Concluding Remarks: Social Justice Requires Biocritical Inquiry

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence D. Keel
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Racial Difference ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
The Social

Our debate here, among social constructionists, has pivoted precisely on the fact that social constructionists are suspicious of claims about race and genetics for reasons that are much larger than science—issues tied to the limits of language and epistemology, the influence of cultural factors on knowledge production, and the economic realities that order social life. Unjust social and political systems necessarily alter the biological lives of marginalized groups and populations. Therefore legacies of discrimination, pernicious policy decisions, and economic inequality must be framed as causal factors in the emergence of health disparities and human biodiversity more generally. Social justice requires what I term a “biocritical inquiry,” which reverses the orthodox practice of situating genes as the base, foundation, and unmoved movers of human health, behavior, and perceived racial difference. Instead, biocritical inquiry synthesizes scientific research and critical forms of humanistic inquiry that denaturalize genetic differences, revealing the social inequalities and historical legacies of violence, conflict, and discrimination that are inseparable from human biological diversity.

scholarly journals COVID-19 and the calls of humanistic social work: Exploring the developmental-clinical social work concerns of the pandemic

2021 ◽  
pp. 002087282110079
Author(s):  
Robert K Chigangaidze
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Clinical Social Work ◽  
Health Community ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face

Any health outbreak is beyond the biomedical approach. The COVID-19 pandemic exposes a calamitous need to address social inequalities prevalent in the global health community. Au fait with this, the impetus of this article is to explore the calls of humanistic social work in the face of the pandemic. It calls for the pursuit of social justice during the pandemic and after. It also calls for a holistic service provision, technological innovation and stewardship. Wrapping up, it challenges the global community to rethink their priorities – egotism or altruism. It emphasizes the ultimate way forward of addressing the social inequalities.

Haunting Wholeness: Inviting Ghosts on the Bridge So We Can Transform

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 1022-1038
Author(s):  
Cristina M. Dominguez
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Community Member ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Way Of Knowing

In this article, I share my journey toward haunting wholeness in the social justice work that I am beginning to take up as a scholar, teacher, and community member. I evoke Avery Gordon’s notion of haunting, defining it as an experience in which “that which appears to be not there is often a seething presence, acting on and often meddling with taken-for-granted realities.” Investigating hauntings that take place in our lives can take us to a “dense site where history and subjectivity make social life.” Should we dwell and work in this site, should we take up hauntings and their “ghostly things,” I believe, as Gordon does, that we can conjure “a very particular way of knowing what has happened or is happening,” an affective and transformative way of knowing about our moving and relating in the world with others as social beings.

scholarly journals KRITIK SOSIAL BERMUATAN LOKAL BALI DALAM KUMPULAN CERITA NGUNTUL TANAH NUNULÉNGÉK LANGIT KARYA I MADE SUARSA/LOCAL BALINESE SOCIAL CRITICISTS IN THE STORIES COLLECTION OF NGUNTUL TANAH NULÉNGÉK LANGIT BY I MADE SUARSA

Aksara ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-234
Author(s):  
Ni Nyoman Tanjung Turaeni ◽  
Puji Retno Hardiningtyas
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Social Criticism ◽  
Formal Structure ◽  
The Social ◽  
Classi Cation

Abstrak Kritik sosial sebagai sebuah ide atau berbagai bentuk gagasan yang bertolak belakang dengan kenyataan yang tidak sesuai dengan tujuan dan harapan dari tatanan dalam masyarakat. Penelitian ini bertujuan membahas aspek sosial yang meliputi struktur cerita, masalah sosial dan kritik sosial bermuatan lokal Bali yang tercermin dalam kumpulan cerita pendek berbahasa Bali Nguntul Tanah Nulengék Langit karya I Made Suarsa. Metode analisis yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah deskriptif kualitatif dan teknik interpretatif. Dalam pengolahan data dilakukan tahapan klasifikasi, pendeskripsian, penerjemahan, dan penganalisisan data. Untuk mengetahui masalah sosial dan kritik sosial dalam cerpen tersebut, digunakan teori sosiologi sastra dan teori struktural untuk mengetahui struktur formal yang membangun cerita tersebut. Hasil dan pembahasan penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa kritik sosial yang dapat terhimpun dalam cerita tersebut adalah kritik sosial terhadap kemiskinan, kritik sosial disorganisasi keluarga dan kritik terhadap adat dan tradisi serta serta kehidupan sosial masyarakat Bali. Dengan demikian, lahirnya cerpen karya I Made Suarsa ini memperlihatkan kemegahan pariwisata, masih terdapat ketimpangan sosial dalam masyarakat Bali. Kata kunci: cerpen, kritik sosial, masalah sosial, muatan lokal Bali Abstract Social criticism as an idea or various forms of ideas that are contrary to reality is not in accordance with the goals and expectations of the order in society. This study aims to discuss the social aspects which include story structure, social issues and social criticism with local Balinese content as re ected in a collection of short stories in Balinese language “Nguntul Tanah Nulengék Langit” by I Made Suarsa. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative and note taking techniques. In data processing, the stages of classi cation, description, translation and data analysis are carried out. To nd out the social problems and social criticism in the short story, the sociology approach of Sapardi Djoko Damono’s view is used and is assisted by a structural approach to determine the formal structure that builds the story. The results of the study show that the social criticisms that can be collected in the story are social criticism of poverty, social criticism of family disorganization and criticism of customs and traditions as well as the social life of Balinese people who seem famous by tourism, but in fact there are still social inequalities in Balinese society. Keywords: social problems, social criticism, short stories 

