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Ideology and Psychosocial Research in Third World Contexts
Author(s) -
Montero Maritza
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.1990.tb01933.x
Subject(s) - ideology , psychosocial , power (physics) , social psychology , cognition , psychology , sociology , epistemology , political science , politics , psychotherapist , law , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience
This paper stresses the importance of the concept of ideology as an overarching category in psychosocial research. It shows how ideology mediates people's understanding of the world, distorting and hiding actual causes of events and social conditions through cognitive processes in which meanings and representations are socially and individually produced as a function of power differences between groups. This process is illustrated by two studies carried out in Venezuela, one regarding national autostereotypes, the other on rationalizations of torture as a necessary evil in a just social order. The results are linked to similar findings in other Third World regions, and discussed in light of the concept of economic and cultural dependency, indicating the ideological processes common to such situations.