5 Critical Theory and its Impact on Research

What is Critical Theory?

Critical Theory is a family of theories that seeks to reveal forces of domination in society in an effort to enact change by informing political action^[1]. Critical Theory has origins in the early twentieth century in the Frankfurt School, a group of social scientists and philosophers with Marxist traditions focusing on critiques of class struggles and capitalism as a means towards transforming society. Importantly, Critical Theory is interdisciplinary in nature, advocating for integrating philosophical approaches with social science in order to not only expose social inequality but to inform political movements and positive change. In this way, Critical Theory does not separate research from action, demanding both reflection and engagement from those who apply it. Modern applications of Critical Theory have extended its reach beyond class and capitalism, taking on many more issues related to power and injustice, including racism, colonialism, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, and other forms of oppression. This is because the utility of Critical Theory is in its continual application to new social contexts in relation to emerging struggles and structures of domination^[2].

As discussed in earlier sections, one of the main purposes of this textbook is to support students in approaching research methods in psychology and education with criticality. This is important because historically, the field of psychology has often used research to perpetuate harm towards marginalized communities, approaching methodology from a lens that centers objectivity and neutrality (Zuberi & Bonilla-Silva, 2008)^[3]. These assumptions are then imposed on the research process utilizing specific methods. However, though often unacknowledged, these methodologies are influenced by the researchers’ positionality, understanding of how knowledge is constructed, what questions and topics are of value, and how we make sense of reality (Walter & Anderson, 2016)^[4]. As a result, the research generated from this viewpoint can perpetuate deficit-based views of marginalized communities or reproduce and reinforce systems of oppression. The application of Critical Theory to research methods allows us to engage with research in a way that centers justice, challenges the ways psychology research is conducted, and considers a different conceptualization of the research process. In this chapter, we provide an introduction to three key strands of Critical Theory, including Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, and Decolonial or Anticolonial Theory, and how the application of these theories can support uncovering injustices in the hopes of undoing them.

Critical Race Theory

Critical Race Theory (CRT) articulates both a theory and movement aimed at naming and dismantling the relationships among race, racism, and power (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017)^[5]. It spans diverse fields including law, education, medicine, and social sciences, describing how racism is baked into systems that ultimately maintain power for white bodies and perpetuate harm upon racialized ones (Proctor & Rivera, 2022)^[6]. Like all critical theories, CRT includes a political movement or activist component, wherein theory and research are not separated from the ultimate goal of transforming unjust, and in this case, racist systems. It is broader than civil rights or anti-racist movements, which focus on incremental progress, placing race and racism as embedded in the fabric of all institutions and society at large.

CRT emerged in the post-Civil Rights era during a time when color-blind legislation was essentially stalling or rolling back advances that had been made during the civil rights movement. Foundational CRT scholar, Derrick Bell (1992)^[7], argued that racism is a permanent aspect of our society that often goes unacknowledged or remains invisible. This makes racism insidious and, therefore, extremely challenging to address. Critical race theory built on two important movements, radical feminism and critical legal studies. Radical feminism exposes the connection between social roles and gendered power relations, as well as the everyday practices, routines, and habits that create patriarchy (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). CRT also built upon radical activist movements, including the Black Power and Chicano movements, and critical figures like W.E.B. DuBois and Fredrick Douglass.

Core Tenets of CRT

Although CRT spans diverse fields, it has several core features that most scholars would agree upon. The first of these is that racism is an “ordinary” or a normal and permanent feature of United States (U.S.) society (Bell, 1992). As a result, racism is embedded in the systems and structures of everyday life, making it difficult to see and therefore challenging to undo. CRT scholars also agree that white supremacy benefits the dominant group in ways that mean white elites will likely not want to eradicate racism because of the material and psychological privileges it affords them. Said another way, white people will not be interested in supporting anti-racist efforts unless they also benefit from it, a tenet also known as interest convergence (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017).

