Social Justice,Research, and Adolescence

In what ways might research on adolescence contribute to social justice? My 2014 Presidential Address identified strategies for social justice in our field. First, we need research that is conscious of biases, power, and privilege in science, as well as in our roles as scholars. Second, we need research that attends to inequities in lives of adolescents, and as scholars we need to question the ways that our research may unwittingly reinforce those inequalities. Third, we need research that attends to urgencies, that is, issues or conditions that influence adolescents’ well‐being which demand attention and action. I draw from a range of concepts and theoretical perspectives to make the case for a framework of social justice in research on adolescence.     

Social Work and Social Justice

This study evaluated 99 baccalaureate social work students' reactions to simulation kits that replicated visual impairments common with the aging process. Through qualitative research methods, students' preconceived notions and reported incidents of ageism were assessed in light of their reactions to increased understanding of visual changes. The outcome was greater self-awareness and critical reflection of ageism and discrimination. Students reported enhanced awareness of personal, social, and professional implications. This research supports previous data which suggest that increased exposure to activities that simulate the disabilities and experiences of oppression in older adults provide an opportunity to reduce ageism.     

Social Justice

The nature of the connection between family therapy and issues of social justice is explored, using various metaphors from Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children. The author cautions against the affirmative use of a phrase like “social justice” in the context of family therapy, arguing instead for the potential of its critical, negative employment. This may allow a productive disruption of the currently dominating theoretical perspectives.     

Social Justice and Social Work,A Fierce Urgency: Recommendations for Social Work Social Justice Pedagogy

ABSTRACT

This article addresses the challenge of understanding the meaning and pedagogical application of social justice in social work by presenting and applying the circle of insight framework I created and proposing a social work definition of social justice. In particular, the circle of insight is presented as a tool and a process for critically examining learnings from social justice courses, transforming social justice social work pedagogy, and defining social justice in social work. In the fierce urgency of now, consistent with research findings and the social work profession’s ethical codes and statements, social workers are invited to use the circle of insight process and proposed definition of social justice to engage in social justice–infused social work curricular transformation.     

Social Justice,Social Policy,and Social Work

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the models underlying the conceptualization of social work functions affect the costs of integrating policy issues into practice, and, therefore, the probability that social justice goals will be pursued. An inclusive approach to policy design is seen as lowering those costs. The nature of the costs and how they vary between the models is discussed.     

Globalization and the Question of Social Justice

Previous conceptions of social justice presupposed a closed political community in which nation‐states were to be in full control of policy instruments that reinforced mechanisms of social justice. States’ governing capacity to deliver social justice to their citizens has been challenged in the face of deepening transnational interactions and interdependencies in economic, political, and cultural realms, as these interactions and interdependencies directly affect the lives of millions of people. This paper revisits an ongoing debate on Global Social Justice and aims to introduce two clashing views – namely, Minimalist and Cosmopolitan approaches – on whether or not people in affluent societies have distinctive duties of concern for people in less developed countries. After outlining the main contours of the arguments on both sides, the paper concludes by suggesting that the debate can inform different areas of sociological inquiry that are directly related to issues such as power, inequality, and social exclusion.     

Social Work and Criminal Justice

SUMMARY

We shall begin with the principal, and complicated, conclusion: Regrettably, the social work profession has largely abandoned the criminal justice field. That is not to say that social workers are not employed in criminal justice settings. Certainly they are. Significant numbers of social workers earn their living as probation and parole officers, caseworkers in public defender offices, counselors in correctional institutions and halfway houses, and so on. As a profession, however, social work no longer has a major presence in the criminal justice field (Gibelman and Schervish, 1993). Relatively few social workers embark on their professional education with the aim of employment in the criminal justice field. Virtually no courses in social work education programs focus explicitly or comprehensively on criminal justice (Knox and Roberts, 2002; McNeece and Roberts, 1997). Workshops offered at professional conferences or continuing education seminars rarely focus on criminal justice issues per se. And, relatively little serious scholarship on criminal justice issues is authored by social workers.

Interestingly, this has not always been the state of affairs. Earlier in the profession's history, social workers were much more visible and vocal participants in dialogue, debate, research, and practice related to criminal justice. Ideally-in light of social work's unique perspectives on practice and social problems, and the profession's noble value base-the profession will reclaim its preoccupation with criminal justice. As Sarri (2001) concludes with respect to social workers' involvement in the juvenile justice system in particular:

Thirty years ago, social workers were in leadership positions in juvenile justice in the majority of states. In the 1980s, a gradual decline began in agencies and in social work education for practice in juvenile justice. Some have suggested that the decline was at least partially due to professional resistance to working in coercive settings with involuntary clients. However, given the millions of people now caught up in the criminal justice system who are not receiving the social services they desperately need, it is a priority that social work return to a more central role in criminal justice. (p. 453)     

Environmental Justice Is a Social Justice Issue: Incorporating Environmental Justice Into Social Work Practice Curricula

Social justice education for social work practice is concerned with addressing issues of power and oppression as they impact intersections of identity, experience, and the social environment. However, little focus is directed toward the physical and natural environment despite overwhelming evidence that traditionally marginalized groups bear the burden of environmental problems. In this article, we discuss environmental disaster impacts on marginalized communities, presence of environmental justice in social work literature, and opportunities for integrating environmental justice into social work’s mandated disciplinary competencies. We conclude with an example of a module implemented in a foundation Social Justice for Social Work Practice course using place-based education principles as an illustration of concrete strategies for incorporating environmental justice into social justice curricula.     

