Recognizing People's Agency Amidst Disadvantage: How to Study Inequality Using a Holistic Approach That is Accurate and Non‐Stigmatizing

In understanding the psychology of social inequalities, research has often portrayed groups of individuals in disadvantaged positions as lacking in agency, skills, or motivation–portrayals that can stigmatize these groups. Countering this stigma, recent developments have been made in so-called “strength-based” research to better understand and acknowledge the agency, skills, and motivation people in disadvantaged positions often show. Yet, this research is not focused on understanding how inequalities emerge. The present research explores ways to study inequalities without risking to stigmatize people. For example, how can we address disparities in certain motivational factors (e.g., belonging, or confidence) without stigmatizing groups as lacking motivation? And how can we study the way people experience disadvantage without reducing them to the role of weak, passive victims? To answer such questions, we integrate traditional social-inequality research with recent advances in strength-based research in what we call a “holistic approach” to studying inequality. At the core of this approach is a simultaneous recognition of context-level disadvantage (a focus of traditional inequality research) and individual-level agency (a focus of strength-based research). This approach allows for a broader–a holistic–perspective on existing inequality-research, and points to underexplored research questions within social psychology (e.g., how do people actively respond to disadvantage?). After outlining this approach, we distill it into 10 practical guidelines and illustrate how to implement guidelines in an existing research agenda. In doing so, we hope to support authors, reviewers, editors, and other stakeholders aiming for an accurate and non-stigmatizing study of inequalities.