scholarly journals The Social Life of the “Forever Chemical”

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-163
Author(s):  
Daniel Renfrew ◽  
Thomas W. Pearson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Toxic Event ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Polyfluoroalkyl Substances

This article examines the social life of PFAS contamination (a class of several thousand synthetic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) and maps the growing research in the social sciences on the unique conundrums and complex travels of the “forever chemical.” We explore social, political, and cultural dimensions of PFAS toxicity, especially how PFAS move from unseen sites into individual bodies and into the public eye in late industrial contexts; how toxicity is comprehended, experienced, and imagined; the factors shaping regulatory action and ignorance; and how PFAS have been the subject of competing forms of knowledge production. Lastly, we highlight how people mobilize collectively, or become demobilized, in response to PFAS pollution/ toxicity. We argue that PFAS exposure experiences, perceptions, and responses move dynamically through a “toxicity continuum” spanning invisibility, suffering, resignation, and refusal. We off er the concept of the “toxic event” as a way to make sense of the contexts and conditions by which otherwise invisible pollution/toxicity turns into public, mass-mediated, and political episodes. We ground our review in our ongoing multisited ethnographic research on the PFAS exposure experience.

When the Rainbows Bring the Crawfish

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 90-101
Author(s):  
V. Constanza Ocampo-Raeder
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
Liminal Space ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Relationship

In this article I present the social life of camarones, a Peruvian river crustacean used in some of the region’s favorite dishes, and the liminal space they occupy in the geography, minds, and ecosystem of Peru and its people. I situate the relationship between these crawfish and the folks who capture them, known as camaroneros, within insights of environmental anthropologists and food scholars who also explore the connections between cultural and biological diversity and the entangled socio-ecological histories that inform the manner in which nature is mediated and understood by local societies. In this article, however, I expand this understanding to reveal unexpected spaces of engagement, especially those that emerge while eating, which tend to be overlooked by bounded notions of culture and nature and limit the ways we can imagine human-nature relationships. Via the story of camarones and camaroneros of one river valley of Peru, I argue that eating is a socio-ecological act that is imbued with profound cultural meanings involving a wide range of participants—not just farmers or producers—each with their own ecological identities yet still implicitly linked to one another through the process of producing, preparing, and consuming food.

scholarly journals JOHN RAWLS: CONCEPÇÃO DE COOPERAÇÃO EQUITATIVA

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 84-99
Author(s):  
Viturino Ribeiro da Silva
Keyword(s):  
John Rawls ◽  
Social Space ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Original Position ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Comprehensive Doctrines

A cooperação equitativa é um conceito central da filosofia de John Rawls e possui uma estreita relação com as noções de racionalidade, razoabilidade e tolerância. Portanto, faz-se necessário ressaltar que tais temas são fundamentais para uma adequada compreensão da teoria rawlsiana de justiça. Rawls elege a justiça como virtude primária e princípio norteador na construção da sua teoria. Em virtude disso, a preocupação de Rawls é a resolução das desigualdades sociais que ocorrem nos sistemas políticos democráticos. A noção de justiça como equidade faz-se indispensável frente à necessidade de eleger a liberdade enquanto preocupação com o justo equilíbrio e ao “consenso nas sociedades plurais”. É a partir da concepção de cooperação equitativa que Rawls tenta resolver o impasse contemporâneo da convivência de diferentes doutrinas abrangentes razoáveis sejam elas, religiosas, filosóficas ou morais. Dessa forma, a teoria rawlsiana de justiça tem como proposta a “coexistência pacifica” ante essa pluralidade de doutrinas compreensivas. Assim posto, a justiça como equidade, pode plausivelmente, ser a forma mais viável de coexistência pacífica que agrupamentos sociais poderiam seguir ou se pautar. Sob essa ótica, acredita-se que a noção de cooperação equitativa rawlsiana será uma via de justiça que enfatiza os direitos individuais sem desmerecer aquilo que é próprio do coletivo. Abstract: Fair cooperation is a central concept of J. Rawls´s philosophy and keeps a close relationship with the the notions of rationality, reasonability, and tolerance. Thus it is important to claim that these notions are necessary for a correct comprehension of rawlsian theory of justice. Rawls claims justice as the primary virtue and main principle of his theory. The aim of Rawls is to solve the social inequalities that occur in democratic political systems. The concept of justice as fairness is essential before the need of electing the liberty as concerning to the just balance and to the “consensus in the plural societies”. By starting from the conception of fair cooperation Rawls tries to solve the contemporary problem of different comprehensive doctrines sharing the same political and social space, no matter they are religious, philosophical or moral ones. The rawlsian theory of justice claims to propose as “pacific cohabitation” among that plurality of comprehensive doctrines. In this way, justice as fairness may plausibility be the most viable form of pacific cohabitation that social groups can follow or be ruled. Under this perspective, we believe that the rawlsian concept of fair cooperation will be a way of justice that focus on individual rights without deprive the significance of collective. Keywords: Rawls, fair cooperation, original position, rationality, reasonability. 

