‘Guilty as charged’: Intersectionality and accountability in lay talk on discrimination and violence

Abstract

Although intersectionality is gaining ground in social psychological research, most approaches fail to capture the historically and interactionally contingent nature of intersecting identities and the implications of their mobilization. This study, aiming at addressing this lacuna, focuses on the intersection of identities as lay actors' resource, used to account for the murder of Zak Kostopoulos, a young LGBTQI+ activist in Greece. Data are derived from 4 focus group discussions in which 25 young people, aged between 19 and 25 years old, participated. Using concepts provided by discursive/rhetorical psychology, analysis indicated that the rhetorical occasioning of intersecting identities is oriented to social accountability concerns and accomplishes important positioning work for the speakers. Specifically, by underscoring the intersecting (sexual/class) identities of the victim, speakers accentuated the moral charge against the perpetrators, distancing themselves from the (constructed as prototypically Greek) image of the un-enlightened and servile bigot. However, although participants explained ZK's murder through recourse to his intersecting identities, they grounded claims for justice on a common human identity (independent of class and sexuality). Findings are discussed in relation to the need to advance a critical agenda for social psychology research on intersectionality and to processes of ideological reproduction in the context of LGBTQΙ+ politics.

Intersectionality as researchers’ and participants’ resource: A commentary on the contributions to the Special Issue

“…According to recent critiques (Phoenix, 2022;Figgou et al, 2023), a great deal of existing research on intersectionality has not managed to avoid some sort of identity essentialism. Although "in theory" authors may explicitly express their commitment to the socially and historically constructed nature of categorization (including gender), "in practice" they pay service to category essentialism.…”

“…Introducing a discursive approach to intersectionality, Figgou et al (2023) maintained that the discursive construction of intersecting identities may be treated as a resource and accomplishment within talk -ininteraction, oriented to social accountability concerns and other rhetorical objectives. Using con cepts provided by discursive/rhetorical psychology in analyzing lay discourse on the murder of Zak Kostopoulos, a LBGTQI+ activist in Greece, these authors indicated that the rhetorical occasioning of intersecting identities may accomplish important positioning work for the speakers.…”

“…An interesting research question also concerns the absence of intersectionality as a lens for analysing social inequality and social change. In the study of Figgou et al (2023), for example, participants who accounted for the murder of the LGBTQI+ activist Zak Kostopoulos through recourse to his intersecting (class and sexuality) identities, grounded collective action and claims for justice and on a common human identity (independent of class and sexuality). A similar "sexuality-blind" way of accounting that promotes equality for "everyone" (including the non-human) has been identified in a recent study of the discourse of LGBTQI+ activists in Greece (Michos & Figgou, under review).…”

Leadership, mobilization of risky behaviours and accountability: The Church of Greece leaders' public talk during the COVID‐19 pandemic

“…Through a discursive analysis of CoG leaders' public argumentation, we complement the existing literature on leadership and risk by considering the dimensions of rhetoric/ideology and of personal/institutional accountability management. Our analysis considers participants' discursive orientation to identity categories (Antaki et al, 1996; Antaki & Widdicombe, 1998), the social action‐functions of identity use in talk (Stokoe & Edwards, 2009) and the personal/institutional accountability management work brought‐off through such orientations (Bozatzis, 2009; Edwards & Potter, 1992; Figgou et al, 2023).…”

Leadership, mobilisation of risky behaviours, and accountability: The Church of Greece leaders’ public talk during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Through a discursive analysis of CoG leaders' public argumentation, we complement the existing literature on leadership and risk by considering the dimensions of rhetoric/ideology and of personal/institutional accountability management. Our analysis considers participants' discursive orientation to identity categories (Antaki et al, 1996;Antaki & Widdicombe, 1998), the social action-functions of identity use in talk (Stokoe & Edwards, 2009) and the personal/institutional accountability management work brought-off through such orientations (Bozatzis, 2009;Edwards & Potter, 1992;Figgou et al, 2023).…”