ON GASLIGHTING

A philosopher’s consideration of the broader implications of the toxic behavior known as gaslighting.

“Gaslighters chip away at people’s sense that they can trust their own judgment,” writes Abramson, a professor of philosophy at Indiana University. Since the term has “entered the colloquial lexicon,” she writes, “there’s been a commensurate surge in academic theorizing about gaslighting,” first in psychoanalytic literature as a form of “projective identification.” The author argues that, contrary to some recent discourse, gaslighting is “best understood as a form of interpersonal interaction rather than as a feature of social structures. To put it a bit starkly, people gaslight, social structures don’t.” While arguing against such a structural redefinition, she maintains that gaslighting is generally perpetrated by men, and that marginalized groups are most likely to be gaslit. “Sexist and racist norms can frame gaslighting [and] be employed as leverage by the gaslighter,” writes Abramson. Over seven scholarly chapters, the author focuses on the essential qualities of gaslighting and the tools and motivations of the gaslighter, while limning differences between other “awful” behaviors—e.g., simple manipulation or lying—in order to emphasize “moral reasons to distinguish gaslighting from other morally problematic ways of interacting.” Abramson suggests it is scarily ubiquitous in contemporary relationships, since gaslighters rely on emotional tools including love and empathy and, whether as intimate partners, abusive parents, or unethical bosses, wish “to destroy even the possibility of disagreement.” Abramson capably references related fields like psychoanalysis and gender studies. Her approach to this hot-button issue is thoughtful, yet the academic nature of her discussion might lose lay readers, as it often relies on repetition for emphasis and wanders through long, jargony passages based on a limited number of case studies or cultural references.

Fuel for debate about the semantic and emotional injuries inherent in personal relationships and social marginalization.