scholarly journals Social Injustice in Surveillance Capitalism

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 609-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cinnamon
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
Personal Data ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Corporate Power ◽  
Data Accumulation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Normative Principle ◽  
Economic Injustice

A rapidly accelerating phase of capitalism based on asymmetrical personal data accumulation poses significant concerns for democratic societies, yet the concepts used to understand and challenge practices of dataveillance are insufficient or poorly elaborated. Against a backdrop of growing corporate power enabled by legal lethargy and the secrecy of the personal data industry, this paper makes explicit how the practices inherent to what Shoshana Zuboff calls ‘surveillance capitalism’ are threats to social justice, based on the normative principle that they prevent parity of participation in social life. This paper draws on Nancy Fraser’s theory of ‘abnormal justice’ to characterize the separation of people from their personal data and its accumulation by corporations as an economic injustice of maldistribution. This initial injustice is also the key mechanism by which further opaque but significant forms of injustice are enabled in surveillance capitalism—sociocultural misrecognition which occurs when personal data are algorithmically processed and subject to categorization, and political misrepresentation which renders people democratically voiceless, unable to challenge misuses of their data. In situating corporate dataveillance practices as a threat to social justice, this paper calls for more explicit conceptual development of the social harms of asymmetrical personal data accumulation and analytics, and more hopefully, attention to the requirements needed to recast personal data as an agent of equality rather than oppression.

Social Justice, Disability, and Rehabilitation Education

2012 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-240
Author(s):  
Daniel Kelsey ◽  
Julie F. Smart
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Rehabilitation Counseling ◽  
Social Injustice ◽  
Community Inclusion ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Counseling Training ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
The Social

The academic field and the professional practice of rehabilitation counseling focuses on one aspect of social justice, assisting individuals with disabilities to attain full community inclusion. Nonetheless, social justice focuses on many marginalized groups and in the related fields of counseling and psychology, those with disabilities are rarely considered to be a group experiencing social injustice. Therefore, rehabilitation counseling focuses on a single marginalized status, disability, while counseling and psychology tend to ignore disability. The goal of this article is to argue for more comprehensive training in graduate rehabilitation counseling training programs. To this end, four topics are presented: (1) a review of the social justice literature; (2) possible explanations for the findings of this review; (3) obstacles to the inclusion of social justice in the rehabilitation curriculum; and (4) recommendations for incorporating social justice into the graduate rehabilitation curriculum.

Social work, participation, and poverty

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katrien Boone ◽  
Griet Roets ◽  
Rudi Roose
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Structural Change ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Work Participation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nancy Fraser ◽  
Shed Light

Summary Although participatory social work approaches have been considered as a fruitful strategy, critical questions are raised in relation to the social justice aspirations of participatory social work with people in poverty. Inspired by the work of Nancy Fraser, we provide an in-depth insight in the complexities of supporting participatory parity in ‘Associations where People in Poverty Raise their Voice’. Combining semi-structured interviews and focus groups with practitioners in these organisations, we shed light on the complexities of the ‘how’, the ‘who’, and the ‘what’ of social justice that arise in such participatory practice. Findings Our findings suggest that even in practices that situate the principle of participatory parity at the heart of their fight for social justice, power asymmetries and social inequalities require attention. Exclusionary mechanisms become apparent in how practitioners try to support participatory parity of people in poverty in the different components in the organisation. When practitioners try to overcome these exclusionary effects, a sheer complexity and inescapable power struggles become visible. Moreover, the ambiguity of how practitioners attempt to empower people in poverty and enhance structural change leads to tensions between affirmative and transformative strategies in the fight against poverty. Applications Practitioners should be aware that they will never be able to resolve or escape inherent complexities in their attempts to work on a par with people in poverty. Nevertheless, it remains valuable to make continuous efforts to inform the public debate about the socially unjust nature of poverty and social inequality in our societies.

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