistemology: The debate about feminism and research. In M. Maynard & J. Purvis (Eds.), Researching women's lives from a feminist perspective (pp. 10–26). London, Britian: Taylor and Francis.
McHugh, M. C. (1990). Gender issues in psychotherapy: Victim blame/woman blame. Invited address presented at the annual meeting of the American psychological association, Boston, MA.
McHugh, M. C. (1993). Studying battered women and batterers: Feminist perspectives on methodology. In M. Hansen & M. Harway (Eds.), Battering and family therapy: A feminist approach (pp. 54–69). Newbury Park, CA: Sage
McHugh, M. C., Koeske, R., & Frieze, I. (1986). Issues to consider in conducting nonsexist psychological research: A guide for researchers. American Psychologist, 41, 879–890.
McHugh, M. C., Frieze, I., & Browne, K. (1992). Research on battered women and their assailants. In M. Paludi & F. Denmrk (Eds.). Psychology of women: A handbook of issues and theories (231–276). Westport, CT: Greenwood.
McHugh, M. C., & Cosgrove, L. (1998). Research for women: Feminist methods. In D. Ashcraft (Ed.), Women's work: A survey of scholarship by and about women (pp. 19–43). New York: Haworth Press.
Morawski, J. (1994). Practicing feminism, reconstructing psychology: Notes on a liminal science. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Mulvey, A. (1988). Community psychology and feminism: Tensions and commonalties. Journal of Community Psychology, 16, 70–83.
Nicholson, L. (1990). (Ed.). Feminism/postmodernism. New York: Routledge.
Potter, J., & Wetherell, M. (1996). Discourse and psychology: Beyond attitudes and behavior. London: Sage Publications.
Prilleltensky, I. (1989). Psychology and the status quo. American Psychologist, 44, 517–535.
Prilleltensky, I. (1997). Values, assumptions and practices: Assessing the moral implications of psychological discourse and action. American Psychologist, 52, 517–535.
Prilleltensky, I., & Nelson, G. (1997). Community psychology: Reclaiming social justice. In D. Fox & I. Prilleltensky (Eds.), Critical psychology: An introduction (pp. 166–184). London: Sage.
Rappaport, J. (1981). In praise of paradox: A social policy of empowerment over prevention. American Journal of Community Psychology, 9, 1–25.
Rappaport, J. (1985). The power of empowerment. Social Policy, 15, 12–24.
Rappaport, J. (1987). Terms of empowerment/exemplars of prevention: Toward a theory for community psychology. American Journal of Community Psychology, 15, 121–148.
Rappaport, J. (1990). Research methods and the empowerment social agenda. In P. Tolan, C. Keys, F. Chertok, & J. Leonard (Eds.), Researching community psychology: Issues of theory and methods (pp. 51–63). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Rappaport, J. (1994). Empowerment as a guide to doing research: Diversity as a positive value. In E. J. Trickett, R. J. Watts, & D. Birman (Eds.), Human diversity: Perspectives on people in context (pp. 359–382). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Rappaport, J., & Stewart, E. (1997). A look at critical psychology: Elaborating the questions. (301–317). In D. Fox & I. Prilleltensky (Eds.), Critical psychology: An introduction. London: Sage.
Reinharz, S. (1992). Feminist methods in social research. New York: Oxford University Press.
Riger, S. (1993). What's wrong with empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology, 2, 279–293.
Saegart, S., & Winkel, G. (1996). Oaths to community empowerment: Organizing at home. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 517–550.
Said, E. (1986). Orientalism reconsidered. In F. Barker (Ed.), Literature, politics, and theory (pp. 210–229). New York: Mehtuen.
Sanger (1998). Outcome assessments for battered women's shelters. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Women in Psychology, Baltimore, MD.
Serrano-Garcia. I., & Bond, M. (1994). Empowering the silent ranks: Introduction. American Journal of Community Psychology, 22, 433–445.
Sherif, C. W. (1979). Bias in psychology. In S. Harding (Ed.), Feminism and methodology (pp. 37–57). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Stanley, L., & Wise, S. (1993). Method, methodology, and epistemology in feminist research process. In L. Stanely (Ed.), Feminist praxis: Research, Theory and epistemology in feminist sociology (pp. 20–60). New York: Routledge.
Tavris, C. (1994). Reply to Brown and Gilligan. Feminism and Psychology, 4, 350–352.
Tolan, P., Chertok, F., Keys, C., & Jason, L. (1990). Conversing about theories, methods, and community research. In P. Tolan et al. (Eds.), Researching community psychology: Issues of theory and methods (pp. 3–8). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Trickett, E. J. (1996). A future for community psychology: The contexts of diversity and the diversity of contexts. American Journal of Community Psychology, 24, 209–229.
Tricket, E. J., Kelly, J. G., & Vincent, T. A. (1985). The spirit of ecological inquiry in community research. In E. Susskind & D. Klein (Eds.), Community research: Methods, paradigms, and applications. New York: Praeger.
Unger, R. (1983). Through the looking glass: No wonderland yet! Psychology of Women Quarterly, 8, 9–31.
Unger, R. (1989). Sex, gender and epistemology. In M. Crawford & M. Gentry (Eds.), Gender and thought: Psychological perspectives (pp. 17–35). New York: Sringer-Verlag.
Ussher, J. (1992). Women's madness: Misogyny or mental illness? Amherst, MA: TheUniversity of Massachusetts Press.
Weedon, C. (1987). Feminist practice and poststructuralist theory. Cambridge MA: Blackwell.
West, C., & Zimmerman, D. H. (1987). Doing gender. Gender and Society, 1, 125–151.
Wetherell, M. (1995). Romantic discourse and feminist analysis: Interrogating investment, power and desire. In S. Wilkinson, & Kitzinger, C. (Eds.) Feminism and discourse: Psychological perspectives (pp. 128–144). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Wilkinson, S., & Kitzinger, C. (1995). (Eds.), Feminism and discourse: Psychological perspectives. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Worell, J., & Remer, P. (1996). Feminist perspectives in therapy. New York: Wiley & Sons
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cosgrove, L., McHugh, M.C. Speaking for Ourselves: Feminist Methods and Community Psychology. Am J Community Psychol 28, 815–838 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005163817007
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1005163817007