A third core tenet of CRT is the idea that race is socially constructed, as opposed to fixed or biologically determined. As a result, racial categories are created, manipulated, and utilized when convenient for those in power. In this way, it is actually racism that creates and perpetuates race, based on changing perceptions of skin color or other physical features of racialized people (Proctor & Rivera, 2022). CRT scholars also note the ways in which different minoritized groups are racialized differently at different times, usually in response to the needs of the economy or labor market, an idea known as differential racialization (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). Related to this idea is the concept of intersectionality and antiessentialism. We will discuss intersectionality more in detail in the next section, but this tenet conveys that every individual has a complex, multilayered identity and cannot be reduced or essentialized into just one category. Finally, CRT’s last tenet specifically highlights the importance of lifting up the lived experiences and stories of marginalized people as a means to curing silence and naming types of discrimination so that they can be fought against (Delgado & Stefancic, 2017). This process is known as counter-storytelling, a powerful CRT tool used to highlight the humanity of marginalized peoples by calling attention to the contradictions, misconceptions, and harm that racism imposes on people of color.

CRT’s Impact on Research in Education and Psychology 

CRT has had a significant impact on the fields of psychology and education. In psychology, for example, CRT has supported researchers in understanding the psychological impact of racism on the well-being of people of color, including areas like identity development, trauma, and overall mental health (e.g., Helms, 1990). In education, CRT scholars have used this lens to provide structural and systemic explanations for disparities in achievement or discipline practices between white students and students of color. For example, Gloria Ladson-Billings, a prominent educational researcher, famously described what she coined to be the “education debt,” explaining that the achievement gap between Black and white students was actually the result of structural inequities and systemic neglect across generations (Ladson-Billings, 2006). In the next chapter, we discuss QuantCrit, another critical theory that originated from the education field as scholars sought to integrate CRT tenets into a quantitative methodological framework (Crawford et al., 2018). Applying QuantCrit to our understanding of statistics allows us to critically examine taken-for-granted assumptions in research and utilize quantitative methods for social justice purposes. Below is a video outline What Critical Race Theory Actually Is — and Isn’t narrated by historian and author Ibram X. Kendi.

Video 5.1 What Critical Race Theory Actually Is – and Isn’t by NowThis Impact

Intersectionality 

Intersectionality is a critical theory that is grounded in Black feminist thought with a focus on the unique experience of women of color who find themselves at the intersection of race, class, and gender oppression (Hancock, 2016)^[8]. It incorporates and builds on ideas of critical race theory and decolonial concepts by highlighting the simultaneous effects of belonging to multiple social categories that are constructed by connected systems of oppression and power. Put succinctly, an intersectional lens allows us to understand how the various identities one carries, such as race, gender, class, and sexuality, all interact to create a unique, multidimensional experience of privilege and marginalization.

Kimberé Crenshaw (1989)^[9], a critical legal scholar, was the first to coin the term intersectionality. She critiqued how antidiscrimination law frequently left out the experiences of Black women whose identities place them at the intersection of both racial and gender discrimination. She argued that Black women did not just experience gender oppression as white women did or racial oppression as Black men did, but rather experienced the unique and cumulative effects of both identities. She asserted that “the intersectional experience is greater than the sum of racism and sexism, any analysis that does not take intersectionality into account cannot sufficiently address the particular manner in which Black women are subordinated” (p. 140). In this way, Crenshaw paved the way for the application of intersectional thought, moving beyond single-axis analysis to reveal interlocking systems of oppression.

Core Tenets of Intersectionality

Patricia Hill Collins is another foundational intersectionality scholar who elaborated on the interconnected nature of power systems. She outlines the core constructs of intersectionality as (1) relationality; (2) power; (3) social inequality; (4) social context; (5) complexity; and (6) social justice (Hill Collins, 2019)^[10]. Relationality refers to the idea that systems of power, like class, race, and gender, are actually connected and mutually constructed. This means that they maintain one another, creating an interlocking web that upholds these hierarchies. Intersectionality theory posits that systems of power co-create one another and work together to produce social inequalities. Social context is important in terms of how knowledge is produced among different communities and how this relates to systems of power and what types of knowledge are valued. Intersectional work is also, by nature, complex because of the ways that it accounts for multiple, interacting social categories that create unique individual experiences in response to interlocking systems of oppression. Finally, social justice is a core construct in intersectionality theory and research because it demands that theory and practice be connected. Like all critical theories, intersectionality inherently includes an activism component wherein we are obligated to use this critical theory to not only reveal inequities but also change them.

