Justice Activism Research Articles

Normative versus transformative coaching approaches: Profiling the social justice activism and allyship of Canadian high school sport coaches

In Canada, high school sport is a popular activity used to foster the physical and psychosocial development of student-athletes. Despite the popularity of high school sport, social justice inequities (e.g., racism, ableism) continue to shape student-athletes’ experiences. Given that the mission of School Sport Canada (i.e., the national governing body of school sport) is to facilitate the “total development of student athletes through interscholastic sport”, there is a need to study the way coaches think about and act for social justice. Thus, the purpose of the study was to profile the social justice activism and allyship of Canadian high school coaches. Semi-structured interviews were conducted virtually (i.e., via Zoom) with 28 Canadian high school sport coaches. Interview data were subjected to reflexive thematic analysis, which led to the development of two coach profiles based on the two continua model for life skills teaching (Camiré, 2023). The two coaching profiles – the normative coaching approach (i.e., general disinterest in social justice) and the transformative coaching approach (i.e., proactive social justice activism through a developed critical consciousness) – are contrasted across four overarching themes (a) I’m (Not) Confident, I (Don’t) Understand; (b) (Un)intentionally (Re)acting; (c) You See Excuses, I See Obstacles to be Toppled; and (d) (Dis)engaged and (Non)autonomous Education. Findings have practical implications for centering social justice in coach education, for developing critical praxis related to activism and allyship, and for instigating systemic policy changes that can make the Canadian school sport system safer, more equitable, and more inclusive for all participants.

How to last?

Though often described as the most powerful intrapsychic force by many mystics, love remains the least researched topic in the context of social change and sustainability. This study explored the deeper meaning of love, its value in our journey towards sustainable living, as well as identifying ways of honouring it in our daily lives, which may assist us in the face of climate emergency. This study also sought to contribute to the lack of current practical literature within climate adaptation activities, the majority of which focuses on physical adaptation. The research employed the method of heuristic inquiry, which allowed for direct involvement of the researcher. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants passionate about grounding their climate justice activities in the work of love. The research findings have shown that the path of honouring love had five different, interrelated dimensions: engaging the feminine principle, blurring the self-nature boundary, connecting to awe and wonder, ongoing commitment and being authentic. Some of these dimensions were also linked to our current disconnection from inner human life and outer nature, emphasising the need to embrace psycho-emotional dimensions of motivation in order to achieve lasting change. The findings are discussed alongside suggestions for future research as well as limitations of this study.

The Social Justice Engagement Scale: Development and Validation on Professional and Student Counselors and Counseling Psychologists from the U.S

Objective The Social Justice Engagement Scale (SJES) is a newly developed instrument that assesses a counselor’s prior behavior in social justice activities. Method The first study (N = 249, 80% female, 68% White) examined the internal structure and item response process of the SJES. The second study (N = 219, 79% female, 53% White) examined confirmatory evidence of the factor structure, and discriminatory and convergent validity. The third study (N = 160, 75% female, 47% White) replicated the internal structure and examined evidence of the concurrent validity of the SJES. Results Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses supported a one-factor, 19-item measure. A graded response model supported the scale of measurement. The SJES demonstrated discriminant and divergent validity evidence. The SJES was the only significant independent variable in an experimental test of concurrent validity. Conclusions The SJES offers a promising new scale distinct from prior social justice instruments.

‘Empathy pouring out of your bones’: Emotions and emotional labour in courts – The case of young magistrates in England and Wales

This article explores the experiences of young (under 40 years old) magistrates in England and Wales, a perennially under-represented group in the criminal justice system. Drawing on 23 interviews with currently serving young magistrates, the article examines the use of emotions and emotional labour by this group of criminal justice actors, specifically the ways in which emotion constructively informs judicial decision-making, and how emotional management is used to achieve procedural justice in magistrates’ courts. Data also show that young magistrates, as a minority group in this context, enact emotional labour practices to navigate through their experiences which include instances of soft discrimination and an absence of peer support. The article’s findings make new contributions to the growing corpus of literature on emotion and criminal justice as well as advancing understandings of emotional labour, specifically the intersection of this concept with age, volunteerism and discrimination.

