This presentation explores how psychological theory operates within conditions of social inequality through the lens of academic self-efficacy: students’ belief in their capacity to plan, perform, and succeed in academic tasks. Within mainstream psychology, self-efficacy is often treated as an internal, value-neutral determinant of motivation and performance. Yet in times of widening social and economic inequality – dark times – the very idea of individual agency calls for renewed theoretical scrutiny.

The presentation examines how psychological theory can obscure or reveal the social structures that shape the experience of agency. When students’ ”confidence” or ”motivation” is explained as a matter of personal belief, structural conditions such as class, privilege, and access are displaced. Thus, theory risks naturalising inequality by framing systemic constraints as individual deficits.

Drawing on an ongoing pilot study among first-year psychology students at Aarhus University, the study investigates how socioeconomic background influences the development of academic self-efficacy during the transition into higher education. Preliminary analyses suggest that students with greater economic, cultural (educational) and social resources develop stronger and more stable confidence in their academic abilities, while others experience more fragile or situational forms of efficacy. By connecting these empirical insights with theoretical reflection, the presentation invites discussion on how psychological theory might resist normalising inequality and instead contribute to rethinking agency and education under unequal conditions.