scholarly journals Critical realism, community psychology, and the curious case of autism: A philosophy and practice of science with social justice in mind

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monique Botha
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Community Psychology ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Practice Of Science

Career Paths in Community Psychology and Social Justice Related Fields

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret I. Davis ◽  
Josefina Alvarez ◽  
Carmen Curtis ◽  
Lucia D'Arlach ◽  
Joseph Ferrari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Community Psychology ◽  
Career Paths

The application of critical realism as a basis for agency in environmental education: The case of Roy Bhaskar

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-238
Author(s):  
Mehri Mirzaei Rafe ◽  
Khosrow Bagheri Noaparast ◽  
Afzal Sadat Hosseini ◽  
Narges Sajadieh
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Environmental Education ◽  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Real ◽  
New Materialisms ◽  
Human Habitation

AbstractThis article will investigate the philosophy of science of Roy Bhaskar (1944–2014) as a coherent basis for environmental education. The work of Bhaskar serves as an in-depth approach to understanding how to apply critical realism (the critical and the realist) to matters such as environmental education, because he concretely theorises the connections between science, social change and metaphysics. By mobilising key Bhaskarian motifs — that is, the primacy of ontology over epistemology, the laminated system as a means to understand reality, the ways in which inquiry may be organised through the real, actual and the empirical, and the positive application of dialectics — this article constructs a new approach to environmental education and positions it in the field of environmental education by comparing it to posthumanism and the new materialisms. This article contains inquiry-based study outlines for enhanced thinking around: (1) climate change and social justice; (2) movements towards a carbon-free economy; (3) water, food and population; and (4) the future of human habitation.

scholarly journals Activism in changing times: Reinvigorating community psychology: Introduction to the Special Thematic Section

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 526-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Flora Cornish ◽  
Catherine Campbell ◽  
Cristián Montenegro
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Community Psychology ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Community Agency ◽  
Thematic Section ◽  
Current Article ◽  
Changing Times

The field of community psychology has for decades concerned itself with the theory and practice of bottom-up emancipatory efforts to tackle health inequalities and other social injustices, often assuming a consensus around values of equality, tolerance and human rights. However, recent global socio-political shifts, particularly the individualisation of neoliberalism and the rise of intolerant, exclusionary politics, have shaken those assumptions, creating what many perceive to be exceptionally hostile conditions for emancipatory activism. This special thematic section brings together a diverse series of articles which address how health and social justice activists are responding to contemporary conditions, in the interest of re-invigorating community psychology’s contribution to emancipatory efforts. The current article introduces our collective conceptualisation of these ‘changing times’, the challenges they pose, and four openings offered by the collection of articles. Firstly, against the backdrop of neoliberal hegemony, these articles argue for a return to community psychology’s core principle of relationality. Secondly, articles identify novel sources of disruptive community agency, in the resistant identities of nonconformist groups, and new, technologically-mediated communicative relations. Thirdly, articles prompt a critical reflection on the potentials and tensions of scholar-activist-community relationships. Fourthly, and collectively, the articles inspire a politics of hope rather than of despair. Building on the creativity of the activists and authors represented in this special section, we conclude that the environment of neoliberal individualism and intolerance, rather than rendering community psychology outdated, serves to re-invigorate its core commitment to relationality, and to a bold and combative scholar-activism.

scholarly journals Justifying Research as Conscious Intervention in Social and Educational Life: Activating Transformative Potential

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Norma R. A. Romm
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Inquiry Process ◽  
Transformative Potential ◽  
The Web

In this article, I expand on Mertens' advocacy of the transformative paradigm for social research, where research is consciously geared to the advancement of social justice. I indicate certain links with Indigenous paradigmatic approaches to "knowing," where legitimate knowing is rooted in a quest to enhance relationality in the web of relations in which we as knowers and actors are enmeshed. In considering how we might justify associating knowing with transformative-directed (interventionist) intent, I suggest that the justification rests on us recognising that the research enterprise is always more or less consciously implicated in the continuing unfolding of the worlds of which it is a part. I spell out what is involved in recognising that research is world shaping. I furthermore propose that taking a transformative perspective on the research enterprise allows us to reinterpret other paradigmatic positions (e.g., constructivism, and critical realism, and even some renditions of postpositivism) by looking at their potential to cater for an inquiry process that enables participants, concerned stakeholders, and wider audiences to participate in envisioning and enacting possibilities for enhancing the quality of our existence. I provide some examples from the educational arena.

scholarly journals The Capability and Social Justice Theories: Developing a Second-Generation Model for Enhancing Epistemological Access in Flood-Prone Schools in Kenya

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (10) ◽  
pp. 154-172
Author(s):  
Gloria Erima ◽  
Felix Maringe
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Realism ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Generation Model ◽  
Capability Development ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Doctoral Study ◽  
Western Kenya ◽  
Justice Theories ◽  
Depth Interviews

This paper draws from a larger doctoral study, conducted between 2013 and 2016 in five flood-prone schools of the Budalang’i division of western Kenya. The mixed-methods study was based on empirical data drawn from twenty-three in-depth interviews from parents, senior school managers, and Sub County Education officers. Fifteen of these interviews were with males and eight with females. A questionnaire was completed by a total of 191 Standard Eight pupils, 49.2% boys and 50.8% girls across the five schools. Focus group discussions (FGDs) consisting of ten pupils from each of the five schools were also conducted. The study investigated the extent to which flood-prone schools can generate equitable epistemological access (EEA) and how they are committed to delivering a socially just educational experience. The research was embedded in the 'critical realism framework' as the overarching philosophy, premised on Sen's capability approach and Nancy Fraser's social justice framework. The two theories offer competing predications that: 1) the development of individual capabilities improves lives 2) the development of individuals should be based on a socially just approach. Findings suggested that to develop individual capabilities, schools need to embark on a socially just approach, especially to learners who are subjected to deprivation. The paper models a capabilities and social justice approach, as a substantial contribution to our understanding of the extent to which flood-prone schools of Kenya may improve individual capability development. Apart from its implications for policy, we suggest that the model should be implemented in schools to determine its efficacy.

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