Why do we defend the social conditions responsible for our injustice and exploitation? We are confused when disadvantaged women of color cite personal shortcomings rather than the social system as the source of their precarity. Yet, when social philosophers take up these questions by appealing to the concept of ideology, they turn to structural accounts and dismiss theories of false consciousness outright. Accounts of false consciousness, often understood as an epistemic failing to recognize some features of our inadequate social world, meet with a host of objections. Some argue that ascriptions of false consciousness involve authoritarianism, while others criticize the concept for commitments to an implausible correspondence picture of truth. Meanwhile, dismissal of false consciousness accounts of ideology have led to the neglect of an important feature of how ideology works: in and through our own agency. Without an account of false consciousness, critics fail to account for the fact that social structures are the result of our collective consent. They also fail to address how social structures are not analyzable without turning to the self-understandings of the participants in these very institutions. This dissertation addresses issues in ideology critique that account for our agency. By preserving what is still alive in a theory of false consciousness while addressing the long-standing concerns about authoritarianism and correspondence, this project reconstructs the notion of false consciousness. It closely engages with figures in critical social theory such as Marx, Lukacs, Habermas, Haslanger, Honneth, and Jaeggi, while widening the terms of the debate to consider the relevance, for instance, of object relations psychoanalysis for social philosophers. Beyond this, this dissertation shows that false consciousness is a damaged way of relating to ourselves, to each other, and to the social world. It is characterized, I propose, by affective investment. This move helps us clarify both the phenomenology of false consciousness and what a viable form of critique could look like. Psychoanalysis offers us a new way of understanding ideology critique by directing us beyond the model of critique as judgment as part of overcoming false consciousness.

A quantitative study that examines American Muslim women's level of exposure to domestic violence, resources available to them, and the effect of domestic violence on their psychological well-being. Data was collected from 128 Muslim women from the Islamic Center of Riverside in Southern California. The key finding of the study was a significant positive relationship between depression and the use of verbal aggression. In addition, a positive relationship was found to exist between anxiety, depression and the use of violence.

This exploratory study investigates how racialized immigrant women experience and respond to intimate partner abuse (IPA). The American and European models of intersectionality theory are used to highlight structural constraints and agentic responses as experienced and enacted by racialized immigrant women. Eight women described their experiences through semi-structured interviews, revealing an array of both defensive and pro-active types of strategies aimed at short- and long-term outcomes. Responses included aversion, negative reinforcement or coping strategies like prayer or self-coaching, and accordingly varied by the constraints under which the women lived as newcomers to Canada. Policy recommendations promote acknowledgement of women’s decision-making abilities and provide a model in which women can choose from a selection of options in how to respond, rather than strictly interventionist models. Study results can help to challenge stereotypes of abused women as passive victims, and empower the image of immigrant women as active knowers of their circumstances.

This exploratory study investigates how racialized immigrant women experience and respond to intimate partner abuse (IPA). The American and European models of intersectionality theory are used to highlight structural constraints and agentic responses as experienced and enacted by racialized immigrant women. Eight women described their experiences through semi-structured interviews, revealing an array of both defensive and pro-active types of strategies aimed at short- and long-term outcomes. Responses included aversion, negative reinforcement or coping strategies like prayer or self-coaching, and accordingly varied by the constraints under which the women lived as newcomers to Canada. Policy recommendations promote acknowledgement of women’s decision-making abilities and provide a model in which women can choose from a selection of options in how to respond, rather than strictly interventionist models. Study results can help to challenge stereotypes of abused women as passive victims, and empower the image of immigrant women as active knowers of their circumstances.