Profiles in Social Justice Research—Morton Deutsch

Abstract

Morton Deutsch has been a leading figure in the social psychological study of social justice for more than 50 years. His experimental and field research on such pivotal topics as conformity, intergroup relations, cooperation and competition, trust and suspicion, conflict resolution, and distributive justice has profoundly influenced several generations of social scientists and practitioners. I am delighted to publish in this issue a new article by Morton Deutsch (2006) in which he outlines “A Framework for Thinking about Oppression and Its Change” as well as several new articles written by prominent justice researchers, including former students and colleagues who have been inspired by Deutsch and his work (see also Bunker & Rubin, 1995). The contributors to this special issue were gathered together for a conference on “Interrupting Oppression and Sustaining Justice” that was held at Teachers College, Columbia University on February 27–28, 2004. As Deutsch (1999) notes in an autobiographical essay, he was born (prematurely) on February 4, 1920 as the fourth son in a Jewish middle-class family in New York City (see also Frydenberg, 2005). He enrolled in the City College of New York at age fifteen and received his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1939. His first laboratory experiment made use of Sherif’s paradigm for using the autokinetic effect to investigate social influence. At City College, Deutsch also developed a life-long interest in the themes addressed by members of the Frankfurt School and—inspired by Brown (1936)—the possibility of integrating the work of Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and social psychologists such as George Herbert Mead and Kurt Lewin (see Deutsch, 1999). He also earned a reputation as a social activist, union organizer, and someone who was quick to criticize racial and other injustices in everyday life. After he obtained a master’s degree in clinical psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1940, Deutsch’s academic career was put on hold following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Deutsch joined the air force