A-13 Stepping into Action: The Role of Neuropsychologists in Social Justice Advocacy

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 1035-1035
Author(s):  
Mirella Diaz-Santos ◽  
Kendra Anderson ◽  
Farzin Irani ◽  
Michelle Miranda ◽  
Christina Wong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Developmental Approach ◽  
Social Justice Advocacy ◽  
Transformative Justice ◽  
Systems Framework ◽  
Licensure Requirements

Abstract Objective The current pandemic shed a necessary light on chronic systemic inequities. Despite awareness of the importance of diversity, equity, social justice, and advocacy, actionable change has been slow. The field of neuropsychology and psychology were founded on principles of universal rights for all humans, yet it has largely neglected social justice activities. Social justice and advocacy efforts are not universally embedded in education/training curriculums, nor in licensure requirements. If the field is pledging to move towards equity, systemic change is required. We offer practical considerations on how advocacy can lead neuropsychologists toward equity and social justice. Data Selection A review of the literature on racism, social justice, and health/mental health disparities, was conducted in the fields of neuropsychology, clinical psychology, counseling psychology, medicine, and public health, to form a systems-based approach to advocacy with actionable steps that can be taken by all. Tenents of critical consciousness, transformative learning, transformative justice and socially responsible neuropsychology emerged. Data Synthesis We utilize an ecological systems framework (microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem levels) to provide a graded, developmental approach for transitioning to a social change agent. Recommendations are offered to provide guidance on addressing inequities at multiple levels in an effort to uphold human rights and protection of all. Conclusion Neuropsychology has the opportunity to blaze a new trail that can effectively protect, include, and nurture all of its constituents equitably rather than equally. Transforming our field is possible through stepping into action by equipping our trainees and professionals with the tools to become agents of social change.

Practitioner perspectives on learning for social change through non-formal global citizenship education

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleanor J Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Critical Reflection ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Global Citizenship ◽  
Small Individual ◽  
Global Citizenship Education ◽  
The Social

This article engages with debates about transformative learning and social change, exploring practitioner perspectives on non-formal education activities run by non-governmental organisations. The research looked at how global citizenship education practitioners met their organisation’s goals of change for social justice through educational activities. This education is sometimes criticised for promoting small individual changes in behaviour, which do not ultimately lead to the social justice to which it pertains to aim. Findings suggest that this non-formal education aims to provide information from different perspectives and generate critical reflection, often resulting in shifts in attitudes and behaviour. While the focus is often on small actions, non-formal spaces opened up by such education allow for networks to develop, which are key for more collective action and making links to social movements. Although this was rarely the focus of these organisations, it was these steps, often resulting from reflection as a group on personal actions, which carried potentially for social change.

Communication in International Development

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Srinivas Melkote ◽  
H. Leslie Steeves
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Social Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
Central Position ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Development Communication ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
World War

The decades that immediately followed World War II witnessed the political independence of most of the so-called Third World from colonization and the birth of the United Nations, marking the formal beginning of development and directed social change to facilitate it. The role of communication in development (devcom) has evolved according to the overarching goals of the development programs and theories during each historical period since then. The process of modernization, in which devcom was initially nurtured, was influenced by quantitative and empirical social sciences theory, philosophy, and methodology; in particular, it had a strong economics orientation. It has been one of the most powerful paradigms in development study and practice to originate after World War II, with enormous economic, social, and cultural consequences. Concepts and theories that articulated the development of Western Europe and North America were used by sociologists, economists, political scientists, anthropologists, and others to generate development models for countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Mass media were accorded a central position in the modernization paradigm. The use of media for transmission of information and for persuasion, derived from World War II–related psychological warfare research in the United States, were transferred to areas such as extension education, instruction, agricultural, and health extension in development. By the 1970s, the concept of development and change expanded to include many more types of social change guided by different theories, disciplinary influences, geographical considerations, and methodologies. Change now included a widely participatory process of social change in a society and included social and cultural aspects besides the economic. While the participatory mode of communication for development programs and activities was a welcome addition to the devcom toolbox, the definitions of participation reflected a wide variety of approaches. In many contexts, the level of participation required by the people was low and perfunctory. Toward the end of the 1980s, the concept and practice of empowerment expanded upon the earlier objective of participation in development communication models and practice. Broadly, empowerment is a process by which individuals, organizations, and communities gain control and mastery over their social and economic conditions. The concept and practice of empowerment posed a challenge to the identity and practice of development communication. It changed the way communication was conceptualized earlier and used in development and change work. At present, social justice within the processes of development and social change has gained traction and urgency. In the last 40 years, there has been a steep increase in income inequality and individual opportunity globally. Millions of people are still exposed to life-threatening diseases, malnutrition, hunger, and other debilitating conditions, and have very limited access to basic resources, such as education and healthcare. What are the progressive alternatives to the neoliberal model of directed change? What should be the place and role of devcom in alternative approaches? These concerns are addressed by anchoring ideas within a critical theory of social change for social justice.

