Gender in culture-inclusive psychologies: A situated and selective mapping of historical and contemporary territories

Abstract

Culture-inclusive psychologies, despite large theoretical and methodological differences, agree on the importance of culture for shaping mental phenomena, human behavior, and actions. How do these psychologists address gender? It is very common in psychology to frame gender as innate and determined by a male–female schema of reproduction. Do culture-inclusive psychologies depart from this schema and look into ways in which gender-related phenomena are culturally shaped? This article overviews two types of psychological texts. First, it examines classic psychological texts belonging to four selected schools of thought: cultural-historical psychology (Leont’ev, Luria, Vygotsky), critical psychology (Holzkamp, Holzkamp-Osterkamp), social constructionism (Mary and Kenneth Gergen), and action-oriented cultural psychology (Boesch, Straub). Second, it compares articles published in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology and Culture & Psychology. This overview reveals that differences in conceptualizing gender are significant, covering a spectrum ranging from naturalistic to constructionist frameworks.