Social Medicine for Social Justice: Perspectives on Violence Prevention

Contents: Albee, Foreword. Preface. Part I: Steps Toward a Social Justice Therapeutic Practice. Aldarondo, Rekindling the Reformist Spirit in the Mental Health Professions. Prilleltensky, Dokecki, Frieden, Wang, Counseling for Wellness and Justice: Foundations and Ethical Dilemmas. Gerber, Lessons Learned in the Integration of Social Justice Concerns Into Clinical Practice. Part II: Liberating Visions of Clinical Practice. Roy, Radical Psychiatry: An Approach to Personal and Political Change. Comas-Diaz, Ethnopolitical Psychology: Healing and Transformation. Green, Gay and Lesbian Couples in Therapy: A Social Justice Perspective. Packman, Risk Reduction and the Politics of Social Justice in Mental Health Care. Almeida, DelVecchio, Parker, Social Justice Based Therapy: Critical Consciousness, Accountability, and Empowerment. Kamya, Narrative Therapy, Culture, and Social Justice. Part III: Community Building for Wellness and Justice. Doherty, Carroll, Family-Centered Community Building: The Families and Democracy Project. Rojano, The Practice of Community Family Therapy. Goodman, Bohlig, Weintraub, Green, Walker, Applying Feminist Theory to Community Practice: A Multi-Level Empowerment Intervention for Low-Income Women With Depression. Perilla, Lavizzo, Ibanez, Towards a Community Psychology of Liberation. Kenny, Sparks, Jackson, Striving for Social Justice Through Interprofessional University-School Collaboration. Blustein, Perry, Kenna, DeWine, The Psychology of Working and the Advancement of Social Justice. Ackerson, Korr, Mental Health Policy and Social Justice. Part IV: Teaching and Training for Social Action. Vera, Speight, Prevention, Outreach, and Advocacy Strategies: Integrating Social Action Roles in Professional Training. McWhirter, McWhirter, Towards an Emancipatory-Communitarian Approach to Psychology Training. McWhirter, McWhirter, Grounding Clinical Training and Supervision in an Empowerment Model. Arredondo, Rosen, Applying Principles of Multicultural Competencies, Social Justice, and Leadership in Training and Supervision. Reeser, Educating for Social Change in the Human Service Professions.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore the status of social justice in primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal Province reflecting on the ideal versus the reality on the ground.Methodology: The research adopted a qualitative research approach to collect and analyse the findings. The data were collected through interviews and document review. A sample of 27 purposively selected information rich participants was studied from Tier 1 primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal Province. Findings: The study reveals that in primary schools in the province, improvements in school enrolment exist which is a sign of accessible education. However, institutional and systemic barriers to social justice in primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal Province remain prominent and, making realisation of social justice elusive. Efforts to reduce inequality, promote accessible, quality, and relevant education, and ensure equitable distribution of educational resources are still weak. Inadequate curriculum, low funding, weak physical infrastructure and teaching and learning facilities, unaffordable fees in private schools, low-capacity teachers both in quality and quantity, low completion rates and learning outcomes, and quality variations in the type of education persist. Therefore, promotion of social justice in primary schools in KwaZulu-Natal Province remains an unrealised dream. Government of South Africa and the education sector stakeholders are enjoined to allocate adequate funding through educational resources redistribution to favour primary schools that serve the most vulnerable communities to enhance social justice. Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy, and Practice: The study locates the debate in a loosely knit set of perspectives some of which are philosophical and conceptual and others are theoretical, practical, and political in an attempt to explain social justice in primary education. The study also proposes a conceptual model of social justice in primary education. It further attempts to point out the institutional and systemic barriers to social justice in KwaZulu-Natal Province in order to promote greater awareness for inclusive and equitable communities, to foster stakeholder engagements, enhance learning outcomes, refocus policy development and advocacy in the country, and ultimately, contribute to building and sustaining an equitable and socially cohesive South African society in its diversity.

Direct practice in social work constitutes one-on-one contact with people at the micro level and is usually identified as working with people directly at the individual, group, or family level. Rather than specifying a particular theory, direct practice is seen as an eclectic process structured by the problem-solving process with the guiding underlying principles of sensitivity to social diversity and promotion of social and economic justice. At the micro level, this most often involves bringing services to and improving the quality of life of people who are vulnerable and oppressed. However, direct practitioners must also be able to assess different systems levels beyond the individual and determine the appropriate intervention and its appropriate level (micro, meso, and macro), and to know when and how to implement various theories. This complex undertaking is not taught in a systematic way but rather is guided by the development of personal awareness, knowledge of social work values and ethics, sensitivity to social diversity, and promotion of social justice.