Counselling Psychology and Under-Represented Groups: A Vision for Advocacy as Mutual Transformation

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 678-684
Author(s):  
Janelle L. Kwee
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Change Processes ◽  
Mutual Transformation ◽  
Multiple Levels ◽  
Effective Advocacy ◽  
Counselling Psychology

The discipline of counselling psychology in Canada has aligned consistently with social justice principles. Consistent with this, a working group at the 2018 Canadian Counselling Psychology Conference was assigned to consider the role of Canadian counselling psychology in advocating for the needs of members of under-represented groups. This brief report captures insights from the working group and focuses on two primary themes: a critical reformulation of advocacy as mutual transformation for personal and social change and a need to engage with change processes at multiple levels. The group conceptualized effective advocacy as recentring historically marginalized perspectives while decentring “expert” roles and traditionally dominant perspectives.

scholarly journals Towards a Social Justice Disposition in Communication and Sport Scholarship

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 435-451
Author(s):  
Daniel Jackson ◽  
Filippo Trevisan ◽  
Emma Pullen ◽  
Michael Silk
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Sport Communication ◽  
Sports Communication

In this introduction to a special issue on sport communication and social justice, we offer some reflections on the state of the discipline as it relates to social justice. We bring attention to the role of sport communication scholars in the advancement of social justice goals and articulate a set of dispositions for researchers to bring to their practice, predicated on internalizing and centralizing morality, ethics, and the political. Identifying the epistemological (under)currents in the meaningful study of communication and sport, we offer a set of challenges for researchers in the contemporary critique of the communication industries based on “sensibilities” or dispositions of the research to those studied. We then introduce and frame the 13 articles that make up this double special issue of Communication & Sport. Collectively, these articles begin to demonstrate such dispositions in their interrogation of some of the most important and spectacularized acts of social justice campaigns and activism in recent decades alongside investigations of everyday forms of marginalization, resistance, and collective action that underpin social change—both progressive and regressive. We hope this special issue provides a vehicle for continued work in the area of sports communication and social justice.

scholarly journals Learning to Be: Emerging Discourse in Awakening Transformation in Education

in education ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-114
Author(s):  
Vanessa V. Tse ◽  
David F. Monk
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Habits Of Mind ◽  
Transformative Learning Theory ◽  
The World ◽  
Personal Accountability ◽  
The One

This paper explores the disconnection between knowledge of social and environmental injustices and actions to right them. Through our discussion, we consider possible reasons for this disconnection, whether a lack of knowledge, personal accountability and responsibility, or a fear of being swallowed up in the depths of the suffering in the world. We then critically reflect on our role and the role of education to broach this gap. We adopt O’Sullivan’s (2002) transformative learning theory as a guide and suggest that disruptive dialogues, like the one that has guided this paper, can challenge habits of mind, shift perspectives, and lead to action for a better, more equitable world. Ultimately, we conclude that such conversations are organic and ever changing and are integral to education.Keywords: Social justice; critical discourse; transformation 

scholarly journals Responsibilities of Companies towards Employees

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Monray Marsellus Botha
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Company Law ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
The Social ◽  
Labour Legislation

