The Sociology of Gaslighting

• Published in: American sociological review Vol. 84; no. 5; pp. 851 - 875
• Main Author: Sweet, Paige L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Sage Publications, Inc 01-10-2019; SAGE Publications; American Sociological Association
• Subjects: Abused women; Abusers; Case studies; Citizenship; Domestic violence; Emotional abuse; Femininity; Gender inequality; Gender stereotypes; Interpersonal relations; Interpersonal Relationship; Intersectionality; Intimacy; Irrationality; Mobilization; Perpetrators; Popularity; Power; Psychological abuse; Psychologists; Race; Sexuality; Social inequality; Sociologists; Sociology; Stereotypes; Tactics; Victims; Victims of Crime; gaslighting; domestic violence; gender; sexuality; intersectionality
• ISSN: 0003-1224; 1939-8271
• DOI: 10.1177/0003122419874843

Gaslighting—a type of psychological abuse aimed at making victims seem or feel “crazy,” creating a “surreal” interpersonal environment—has captured public attention. Despite the popularity of the term, sociologists have ignored gaslighting, leaving it to be theorized by psychologists. However, this article argues that gaslighting is primarily a sociological rather than a psychological phenomenon. Gaslighting should be understood as rooted in social inequalities, including gender, and executed in power-laden intimate relationships. The theory developed here argues that gaslighting is consequential when perpetrators mobilize genderbased stereotypes and structural and institutional inequalities against victims to manipulate their realities. Using domestic violence as a strategic case study to identify the mechanisms via which gaslighting operates, I reveal how abusers mobilize gendered stereotypes; structural vulnerabilities related to race, nationality, and sexuality; and institutional inequalities against victims to erode their realities. These tactics are gendered in that they rely on the association of femininity with irrationality. Gaslighting offers an opportunity for sociologists to theorize under-recognized, gendered forms of power and their mobilization in interpersonal relationships.