Intersectionality’s Impact on Research in Education and Psychology

Intersectionality has had important impacts on psychology and education research and practice. It has helped us understand how intersecting oppressions affect mental health. For example, a Black queer woman will experience unique stressors and challenges as she encounters racist, sexist, and homophobic systems in society. In education research, intersectional frameworks have helped reveal how systemic barriers intersect to perpetuate academic and discipline disparities for students from marginalized backgrounds. Research indicates that Black girls tend to be disproportionately suspended from school compared to their white female counterparts (Crenshaw, 2016)^[11]. The unique experience of Black girls in school is a result of their intersecting race and gender identities, which must both be understood in order to end punitive disciplinary practices that push these young women out of school. The video below features Dr. Bettina Love, a prominent Education Researcher, discussing why she thinks it is so critical to focus on the needs of Black girls in school.

Video 5.2 Bettina Love: On Black Girls, Discipline, and Schools by Education Week

Decolonial and Anticolonial Frameworks

Decolonial and Anticolonial frameworks are two additional important critical theories that have had a wide-reaching impact across many disciplines. These two schools of thought critically investigate and seek to dismantle the effects of colonialism on knowledge, land, language, identity, culture, and power (Quijano, 2000)^[12]. Colonialism, in its most basic sense, is when a country or region is dominated politically, socially, culturally, and economically by another country. Decolonial and anticolonial scholar activists argue that colonialism has lasting effects well beyond formal decolonization. While decolonial scholars focus especially on the residue of colonialism that remain in the ways of knowing and being of colonized peoples, anticolonial scholars also stress the importance of resistance to and freedom from colonialism via the survival and sovereignty of Indigenous peoples, demanding tangible political changes such as land rematriation and the reclamation of cultural languages and governing systems (Tuck & Yang, 2012)^[13]. Taken together, both these frameworks seek to dismantle colonial systems and structures from the mind, body, spirit, land, and power systems.

Core Tenets of Decolonial and Anticolonial Frameworks 

Both Decolonial and Anticolonial theorists emphasize that colonialism is not a thing of the past but rather a persisting power present in current systems and structures (Quijano, 2000). This central tenet is critical because it highlights the ongoing effects of colonialism not just in terms of political control but also in its difficult-to-see forms, such as what types of ways of knowing are valued. This leads to a second core tenet of decolonial thought, a concept called epistemic decolonization, which emphasizes centering indigenous ways of thinking and producing knowledge, which are typically devalued in comparison to Eurocentric knowledge (Mignolo, 2011). Decolonial scholar Walter Mignolo advocated for what he termed epistemic disobedience, or actively resisting colonial ways of thinking and lifting up indigenous epistemology, such as oral traditions and land-based knowledge. Building on this, another core tenet in an Anticolonial framework is the reclamation of Indigenous sovereignty. Anticolonial scholars assert that decolonization demands action. This includes things like returning land to indigenous peoples, supporting the preservation and resurgence of indigenous language and culture. Relatedly, anticolonial thought fights against the cultural assimilation that colonization forces on colonized peoples. Anticolonial scholar Linda Tuhiwai Smith (2012) discusses decolonizing methodologies and tools like storytelling and art as a means toward recovering indigenous ways of knowing and being.

Decolonial and Anticolonial Frameworks’ Impact on Research in Education and Psychology

Decolonial and Anticolonial thought have influenced research, practice, and political movements. These scholars have exposed Eurocentric hierarchies in ways of thinking and behaving that have resulted in trauma and internalized oppression caused by colonialism (Fanon, 1961). Decolonial frameworks also help us to understand and heal these wounds from the inside out. It has also highlighted the effects of colonization on Indigenous peoples of the U.S. For example, the U.S. government funded Indian boarding schools in the late 1800s that forced assimilation on indigenous communities. Children were removed from their families and subjected to all kinds of abuse and cultural erasure (National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, 2021). Decolonial thought makes colonial violence clear and advocates for land rematriation, the affirmation of indigenous traditions, and psychological healing from trauma. In psychology, Decolonial thought also supports community-based research in which research is conducted with communities, not for them, ensuring voice and engagement. In the video below, psychologist and researcher Dr. Thema Bryant Davis discusses why we need to decolonize psychology.

Video 5.3 Why we need to decolonize psychology | Thema Bryant | TEDxNashville by TEDx Talks