以社会公正奠定社会安全的基础

中国社会现阶段,社会矛盾问题日益凸显。究其主要原因,是由于社会建设和社会管理的发展明显滞后于经济发展,特别是在社会建设和社会管理的核心内容亦即社会公正方面出现了明显的问题。社会公正是社会安全的基础,也是制度安排的基本依据。维护社会公正是缓解贫富差距的重要杠杆。社会公正有利于形成良性互动的社会结构。维护社会公正是形成橄榄型的社会结构的主要途径。只有维护并促进社会公正,才能有效地解决和缓解社会矛盾问题,确保中国社会的安全运行。     

Legacy of the Vocational Bureau of Cincinnati: Research Advances Social Justice

The author discusses the lives of Helen Bradford Thompson Woolley and M. Edith Campbell, who together shaped the legacy of the Vocational Bureau of Cincinnati. Using scientific research in controlled experimental settings allowed Woolley and Campbell to legitimize their social and vocational reform agendas and influence powerful government, school, and social service leaders. By 1921, they created 1 of the most progressive vocational programs in the country, delivering career counseling, vocational guidance and placement, physical and psychological testing, educational measurement and testing, protection and services for the physically and mentally handicapped, preventative measures for juvenile delinquency, and scholarships for students.     

Operationalizing Social Justice in Social Studies Education

Although social justice is an overarching goal of most every department of teacher education, college of education, and US College or University, it is rarely an identified goal for K–12 schools. We contend that the field of social studies education also substantively focuses on social justice, and as such, this article clarifies the ways in which classrooms can provide a social justice education. In particular, we explore the role of dispositions, reflective thinking, and controversial issues, and the ways in which they position students to understand, confront, and undermine social injustices. Finally, we provide specific curricular ideas and points of departure for middle school and high school social studies teachers to operationalize social justice education within their classes.     

Revolutionizing the Social Work Curriculum

The social work literature provides ample evidence of the use of the systems paradigm and concepts. However, system ideas serve primarily as a sensitizing tool, suggesting important environmental factors but not describing precisely the links between them. Social work's failure to take the next logical step, to develop systems models, constrains practitioners’ understanding and ability to intervene. The authors describe system dynamics modeling and its benefits. Educating students in system dynamics modeling can improve social work interventions in the complex situations faced by practitioners.     

Voices From the Field: Social Workers Define and Apply Social Justice

Social justice is embraced as a central mission of social work, yet how the profession defines it lacks clear and common understanding. This qualitative study explored the concept of social justice as perceived and applied by social workers in diverse practice settings. Focus-group participants were asked five primary open-ended questions. Key phrases and terms were identified and grouped into four themes: variation in meaning of social justice, confronting injustices, practice reality, and professional responsibility. The findings suggest that social justice as understood and practiced in the field is compatible with theoretical conceptions in the literature, but a predominant understanding remains lacking.     

Social Justice Advocacy Readiness Questionnaire

Summary

Social service providers of consultation, counseling, and education can benefit from determining their social justice awareness, knowledge, and skills to ensure culturally competent practice and to challenge the multiple oppressions facing clients and staff on individual, cultural, and institutional/systemic levels. The Social Justice Advocacy Readiness Questionnaire (SJARQ) provides a means to advocate for social justice with persons of multiple cultural identities, including all sexual orientations and gender identities. The SJARQ instrument contains three areas of self-assessment for social services staff: individual social justice advocacy awareness, comfort, and values; cultural social justice advocacy knowledge; and institutional/systemic social justice advocacy skills.     

Standing Up for Science and Social Justice

What does it mean to do social science—perhaps especially for those of us whose research focuses on issues of social justice—during what my students gingerly refer to as “this time we're living in”? Community based participatory research offers one important approach.     

Environmental Justice and Social Work Education: Social Workers' Professional Perspectives

Environmental injustice is a growing human rights issue as climate change and environmental degradation rapidly increases. As a social justice problem, it is relevant to the social work profession, yet not integrated into our curricula. This study of 373 social work professionals found that environmental justice is a significant practice issue across broad client populations and that professionals felt unprepared to address it. Qualitative and quantitative data revealed high levels of client exposure to environmental hazards with little power to change it. Respondents reported dissatisfaction with their education to help them understand environmental issues. Moreover, they indicated that they would like to see environmental justice integrated into social work education and better-prepared graduates entering the profession. Implications for practice and education are discussed.     

Social Work Education for Multicultural Practice and Social Justice Advocacy:

A two-phase exploratory field study was conducted in an attempt to understand how students experienced the learning process and the outcomes of a new MSW course aimed at helping students develop knowledge and awareness of cultural diversity and societal oppression. Data were collected from a total of 97 students through a content analysis of 30 student journals in Phase I, and a questionnaire completed by 67 students in Phase II of the study. The preliminary findings are placed in the context of relevant theoretical perspectives about the concept of moral exclusion and future knowledge development and research implications.     

Social Justice Approach to Community Development

This article presents a case study examining nonprofit board and director roles in the first 5 years of an organization’s life, using 3 organizational change approaches: contingency, life-cycle, and cognitive-interpretive. Data include monthly board meeting minutes and director’s reports for the first 5 years of a nonprofit human service agency’s existence. The article concludes that although all 3 theoretical approaches are productive explanatory frameworks for organizational change, each one, on its own, is incomplete. The findings point to the need for further theoretical synthesis and paradigm elaboration to inform our understanding of nonprofit director and board relationships.