Sexualities

Abstract

In this chapter, we explore the role of social psychology in understanding inequality based on sexual identities. Our aim is to help social psychologists better understand sexuality as an axis of inequality and help sexuality researchers better understand the value of social psychology. We first show how social psychology was central in developing sexuality scholarship and how later transformations in the academy led many sexuality researchers to distance themselves from social psychology. We then review research on sexual minorities and the family, education, work, religion, public spaces, and health in order to highlight how social psychology plays an important, if too often implicit, role in sexuality scholarship. In doing so, we use the concept of heteronormativity—ideologies and practices that support heterosexual privilege and the binary gender system—as an organizing frame. We hope to shed light on not only on (so it reads “shed light not only on the” existence of heteronormativity, but also how social psychology can help us unpack the processes through which it is reproduced.