Meaning Of Gaslighting In Politics

Gaslighting an elaborate and insidious technique of deception and psychological manipulation usually practiced by a single deceiver or gaslighter on a single victim over an extended period.

Meaning of gaslighting in politics. Sweeta a postdoctoral fellow with the inequality in america initiative at harvard university claims that gaslighting is primarily a sociological rather than a psychological phenomenon and should be understood as rooted in social inequalities including gender and executed in power. It may evoke changes in them such as cognitive dissonance or low self esteem rendering the victim additionally dependent on the gaslighter for emotional support and validation. The term gaslighting comes from a 1938 play and subsequent 1944 film adaptation in which a murdering husband manipulates and confuses his wife by dimming the gas lights in their home and then denying it s happening.

Gaslighting as a social and political construct paige l. Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group making them question their own memory perception or judgment. So basically it is lying to a person to have them believe the.

Very simply the term gaslighting refers to a relatively famous 1944 film noir thriller in which a husband schemes to get rid of his wife by convincing her that she s going insane. Note that gaslighting is a far more insidious tactic than political spin. As many have pointed out the term comes from a 1930 play where a man tries to drive his wife crazy by playing with the gas lights and then telling her that what she saw didn t happen.

It works much better than you may think anyone is susceptible to gaslighting and it is a common technique of abusers dictators narcissists and. She s not of course but his trickery and deceit is so great. The black lives matter protests that came after the death of george floyd in the united states show how racial and political gaslighting often go hand in hand explains williams.

Until recently it was rare to see the word used in a political context though in a 1995 new york times column maureen dowd argued the clinton administration was gaslighting then house.