Social work education is designed and devoted to the dissemination, cultivation, and promotion of social justice. Based on the social empathy model that promotes social justice and utilizing primary survey data collected online from a sample of 199 social work educators in the U.S. this study explored the associations between social empathy and attitudes toward social justice (ATSJ) and intentions to engage in social justice (IESJ). The dependent variables ATSJ and IESJ were based on two subscales from the Social Justice Scale, and the independent variable social empathy was based on the Interpersonal and Social Empathy Index. Findings suggest that social work educators with higher level of social empathy have more positive attitudes toward social justice and higher level of intentions to engage in social justice. The study concludes that social empathy is significantly associated with attitudes toward social justice and intentions to engage in social justice and supports the social empathy model that promotes social justice. This study sheds light upon future research on the construct of social justice and calls for more initiatives promoting social justice in social work education, such as curricula reforms and faculty development programs based on the social empathy framework.

Previous articleNext article No AccessGlobal Civil Society and the Local Costs of Belonging: Defining Violence against Women in RussiaJulie HemmentJulie HemmentDepartment of AnthropologyUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst Search for more articles by this author Department of AnthropologyUniversity of Massachusetts, AmherstPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Signs Volume 29, Number 3Spring 2004 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/381104 Views: 418Total views on this site Citations: 35Citations are reported from Crossref © 2004 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Kristians Zalāns, Kārlis Lakševics, Ilze Mileiko Geographical Imagination and Experiences of Violence and Violence Prevention in Post-Soviet Space, Gender, Place & Culture 50 (Jun 2022): 1–22.https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2022.2083588Gesine Fuchs, Eva Maria Hinterhuber Öffentlich und privat in Osteuropa, (Jul 2022): 425–457.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-35401-5_15Bettina Engels All good things come from below? Scalar constructions of the ‘local’ in conflicts over mining, Political Geography 84 (Jan 2021): 102295.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102295Maria Davidenko An Epistemic Community in Abeyance: The Work of Russian Anti-Violence Organisations in a Restrictive Legal Climate, Europe-Asia Studies 72, no.88 (Oct 2020): 1329–1351.https://doi.org/10.1080/09668136.2020.1817861Bettina Engels, Melanie Müller Northern theories, Southern movements? 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<p>There is a vital connection between legal education, public interest and social justice because lawyers use their education for the benefit of the society. They render their services to those who are unable to afford legal services and in addition, challenge injustice under the justice system. Law students are trained by utilizing the techniques of clinical legal education and they are imbued with a social and professional responsibility to pursue social justice in society.</p><p>Much of the literature which propounds clinical methodologies in legal education implicitly understands that exposure to a social justice mission within a guided practice setting provides students not only with a key linkage between their legal education and their practice competence, but also with the intellectual foundation for a long-term engagement with the advancement of social justice.</p><p>The proponents of a social justice dimension and clinical legal education often refer to the “dual goals of hands-on-training in lawyering skills and provision of access to justice for traditionally unrepresented clients”.</p><p>This paper seeks to explore the relationship between clinical legal education and social justice using the Women’s Law Clinic in the University of Ibadan, Nigeria as an illustration.</p><p> </p>

In this introduction to the special issue, we propose a framework for researching the interplay between digital technologies and social justice, which offers a unique and fruitful opportunity for information systems (IS) researchers to make contributions to theory and practice, with meaningful policy impacts. The framework draws upon prior definitions and typologies of social justice, previous IS research on social justice, and the studies included in this special issue. The framework positions digital technologies as playing key roles in revealing, orchestrating, enabling, and inhibiting social justice. We also propose theoretical arguments on how social justice phenomena can reshape the design of digital technologies and the manner in which they are used. We draw attention to the tensions that arise from the interplay between digital technologies and social justice and how digital technologies can be designed towards advancing social justice, urging future research to address these fundamental issues. Lastly, we chronicle how this special issue was developed and organized and what efforts we made towards a diversity of perspectives and the inclusion of a variety of voices in the special issue.

This brief article serves as an introduction to the special issue of The Counseling Psychologist devoted to non-traditional teaching methods that promote social justice. We introduce the historical importance of social justice in the field of counseling psychology and discuss current events that maintain the need for further work in this area. We introduce the need for a focus on pedagogy that promotes social justice. We briefly summarize the manuscripts in the two special issue volumes and discuss the broad categories into which they fall. Finally, we call for further scholarship and action related to innovative teaching that promotes social justice.

