Extending the scope for resistance to gender-based devaluation

Abstract

This review focuses on resistance to experiences of group-based devaluation, specifically in the context of gender. This branch of literature has seen considerable development in recent years – we outline this development and review the empirical evidence that supports it. The first section of the review discusses definitional issues surrounding resistance. The second section describes how the literature on resistance has developed with particular attention to a “broader” perspective on resistance which has gained prominence over the last decade or so. This perspective includes subtle and even implicit forms of resistance alongside its “traditional” forms. The third and fourth sections review empirical evidence for this perspective, derived primarily from the gender literature. The final section describes some outstanding questions in research on resistance to group-based devaluation. Taken together, the evidence we review illustrates that resistance is an integral part of the psychological functioning of members of devalued groups, and that they can employ a broad repertoire of strategies to do so.