Hydrosocial imaginaries of green extractivism: Water-energy transitions and geothermal lithium development at the Salton Sea in Imperial Valley, California

Lithium is considered an “energy transition mineral” for mitigating climate change because it is a key component of batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage. Even though it is framed as green, lithium mining has significant impacts on communities and ecosystems, especially in relation to water. This research takes a hydrosocial approach to examine the benefits and burdens of a proposed alternative method to avoid the harmful impacts of conventional lithium mining from brine evaporation or open-pit mining, by pairing geothermal energy production with direct lithium extraction (DLE) in the Salton Sea region of California. Government and industry proponents have framed this novel technology as an environmentally superior process, and boosters seek to transform the southeast edge of the Salton Sea in Imperial Valley into "Lithium Valley." We examine the emergence of green extractivism in Imperial Valley through three hydrosocial imaginaries: (1) reclamation; (2) restoration; and (3) recovery. Reclamation offers a lens through which to critically analyze the foundation of the Salton Sea, which is deeply rooted in colonialism, dispossession and industrialization. Restoration encompasses the environmental and public health impacts that a receding sea level and agro-industrial waste streams have on the region. Finally, geothermal lithium development has been framed by tech entrepreneurs, energy firms and resource managers as a process of “recovery” that would deliver community benefits and cleaner energy, while evading negative connotations of mineral “extraction.” Drawing from collaborative research and action for environmental justice, this study contributes to community engagement on the proposed Lithium Valley development.

The Alternative in the Norms of Criminal Law as a Problem of the Formation of Digital Justice

A study was conducted on the digitalization of justice as an actual and promising area, which involves the introduction of information technology in every single aspect of justice activities. In the course of the study, the author comes to the conclusion about a possible variant of the development of digital justice in Russia – a “digital assistant judge”. Investigating this issue, the author identifies a problem that prevents the introduction of the concept of “digital assistant to a judge” – the problem of correlating alternative sanctions of criminal law norms with dispositions providing for alternative compositions of crimes. At the end of the study, the author concludes that in order to implement the concept of a “digital assistant to a judge”, criminal law must comply with the requirements of machine-readable legislation, and suggests specific measures.

Misogyny against climate justice activists

Misogyny against climate justice activists

“Who Cancelled Lee Highway?”: Expressions of White Racial Frames and Counterframes on Nextdoor

In July of 2021, the Arlington County Board, just outside of Washington, DC, voted to change a major thoroughfare – previously known as Lee Highway – to Langston Boulevard. Despite this well-publicized and openly debated name change, the sight of the new road caused an uproar on the neighborhood social media site, Nextdoor. While social media sites have been central to the mobilization efforts of racial justice activists, these same sites are also often fundamental to a growing and more visible community of white supremacists. This study focuses on the ways in which geographic proximity, through the social media site Nextdoor, constructs community-based expressions of racial justice and whiteness. Using the 151 posts and responses that were published on Nextdoor the day after the street name change in a neighborhood in Arlington, VA, this study analyses how a primarily white, upper-class neighborhood publicly communicates its understanding of race and racial justice. This study was grounded in Feagin’s (2020) concept of the white racial frame, an overarching white worldview dominant in the Global North that embraces a broad and persisting set of racial stereotypes and ideologies. Findings suggest community members engaged in equal numbers in white racial frames and counterframes. Within the white racial frames, community members used whiteness as virtuousness and non-whiteness as unvirtuous, while counter-frames primarily relied on unveiling the white racial frames used. These findings indicate the ways in which social media as a form of communication works to reinforce existing spatial hierarchies while also reimagining community participation.

The ‘P-word’ in Indian juvenile justice: Toward a deeper understanding of legal rhetoric and practice

Although the Indian juvenile justice statute is rhetorically silent about punishment, nonetheless recognisably punitive ideas and practices remain ubiquitous. Standard interpretations do not go beyond legal analyses of the mismatch between discourse and practice. However, interviews with policymakers and practitioners arrayed throughout the juvenile justice field in India reveal the need for a nuanced and deeper understanding of legal rhetoric and practice. A more rigorous, qualitative analysis of penal practices foregrounds the interplay between a set of enabling factors that include, but are not limited to, social constructions of childhood deviance, and attitudes and interests of key juvenile justice actors. It also accounts for why Indian juvenile justice actors euphemise punishment as if it were an unspeakable ‘p-word’, while reinscribing punishment as a normal and normative objective to pursue.

Factors Contributing to Social Justice Action: A Scoping Review of the Published Literature

Factors Contributing to Social Justice Action: A Scoping Review of the Published Literature

‘I can literally change the world’: Longitudinal research on the impacts of the Champions of Caring Ambassadors Leadership Program

Few studies assess the long-term impacts of programs for teenagers designed to foster leadership and public service. Here we contact former participants in one such program, the Champions of Caring Ambassadors Leadership Program, to see how they may have been influenced in adulthood. We find that participants remember specific aspects of the program vividly, and they apply the lessons they learned as Ambassadors in their adult lives. Specifically, they have used the program as a launch pad into other leadership and service roles. They employ the practical and organization skills from the program, and they recall the sense of belonging and the value of meaningful interactions across race, social class, religion, and other social background characteristics. Finally, many saw the lessons learned during their time as Ambassadors a legacy they have incorporated into their adult lives. Many continue two decades later to be engaged in social justice activism.