Central to company law is the promotion of corporate governance. An important question in company law still today is in whose interest the company should be managed. Corporate governance needs to address the entire span of responsibilities to stakeholders of the company such as customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers and the community at large. The promotion of human rights in the application of company law must also take place. This is extremely important given the significant role of enterprises within the social and economic life of the nation. The interests of various stakeholder groups in the context of the corporation as a "social institution" should be enhanced and protected. Because corporations are part of society and the community, like all of us, it is required of them to be socially responsible and have greater accountability to all stakeholders of the company. Although directors must act in the best interests of shareholders collectively they must also consider the interests of other stakeholders. Sustainable relationships with all the relevant stakeholders are thus important. The advancement of social justice is thus important to corporations in that they should take note of the Constitution, labour legislation and company law legislation when social justice issues are dealt with. Employees have become very important stakeholders of companies and their needs should be taken into account in the bigger corporate governance and social responsibility framework.

Bringing Gender and Class into the Frame: An Intersectional Analysis of the Decoloniality-As-Race Critique of the Use of Law for Social Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-46
Author(s):  
Jackie Dugard ◽  
Angela María Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
South African ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Intersectional Analysis ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Capitalist Democracies ◽  
Nancy Fraser

During 2017, South African decoloniality theorist Tshepo Madlingozi argued, in relation to the ongoing socio-political and economic exclusion of the black majority in South Africa, that the post-1994 rights-based constitutional order represents more continuity than rupture, consolidating a triumph of social justice over liberation and a privileging of the democratisation paradigm over the decolonisation one. In Madlingozi’s critique of the “neo-apartheid” social justice order, race continues to be the most important dividing line, and human rights constitute a western “perpetuation of the coloniality of being”. This argument resonates with broader contemporary critiques of the weak, compromising and imperial nature of human rights. Against this backdrop, we examine the potential, as well as the limits, of using human rights as a tool for social change. Engaging an intersectional analysis informed by the seminal work of Kimberlé Crenshaw and Nancy Fraser, we find that the focus on decoloniality-as-race obscures other critical fault lines to the detriment of progressive change, and that a radical reading of human rights is capable of correcting this flaw. We argue that the incorporation of gender and class lenses provides a powerful tool to change both the narrative about the drivers of inequality among capitalist democracies and the role of socio-economic rights adjudication within them. Our article is also an invitation to rethink the domestic constitutional histories of the global south by acknowledging rights-based redistributive transformations within the context of market and development policies, and to push for the uptake of rights to empower social struggle and tackle structural disadvantage.

The road less travelled: A Zimbabwean leadership dilemma

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Patrick Cairns
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
National Level ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Subject Area ◽  
List Type ◽  
Teaching Case

Subject area of the teaching case: The values-based leadership (VBL) themes lend the case to use in courses focussed on individual leadership approaches, personal-professional development, personal mastery, or individual agency in social change and social justice movements. The emerging market context adds a layer of complexity to the protagonist's journey, which may make the case especially relevant for use among students who work in this context or in courses that deal with volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). Student level: The primary target audience for this case is postgraduate students in a management or professional development program. Brief overview of the teaching case: This case offers a leadership profile of lawyer Fadzayi Mahere as she pursues social change at the national level by running for political office in Zimbabwe in 2018. The case recounts Mahere's professional journey through human rights law and local activism, which eventually drives her to run as an independent for a position in the national election. She does this as a response to the dire state of the country: economic crisis, social instability, and political corruption that are making life increasingly untenable for most people. In spite of running a strong grassroots campaign, Mahere loses the election and is faced with the dilemma of whether or not to forego independence and join the dominant opposition party. The case therefore centres around the role of values in leadership, the role of narrative in shaping the decision to lead, and how these things impact a leader's strategy for affecting social change and achieving social justice. Expected learning outcomes: Appreciate the systemic nature of social problems in an emerging market context and how this creates different opportunities for a leader to act on a problem Understand how a leader's identity, in terms of values and experiences, shapes their motivations and informs their strategy for leading a change effort Understand the dimensions of values-based leadership (VBL) – transformational, authentic, accountability, and ethical leadership – and how the actions of a values-driven leader reflect these Identify the mechanisms that aspiring leaders practicing VBL can use to build an authentic narrative for key stakeholders to accept and embrace them Recognise the different strategies a leader can adopt to achieve values-driven outcomes, while maintaining alignment with the different dimensions of VBL

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