Occupational justice and human scale development: A theoretical integration approach

Abstract

ABSTRACTOccupational justice and injustice are concepts introduced by occupational science to explain occupational participation issues that go beyond the individual and the unidirectional perspective of the environmental adaptation approach. Theoretical development, however, has been restricted by a dearth of scholarly discussions and by a theoretical position ascribed to neo-positivist epistemology. This article aims at contributing to the development of occupational justice and injustice concepts by informing and broadening their understanding, mainly based on the theoretical stances of Sousa Santos and Max-Neef, who, by questioning the way in which knowledge is built, suggest different options to understand social phenomena. Topics such as epistemic dependence, monoculturalism, counterhegemonic economy, human scale development and fundamental human needs are a contribution to problematizing the interpretation of life situations faced by people and communities, stemming from a critique of neo-positivist epistemology. Taking advantage of theories from other fields of knowledge—such as sociology and economics within a critical epistemology— to further the development of occupational science can help expand the assumptions beneath occupational scientists’ understanding of reality, promoting the development of people and communities with more certainty and broadening the horizons of research and practice.