This research paper explores the intersection of cultural violence in peace studies and social practices in India, aiming to provide a comparative analysis of these concepts. Drawing on Johan Galtung's framework, cultural violence is examined as comprising values, beliefs, symbols, language, and traditions that perpetuate or justify violence. In the context of India, various social practices, including caste discrimination, gender inequality, religious intolerance, and communal violence, serve as manifestations of cultural violence. Through a theoretical framework grounded in peace studies, this paper analyses the role of cultural violence in hindering peacebuilding efforts and perpetuating conflict. Additionally, it investigates the cultural, historical, and structural factors contributing to the perpetuation of harmful social practices in India. By comparing and contrasting cultural violence with Indian social practices, this paper highlights the interconnectedness between the two and explores strategies for addressing these issues in peacebuilding and social change initiatives. Through case studies and examples, the paper illustrates how cultural violence operates within specific social contexts in India and identifies successful interventions aimed at transforming these practices. Ultimately, this research contributes to a deeper understanding of the complexities of cultural violence and social practices in India and offers insights for promoting peace and social justice in the region.

Purpose – Several ideas exist about social justice and how inequalities can be tackled to help families and children in poverty. The Coalition government released the UK’s first Child Poverty Strategy in 2011. Pervaded by neoliberal ideology, the strategy mentions “empowering” pre-school services and practitioners within the childcare market “to do more for the most disadvantaged” (Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Department for Education (DfE) 2011, p. 35). The purpose of this paper is to bring to light how Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practitioners across England have engaged with policy discussions and adopted expectations concerning their place in addressing child poverty. Design/methodology/approach – Using a phenomenological qualitative research design the paper draws upon 30 interviews with pre-school practitioners in three geographic areas of England. All interviewees worked with families and children in poverty and were senior ECEC practitioners within their pre-school settings. Findings – Many interviewees shared the Coalition’s construction of child poverty as a problem of “troubled” parenting. These views pervaded their interaction with parents and intersected with the regulatory influence of “policy technologies” to influence their practice within a context of austerity cuts. This limited practitioners’ poverty sensitivity and their promotion of social justice. Therefore this paper concludes by critiquing the contribution which ECEC practitioners can make to addressing child poverty. Practical implications – The findings suggest there may be a need for poverty proofing toolkits in the pre-school sector. Originality/value – This paper provides a rare insight into how pre-school practitioners have engaged with, adopted and adapted assumptions about their role within policy discussion over child poverty and the promotion of social justice.

In 1983 the New York artist Barbara Kruger released a photomontage showing the face of a female model, resting on a grassy background, with her eyes closed and covered by two leaves. Kruger completed the piece by adding the statement, “We won’t play nature to your culture.” In many ways, this image marked a turning point in America’s popular and intellectual response to the issue of the environment. Twenty-one years earlier, in 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring had launched a new era in the environmentalist movement, prompting many Americans to begin associating their own physical health with that of the environment. But whereas the publication of Silent Spring and the establishment of Earth Day in 1970 contributed to a far-reaching shift in the ways both scholars and laypersons thought about the practical implications of humanity’s physical engagement with nature, Kruger’s statement represented yet another approach to considering this relationship.

The panel presents a research project funded by an internal grant at the University of South Carolina (USC) investigating equity of access to information by Blind, Visually Impaired, and Print-Disabled (BVIPD) students. BVIPD students often experience inequitable access to information, including but not limited to a time gap in receiving course content that is otherwise more readily available to non-BVIPD students (Scott and Aquino, 2020). This is a social justice and human rights issue. The researchers will explore ways in which university Disability Service Offices (DSOs) can work with university libraries to maximize access to accessible content to BVIPD students. The BVIPD population is historically underserved by libraries (Bonnici et al., 2015; Epp, 2006; Copeland, 2011; Copeland, 2012; Copeland, 2023; Kawooya, 2023). Most published literature is not available to the BVIPD students, with only 5% of published works available in formats accessible to BVIPD learners (National Federation for the Blind, 2019). The study is designed to develop a Campus Accessibility Partnership model between DSOs and academic libraries. The overarching research question is: How might DSOs and academic libraries better coordinate to effectively and efficiently serve BVIPD students? The presenters will share outcomes of phase one of the study, including a detailed review of literature, research design and preliminary results. Because it is essential to understand the perspectives and potential contributions of all stakeholders in developing a framework for improving equity of access and accessibility for BVIPD students, the researchers are also seeking faculty perspectives. Faculty includes all who teach semester-long courses, regardless of tenure or rank. The researchers will introduce the literature review, the methodological approach, and preliminary results. The session will continue with an interactive discussion with conference attendees, who will be invited to reflect on key concepts and the following questions: What, if any, problems have students at your institution(s) experienced with receiving course content in accessible formats? In working with DSOs to ensure BVIPD students receive materials in accessible formats in a timely manner, what, if any, barriers do you experience? What role(s) do you play to facilitate greater equity of access for BVIPD students? What is your knowledge and awareness of your students' experiences with your campus DSO? What formats of accessible course content does your campus provide as accommodations to BVIPD students? If DSOs coordinated with academic libraries to adopt practices for saving accessible format materials for future use, what impact do you think this would have? The theoretical framework is Jaeger and Burnett’s (2010) multi-level information worlds theory. In this framework, information worlds have structural and behavioral implications, in that social constructs (such as the value ascribed to disability and accessibility) and societal structures/infrastructures (such as law) directly and reciprocally inform one another. Information worlds “provides a framework by which to simultaneously examine information behavior at both the immediate and the broader social levels'' (Jaeger and Burnett, 2010, p. 1). The study will analyze five interconnected concepts of information worlds theory: social norms; social types; information value; information behavior; and boundaries. The study employs a mixed method design using both qualitative methods (interviews with DSO staff, academic librarians, and BVIPD students) and a quantitative method (survey-questionnaire with instructors). Prior to the design and execution of the questionnaires, the research team will do extensive literature review and preliminary analysis of the relevant trends using the University of South Carolina’s Social Media Insight Lab. Any news insights gleaned from both sources may lead to changes to the instructor questionnaire. The presenters will share the research design and preliminary results from the literature review and Social Media Insight Lab data. Conference participants will work in groups to reflect upon the questions above. Understanding the lived experiences of faculty working with BVIPD populations will help begin to bridge the gap experienced by these marginalized students by identifying strengths and failures of current policies and procedures between DSOs, academic libraries and librarians, and faculty. Discussions among library and information science (LIS) faculty will contribute significantly to developing a partnership model that serves the needs of all stakeholders in ensuring equity of access and accessibility for BVIPD students. They will also steer future efforts to reduce the inequalities experienced by BVIPD students. Faculty interact with students of all abilities on a more regular basis. Accordingly, faculty can offer their insights from working with BVIPD students, DSO staff, and academic librarians. The primary goal of the panel is to raise awareness for accessibility issues faced by BVIPD students and facilitate a dialogue amongst educators. Ultimately, bridging gaps in understanding the needs of BVIPD students and the roles faculty, DSOs, and academic librarians can and should play in fulfilling these needs can impact equitable access to education. Equitable access to education impacts BVIPD students’ likelihood of academic success, subsequent employment, income earning potential, and ability to enjoy a full life experience.

