Alexandra Rutherford
Professor
Locations / Contact Info:
215 Behavioural Science - BSBKeele CampusPhone: 416 736 2100Fax: 416 736 5814
Email address(es):
Web site(s):
Research Areas
Teaching Areas
Faculty & School/Dept.
Faculty of Health - Department of Psychology
Degrees
PhD - 2001
York University
Toronto
MA - 1995
York University
Toronto
BSc - 1993
University of Toronto
Toronto
Selected Publications
BOOKS
Rutherford, A. (2021). Psychology at the intersections of gender, feminism, history, and culture. In K. Keith (Ed.), Elements of Psychology and Culture series. Cambridge University Press. [short monograph]
Pickren, W. E. & Rutherford, A. (Eds.) (2018). 125 years of the American Psychological Association. Washington, DC: APA Books.
Fancher, R. & Rutherford, A. (2017). Pioneers of psychology, 5th Edition. New York: Norton. [4th edition, 2012]
Rutherford, A., Capdevila, R., Undurti, V., & Palmary, I. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook of international feminisms: Perspectives on psychology, women, culture, and rights. New York: Springer.
- Winner of the 2012 Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology
Pickren, W. E. & Rutherford, A. (2010). A history of modern psychology in context. New York: Wiley.
Rutherford, A. (2009). Beyond the box: B. F. Skinner’s technology of behavior from laboratory to life, 1950s-1970s. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
JOURNAL ARTICLES and BOOK CHAPTERS
Rutherford, A. (2021). Mobilizing, materializing, and contesting social science history. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 57(1), 5-11.
Rutherford, A. (2020). Doing science, doing gender: Using history in the present. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 40, 21-31.
George, M. L., Mulvale, S. M., Davidson, T., Young, J. L. & Rutherford, A. (2020). Disrupting androcentrism in social psychology textbooks: A call for critical reflexivity. Awry: Journal of Critical Psychology, 1, 15-33.
Hegarty, P., & Rutherford, A. (2019). Histories of psychology after Stonewall: Introduction to the special issue. American Psychologist, 74(8), 857-867.
Rutherford, A. & Davidson, T. (2019). Intersectionality and the history of psychology. In W. E. Pickren (Ed.) Oxford research encyclopedia of the history of psychology. Oxford University Press.
Rutherford, A. (2019). Gender. In R. Sternberg & W. E. Pickren (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of the intellectual history of psychology (pp. 345-370). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rutherford, A. (2018). Feminism, psychology and the gendering of neoliberal subjectivity: From critique to disruption. Theory & Psychology, 28, 619-644.
Rutherford, A. (2017). Surveying rape: Feminist social science and the ontological politics of sexual assault. History of the Human Sciences, 30, 100-123.
Rutherford, A. (2017). “Making better use of U.S. women:” Psychology, sex roles, and womanpower in post-WWII America. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 53, 228-245.
Rutherford, A. (2015). Maintaining masculinity in mid-20th century American psychology: Edwin Boring, scientific eminence, and the “woman problem,” In E. Milam & R. Nye (Eds.), Osiris, 30, 250-271.
Rutherford, A. & Pettit, M. (2015). Feminism and/in/as psychology: The public sciences of sex and gender. History of Psychology, 18, 223-237.
Kim, S. & Rutherford, A. (2015). From seduction to sexism: Feminists challenge the ethics of therapist-client sexual relations in 1970s America. History of Psychology, 18, 283-296.
Other Research Outputs
Psychology's Feminist Voices
http://www.feministvoices.com/
A multimedia internet archive showcasing the women of psychology's past and the diverse voices of contemporary feminist psychologists.
SPSSI Was There
An interactive timeline conveying the synergy between science and society through the history of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.
Affiliations
Society for the History of Psychology
Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues
Society for the Psychology of Women
Partnerships
I Am Psyched! Inspiring History, Inspiring Lives: Women of Color in Psychology
A multimedia pop-up exhibit developed in collaboration with the Women’s Programs Office of the American Psychological Association and the Cummings Center for the History of Psychology for a special edition of the Smithsonian’s Museum Day Live! in 2016. Through panels, videos, and interactives, it explores the history of women of color in psychology and how they have used their unique perspectives to advance knowledge and impact society. It is designed to engage girls of color and excite them about careers in the social and behavioral sciences.
Service/Community Activities
Center for the History of Psychology
Chair, Advisory Board
Society for the History of Psychology
2013 President
Awards
Distinguished Service Award, Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues - 2017
Florence Denmark Distinguished Mentoring Award, Assoc. for Women in Psych. - 2016
Fellow, Canadian Psychological Association - 2016
Distinguished Publication Award, Assoc. for Women in Psych. - 2012
Award of Distinction, Section on Women and Psychology, CPA - 2011
Supervision
Currently available to supervise graduate students: Yes
Currently taking on work-study students, Graduate Assistants or Volunteers: No
Available to supervise undergraduate thesis projects: No
Current Research
History of women, gender, and feminist activism in psychology; objectivity, advocacy, and activist social science in the 20th century; science and public policy.
Research Projects
The science and politics of gender: Feminism, psychology, and policy in late 20th-century America
This project excavates and analyzes the relationships among feminism, gender, psychology, and policy since World War II. I examine how feminist social scientists developed and communicated a science of gender that challenged traditional gender ideologies and informed policy from the institutional to the national level. I focus on women’s education and employment, violence against women, and women’s mental health.
Role: Principal Investigator
Year Funded: 2017
Duration: 4
Funded by: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council