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.     

Neoliberalism With a Community Face? A Critical Analysis of Asset-Based Community Development in Scotland

In this article, we trace the ideological and social policy roots of asset-based community development (ABCD) in the United States and the United Kingdom, and explore how this approach has been legitimized in Scotland. We argue that ABCD is a capitulation to neoliberal values of individualization and privatization. Drawing on findings from our empirical work, we discuss how ABCD generates dilemmas for community development. Although some practitioners are able to adapt ABCD to focus on renewing Scottish democracy, several practitioners are using ABCD to privatize public issues such as inequality and justify dramatic cuts to the Scottish welfare state.     

Nurturing the Seeds of Restorative Justice

Abstract

Communities are looking for community-building responses to the issue of crime. Traditional social and political discourses have presented only two responses to crime, “get tough” or rehabilitate offenders. An alternative view has begun to emerge in community criminal justice discourse and practice. Restorative justice emphasizes the restoration of relationships and community peace that are damaged by the harm of crime, and the repair of these social injuries. This article presents the findings of a pilot study that was conducted to assess a community's openness to restorative justice principles.     

A trilogy of trepidation: Diverse perspectives on police violence targeting African American males

ABSTRACT

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are supposedly “certain inalienable rights” that the Declaration of Independence claims have been gifted to all human beings by their Creator, and for which the U.S. government was created to protect. The issue of violence and brutality against African American males along with the police shooting of unarmed African American males has become a reality of the denial of these rights for some in America. Recent police shooting incidents of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, in addition to the brutal murder by police of Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York, have sparked riots, looting, protests, “die-ins,” and national conversations. The subsequent civil unrest across the United States and abroad has attracted widespread public attention. In this article, three authors respond by providing a timely trilogy of uniquely diverse perspectives and viewpoints on these issues giving particular attention to (1) the view from a historical lens and Black Power political framework producing an analysis of the causative factors promoting and sustaining violence against African American males, (2) an examination of criminal justice law, and (3) a look at our way forward.     

Teaching and incorporating practice models in a human behavior in the social environment (HBSE) course

ABSTRACT

Human behavior and the social environment (HBSE) instructors do not systematically or routinely teach and incorporate practice models in their course. In this article, social work educators describe an approach to teaching and incorporating practice models in a HBSE course using a five-step adapted, modified version of Mosey’s extrapolation method for teaching master level social work students to evaluate and apply practice models. The authors use the Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) model as an illustration to help social work students develop critically reflective approaches to evaluating and applying practice models. The techniques and guidelines outlined in this article could be applied to other practice models and used by social work educators and students interested in other fields of practice.     

竞赛规则的正义考量

正义是处理人与人之间相互关系的重要原则,竞赛规则作为运动员竞技关系的规范化、客观化存在,是对社会正义的践行与展示。竞赛规则自产生时它就似乎暗示着由神意来裁决竞争的正义精神;在社会文明化的理性进程中,竞赛规则对运动员正当行为和理性欲望的承认、保护与规制更加突出了其正义价值;竞赛规则实际上是对运动员公平竞争的保障,它从竞赛条件和手段公平、机会均等、结果评定公平,营造良好竞争秩序等方面遵循着正义原则并以此规导比赛现实。竞技体育的可持续发展需要在正义的统摄下进一步完善竞赛规则,努力维护和构建一个符合现代文明的理性竞技场域。     

“亲亲相隐”:正义还是无限正义?

叶公通过正直的儿子证实父亲偷羊的案例,把孝道置于正义的对立面.孔子的回答是,“直者”不仅是父与子的正义观,也是父子那个社会的正义观,因此,“父为子隐,子为父隐”的“直”是社会正义自身的要求.“隐”是父子同样享有的权利,既不是孝道专属,也不是孝道强加给社会正义的非分要求.叶公追求的无限正义无视社会伦理的客观存在,是对正义的扭曲.“亲亲相隐”符合正义的诉求,是正义赋予的正当权利.     

从事市场经济活动应具备的美德——解读《道德情操论》第六卷

《道德情操论》第六卷＂论有关美德的品质＂考察并论述了仁慈、谨慎、正义三种美德。这三种美德都是市场经济参与者应具备的,这些美德应该推动市场经济的发展,结合《国富论》解读亚当.斯密对这三大美德的论述,可以更加清晰地证明这一点。     

能动司法与司法改革

回到事实本身是澄清能动司法相关是非的基础和前提.能动司法既不是新发明,也不是舶来品,中国当下的能动司法是司法改革政策调整后人民司法传统复兴的产物.能动司法强调的是司法中人的作用,其本质上是一种贤人司法.最理想的社会治理图景是在拥有法治的同时也拥有贤能的司法者,故作为贤人司法的能动司法具有普世的价值和广阔的发展前景.中国司法改革的目标和使命是建立和健全一套符合法治精神的现代司法制度,能动只是中国司法改革过程中应当固守的一种道德优势,如果在还没有实现法治之时就将主要精力用于追求司法者的贤能上则是改革的错位和跑题.     

论公正廉洁司法实现的制度保障

公正廉洁司法的实现是一项复杂的社会工程,传统司法中的工具主义和文本主义遮蔽了司法与制度、政策、实践之间的关系。从制度构建、政策制定和实践运行三个层面透视,并将公正廉洁司法与公平正义、民众认同、司法为民这三大导向性的价值目标相结合,公正廉洁司法的实现就会呈现出一条清晰路径：以制度创新为前提,重视政策制定,并将二者纳入实施机制之中,经由此三个维度各有侧重、互有指涉的制度保障,公正廉洁司法就一定能实现。