Sustainability and cultural understanding: Peace psychology as public interest science.

Abstract

In today's world, effective social development programs must involve all peoples in conceiving and cultivating sustainable societies. Comparative information on all types of social development programs, their effects, and the cultural values and assumptions underlying them is needed. It is becoming one of the main responsibilities of peace psychologists to evaluate current approaches to social development and, if we find that they are not contributing to the promotion of global community and sustainability, to foster the creation of new approaches. To fulfill this responsibility, we must become more aware of the ideologies, norms, and values we take for granted in our lives and work. We have been hobbled in the past by our faith in value neutrality, reactive position taking, and immediate problem solving. By adopting the constructivist principles of public interest science, peace psychologists can contribute to a revolution in humanity's approach to its own survival.