Embodying justice: Situating college student articulations of social justice in critical consciousness

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-68
Author(s):  
Alexander Harris Jones
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
College Student ◽  
Human Trafficking ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Affect Theory ◽  
Affective Domain ◽  
Christian College ◽  
Adverse Impact ◽  
Consciousness Development

Many American evangelical college students today enter into college with a new awareness of justice-related issues. However, situating student commitments to justice in a larger discourse on critical-consciousness development is necessary for educators to assist students in their justice development. This article reviews the literature on critical-consciousness development and places it in conversation with Deleuzian affect theory, suggesting that extant theory does not take into account the affective domain of critical-consciousness growth. This article also demonstrates common ways Christian college students might portray themselves as critically aware through distinctly Christian tropes that express their passion for and commitment to justice. These tropes, which commonly include human trafficking, diverse friend groups, and being globally-minded, actually have an adverse impact on social justice. By better understanding these tropes as masquerading critical consciousness and by understanding how students become critically aware through affect theory, educators and mentors can more adequately guide students in their attempts to seek justice.

The Centrality of Critical Agency: How Asian American College Students Develop Commitments to Social Justice

2021 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38
Author(s):  
Samuel D. Museus
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Asian American Students ◽  
Sources Of Knowledge ◽  
American Students ◽  
Asian American College Students

Context Systemic oppression is one of the most pressing problems in U.S. society. However, relatively little is known about the process by which college students become committed to social justice agendas. In addition, systematic empirical inquiries that examine how Asian American students, in particular, develop such commitments are difficult to find. Purpose/Research Question This inquiry was focused on understanding the process by which Asian American college students develop commitments to social justice. The following overarching research question guided the inquiry: How do Asian American college students cultivate a commitment to social justice? Research Design Using a qualitative approach grounded in a critical paradigm, individual interviews were conducted with Asian American college students involved in social justice activism and advocacy. Data Collection and Analysis A single, semistructured 60-minute face-to-face individual interview was conducted with each participant. The data were analyzed in three phases, using line-by-line, focused, and axial coding. Memos were also used throughout the data analysis process to capture thoughts, make comparisons, and clarify connections across data points. Findings The analysis shows how environmental threats that create a sense of urgency, sources of knowledge that foster collective critical consciousness, and models of critical agency contribute to students developing their own critical agency, which ultimately leads to social justice commitments. Conclusions/Recommendations The current study extends prior knowledge by demonstrating that critical agency is salient in Asian American students developing commitments to engage in social justice agendas. The findings also contribute to existing research by offering some evidence that ongoing opportunities to cultivate critical consciousness and connections to agents who model social justice interact and converge with key environmental threats to shape critical agency. The study also provides some initial evidence that Asian American parents can catalyze students’ critical agency and social justice commitments through serving as sources of knowledge that increase students’ awareness about social injustices and modeling how to contribute to a more just world, while college curricula across diverse disciplines and peer networks that center social injustices also help foster critical consciousness that leads to social justice commitments among some Asian American students.

Critical Consciousness Development

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatma Aydin ◽  
Kristen Adams ◽  
Laura Barsigian ◽  
John Bruner ◽  
Chih-Ting Chang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Critical Consciousness ◽  
Consciousness Development

Effect of persuasion via social media on attitude toward elite sport policies

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Yi-Hsiu Lin ◽  
Chen-Yueh Chen
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Media ◽  
College Student ◽  
Positive Attitude ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Elite Sport ◽  
Student Sample ◽  
College Student Sample ◽  
Central Route ◽  
Group Involvement

We examined the effect of different persuasion interventions in social media (central route vs. peripheral route vs. no persuasion) on attitude toward elite sport policies. We conducted 2 experimental studies with a college student sample (Study I) and a sample drawn from the general public (nonstudent sample, Study II). Results indicated that in the student sample, attitude of the peripheral-route-persuasion group toward elite sport policies was significantly more positive than that of either the no-persuasion group or the central-route-persuasion group. However, results from the nonstudent sample suggested that both the central-route-persuasion and peripheral-route-persuasion groups had more positive attitude toward elite sport policies than did the nopersuasion group. Involvement did not moderate the persuasion–attitude relationship in either the student or nonstudent sample. The findings from this research indicate that a more concise way of communication (peripheral route) is more effective for persuading college students. Government agents may adopt the findings from this research to customize persuasion interventions to influence their target audience effectively.

Death Threat and Death Concerns in the College Student

1981 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-155 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerome Tobacyk ◽  
Daniel Eckstein
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
College Student ◽  
Trait Anxiety ◽  
Analysis Of Covariance ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Education Students ◽  
Personality Variables ◽  
Personality Differences ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Threat Index

A four part investigation of death orientation in college students using the provided-construct form of the Threat Index and the Death Concern Scale was conducted. Part I investigated the construct validity of the Threat Index, reporting significant predicted correlations of the Threat Index with the Death Concern Scale, Trait Anxiety Scale, and Repression-Sensitization Scale. Part II explored death orientation and personality differences between a Thanatology Group (death education students) and a Control Group. Thanatology students reported significantly lesser death threat and significantly greater death concerns than controls. Part III compared pre-test to post-test changes in death threat and death concerns for the Thanatology Group with pre-post changes for the Control Group. Using analysis of covariance procedures, a significantly greater decline in death threat was obtained in the Thanatology Group relative to the controls. Part IV explored two personality variables–trait anxiety and repression-sensitization–as moderators of change in death orientation in the Thantology Group. Trait anxiety was found to be a significant predictor of change in death threat in the Thanatology Group, with lesser anxiety associated with greater decline in death threat.

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