Community-school-university partnerships: possibilities for activism and racial justice

Critical school-community-university partnerships are central to activism for racial justice. Drawing on the scholarship of anti-racist activist leadership and community-school-university partnerships, this critical co-constructed auto-ethnographic comparative case study explores two such cases in Toronto, Ontario, Canada: the York University Faculty of Education Summer Institute (FESI) and the Nubian Book Club (NBC). As insiders-outsiders, the authors analyze various forms of data, such as informal observations, structured conversations between them, and program documents to understand the knowledges and possibilities that emerge in critical community-school-university partnerships and how leadership in these partnerships influence education for racial justice. Both cases resist, refuse, and subvert hegemonic educational discourses, legitimize fugitive and other marginalized knowledges, and imagine future possibilities for racial justice in schooling. This study concludes with recommendations for school districts, universities, and communities to engage in an activism-learning-action trifecta towards racial justice in education.

Economic burden of suicide in Sweden in 2022

Abstract Background Suicide and suicidal behaviors bring massive human, social and economic impacts. Estimates of the cost of suicide can give some guidance as to where research on developing new interventions might be focused to give the greatest potential gain. The aim of the study is to quantify the economic cost of suicide in Sweden in 2022. Methods Incidence of suicide attempts and mortality due to suicide, intentional and undetermined (ICD10 X60-X84 and Y10-Y34) were sourced from the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare databases for 2022. Cost were estimated from a societal perspective, including costs for inpatient and outpatient care, medication, police and justice activities as well as productivity losses due to early mortality. Results In 2022, a total of 1,569 suicide death were registered in Sweden (1,102 men and 467 women). The incidence rate remains stable during the last ten years, 17 death per 100 000. In total, 18,854 patients (10, 359 women and 8,459 men) were treated in inpatient and outpatient hospital care with suicide-related diagnoses, generated 32,843 days in inpatient care and 11,471 outpatient care visits. Direct costs for suicide death including forensic examination, emergency services, police investigation and property damage were estimated as €6,02 million, while indirect costs for productivity losses totaled €690 million. Direct healthcare costs for suicide related treatment were estimated at €54.3 million. Overall, suicide and suicide attempts cost around €750 million per year to society. Conclusions Estimates of the economic burden of suicide are needed for the Swedish setting, and these amounted to €60.3 million in direct costs and €690 million in indirect costs in 2022. The cost might be underestimated because the societal cost of suicide bereaved persons was not considered. These cost estimates can provide useful inputs to a cost-effectiveness analysis of a specific preventive intervention, and to its subsequent evaluation. Key messages • Economic burden of suicide is substantial for society. • Public health policies aimed at the prevention of suicide should be increased.

“It Can't Just Be the Younger People”: Exploring Young Activists' Perspectives on Intergenerational Tensions and Solidarities for Climate Justice

ABSTRACTYouth activism for climate justice is inherently intergenerational. Fundamentally, young activists demand urgent action by today's adult power‐holders for the security and well‐being of their own and future generations. Despite intergenerationality being core to the movement, few studies with young activists have explored their views and experiences of intergenerational relations and tensions and how to advance intergenerational solidarities for climate justice. Addressing these critical topics, the present study used in‐depth interviews with young activists (ages 15–17) in the climate justice movement across the US. Themes generated through reflexive thematic analysis centre on: (1) youths' adoption of “next generation” and “last generation” identities, respectively emphasising the heightened climate risks faced by their own and future generations, and the closing window of opportunity to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown; (2) their experiences of hostile and benevolent adultism; and (3) the need for adults to listen to, take seriously, centre, amplify, and—most importantly—respond to youths' demands. They urge adults, particularly those in powerful positions, to use their age‐based privilege, political enfranchisement, material resources, professional status, and decision‐making authority to uplift young people's voices and tangibly advance climate justice through solidarity‐driven intergenerational partnerships and action. Implications for youth‐centred research and policy are discussed.

Advancing the grand challenge to eliminate racism: a call to action for citational justice in social work

ABSTRACT The challenge to eliminate racism is not new to social work but achieving its eradication has proven difficult as systemic and structural racism are deeply embedded in systems, laws, policies, and practices that impact both society and the profession. Of great concern is that existing research has reinforced lack of diversity in content and representation in social work. Previous research asserts that Black and Latine individuals were not only less likely to be cited, but more likely to publish on less-cited topics such as racial discrimination, gender-based violence and immigrants. Importantly, The Black Lives Matter, Black in the Ivory and Cite Black Women Movements sparked efforts among numerous academic disciplines and institutions to chart both researcher diversity and recognize how structural racism in science and publishing impacts both Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) researchers and the academic disciplines in which they publish. As cited authors are considered thought leaders in their areas of expertise, it is important for the profession to address how structural racism has led to citational disparities for many scholars who are BIPOC. Citational Justice seeks to critically examine the ethics and politics of knowledge production in academia. Using the Grand Challenge to Eliminate Racism as a guiding framework, these authors present several action strategies that social work organizations can utilize across micro, mezzo and macro levels to achieve citational justice.