Democracy, Education, and Multiculturalism: Dilemmas of Citizenship in a Global World

The paper builds on and contributes to literature in citizenship education studies in higher education. Many studies in this field have explored the history, development and implementation of various forms of citizenship formation as an advancement of social justice. However, little has been written on how the formation of critical democratic citizens 2 links with the notion of sustainable learning environments and how it relates to social justice. Studies by McKinney (2007); Waghid (2007; 2009), Lange (2012); and Leibowitz, Swartz, Bozalek, Carolissen, Nicholls &Rohleder(2012) are among those on citizen formation in the South African higher education context. Thisconceptual paper argues that the formation of critical democratic citizens through higher education relates not only to social justice, but also to the advancement of sustainable learning environments (SLEs) beyond physical spaces. The paper explores the normative value of a democratic education theory, Marion Young’s (1990) theory of justice and the politics of difference, and human development principles in advancing citizenship education. These foster both sustainable learning environments and social justice. A democratic education theory lays the foundation for an inclusive and deliberative form of education, while a theory of justice and politics of difference advances better justice and an environment that is non-oppressive. Human development principles set the tone for a sustainable human development, which becomes a framework through which asustainable learning environment is built in pursuit of social justice. Drawing on a Capabilities Approach framework and the philosophy of Ubuntu, with emphasis on substantive freedoms, opportunities, and the thriving of the common good, the paper illustrates how citizenship education advances a conception of sustainable learning environments and social justices not necessarily limited to physical spaces, distributive justice or economic motives, but inclusive of institutional arrangements, policy issues and relational justice.

Knowledge creation through art has the potential to serve as an emancipatory approach in health research, education, and practice by promoting connection and dialogue; challenging dominant paradigms of knowledge; and legitimizing, empowering, and promoting traditionally marginalized voices. Poetry, as one art form, may be an effective method for promoting reflexivity, critical thinking, empathy, and a heightened understanding of social justice issues among students and professionals. This research explored poetry as a means of advancing health equity and social justice through the feedback shared by a group of participants who attended a poetry workshop titled, “Taking Social Justice to a Different Stage: How Poetry Promotes Emancipatory Health Narratives”. The data consists of quantitative and qualitative responses from pre- and post- workshop surveys. The quantitative results indicate that after the workshop, participants were less likely to believe that poetry should only be used to entertain, and were more likely to believe that poetry is a powerful method for promoting health equity. The qualitative analysis reveals multiple themes in participant responses from the post-workshop survey: 1) empowerment; 2) connection and perspective sharing; and 3) social justice promotion through arts-based methods. These results indicate that poetry may promote different forms of knowing, foster emotional connection and perspective sharing, and create more awareness about health inequities and social justice issues. Hence, poetry may be a valuable addition to health care research and education, and the promotion of social justice.