South African Psychology and Gender: An Analysis of the SAJP and PINS Journals 1994–2009

Abstract

Drawing on a content analysis of selected articles from the South African Journal of Psychology (SAJP) and Psychology in Society (PINS) between 1994 and 2009, we reflect on the extent to which South African Psychology resonates with pertinent gender developments in post-apartheid South Africa. Our analysis of these journals therefore seeks to explore the continuities, shifts, developments, and gaps that characterize psychology’s engagement with gender and feminist work in particular, with a concentrated focus on the prominent sociopolitical developments of gender that have arisen post-94 and South African Psychology’s own engagement with these developments. More specifically, the chapter explores South African Psychology’s engagement with gender and feminist work in relation to three specific areas of investigation that have been at the forefront of sociopolitical, cultural, and economic change in South Africa: HIV/AIDS, gender-based violence, and masculinity.