Activism as education in and through the youth climate justice movement

AbstractYoung people worldwide are increasingly participating in a global movement for climate justice, yet to date, little research has examined how youth climate justice activists conceive of and experience activism as education. The present study used in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews with 16 US climate justice activists (aged 15–17) to address the research question: How do youth climate justice activists explain and experience the educative power of their activism? The results of reflective thematic analysis bring to light youths' dual roles as ‘learners of the movement’ and ‘climate justice educators’. As learners, youth described gaining awareness of climate justice directly from the movement, as well as learning a variety of skills (e.g., organising, communication, conflict resolution) through their activist engagement. Simultaneously, youth described their role as educators through a range of activities intended to raise awareness among adult and youth audiences, including educational workshops and trainings, school visits, teach‐ins, curriculum development, talk shows and interviews, creating digital resources, social media outreach and public protest (e.g., strikes, marches and demonstrations). Beyond spreading knowledge of climate in/justice, youth activists were also educators of action and social change processes—noting that learning about governmental institutions and political processes enabled them to exercise their democratic citizenship and equip and embolden other young people to do the same (e.g., via political advocacy trainings). The findings of the present study have implications for creating climate justice curricula that not only attend to the scientific and technological dimensions of the climate crisis, but also enable learners' justice‐driven action and democratic participation.

"I Took My Babies and Put Them Where They’d Be Safe": African American Women and the Continuum of Reproductive Justice Activism

"I Took My Babies and Put Them Where They’d Be Safe": African American Women and the Continuum of Reproductive Justice Activism

Catalysts for Change: Exploring Collective Action for Social Justice through Nonfiction Picture Books in Early Childhood Education

Catalysts for Change: Exploring Collective Action for Social Justice through Nonfiction Picture Books in Early Childhood Education

Following the yellowcake road: exploring the colonial roots and routes of Australian radioactive minerals, 1900s–1950s

ABSTRACT Over the past 40 years, environmental justice activists and scholars have drawn greater attention to the disproportionate environmental burdens borne by marginalised communities. This includes the consequences of ‘nuclear colonialism’, a phenomenon defined as constituting ‘a system of domination through which governments and corporations target indigenous peoples and their lands to maintain the nuclear production process’. In this article, I seek to complicate this definition of nuclear colonialism by exploring the role of uranium mining in consolidating both British and Australian settler colonial power during the first half of the twentieth century. I will do so through an examination of Australian uranium’s roots and routes as both a manifestation and facilitator of settler colonialism in Australia between 1900 and 1955. Combining sources from both British and Australian archives, this article seeks to contribute to emergent scholarship on the colonial dimensions of mineral extraction in two ways. Firstly, by explicating the role uranium played in fuelling the extractive mentalities of settler colonial Australia. And secondly, by exploring uranium extraction’s contribution to the consolidation of the British Empire’s waning power in the mid-twentieth century.

Implementing open educational resources: Lessons learned

BackgroundOpen educational resources (OER) are associated with several positive outcomes for undergraduate and graduate students, both financially and academically. Financial benefits include a reduction in student debt and costs of attending college. Academic benefits include improved academic success, especially for students from populations historically underserved by higher education. PurposeThis article reviews strategies and lessons learned from an academic multi-campus school of nursing (SON) initiative on implementing OER. ApproachA team representing undergraduate and graduate nursing faculty, the library, and the Teaching and Learning Center set forth to improve faculty awareness of and interest in adopting OER and develop resource sites for disseminating information about OER. The team collaborated with partners within the university and with external academic partners to achieve our goals. OutcomesPresentations to SON faculty on OER identified faculty interested in adopting these resources. Two Masters of Nursing Education (MNE) students identified and shared resources; completed a student textbook survey; and, reported results and recommendations to SON faculty. A university resource site was created on OER. Further collaboration with university librarians to identify and implement OER for specific courses is ongoing. ConclusionsStudents identified cost as one barrier for pursuing higher education. Efforts to reduce cost through utilizing OER may eliminate this barrier, thus enhancing student enrollment and persistence in higher education. Adopting OER is a social justice action that has the potential to address educational inequities by allowing students to attend to their basic human needs such as housing and food.