Matter Of Social Justice Research Articles

The role of U.S. government policy in advancing digital access and equity

The primary objective of this paper is to examine how government policies can promote digital inclusion and equity across the United States of America. It emphasizes the need for strategic interventions to bridge the digital divide, ensuring that all segments of society can benefit from technological advancements. The paper underscores the role of government in providing infrastructure, education, and regulatory frameworks that support digital access and literacy. Central to the paper is the exploration of various policy measures and their impact on digital inclusion. It analyzes successful initiatives such as national broadband strategies, digital literacy programs, and subsidies for low-income households. The paper discusses how these policies can be tailored to address the specific needs of marginalized communities, including rural populations, the elderly, and people with disabilities. The concept paper delves into theoretical models of digital inclusion, such as the Digital Divide Theory and the Capability Approach. It reviews these models to understand the multifaceted nature of digital exclusion and the socio-economic factors contributing to it. The paper also highlights the importance of a holistic approach that combines infrastructure development with digital skills training and public awareness campaigns. Addressing the practical challenges of promoting digital inclusion, the paper identifies issues such as budget constraints, rapid technological changes, and resistance to digital adoption. It proposes solutions including public-private partnerships, continuous policy evaluation, and targeted interventions for high-need areas. The paper emphasizes the need for collaboration between government, industry, and civil society to create a sustainable and inclusive digital environment. The anticipated outcomes of effective government policies include increased digital literacy, broader access to online services, and enhanced socio-economic opportunities for all citizens. These outcomes are expected to lead to greater social cohesion, economic growth, and improved quality of life. The paper argues that promoting digital inclusion is not only a matter of social justice but also a strategic imperative for national development. The paper provides a comprehensive framework for understanding and addressing digital exclusion through government intervention. By implementing inclusive policies and fostering collaboration across sectors, The United States of America government can ensure that all its citizens are empowered to participate in the digital economy. The paper calls for ongoing research and practical efforts to refine and enhance digital inclusion strategies, ensuring they remain responsive to the evolving technological landscape and societal needs. Keywords: Digital Access, Equity, Inclusion, USA.

Planting the Seeds of Progress: Economic Upsides of Empowering Women in Agriculture- A Review

This paper explores the economic benefits of empowering women in agriculture, highlighting how gender equity in the sector can drive sustainable development, reduce poverty, and enhance food security. Women constitute a significant portion of the global agricultural workforce, yet they face systemic barriers such as limited access to land, resources, education, and decision-making opportunities. The study examines the multifaceted role of women in agriculture, the economic advantages of their empowerment, and presents case studies of successful interventions from around the world. It also delves into the persistent challenges hindering women's full participation in agriculture and offers policy recommendations and strategies to overcome these barriers. Through a comprehensive analysis, this paper underscores that empowering women in agriculture is not only a matter of social justice but also a crucial strategy for boosting productivity, fostering economic growth, and ensuring food security for future generations.

Two kinds of social cooperation?

Abstract Michael Otsuka argues that collective pension schemes are forms of social cooperation on equal terms for mutual advantage and thus, matters of social justice. In this way Otsuka wants to understand collectively funded pensions in Rawlsian terms. I argue that not all forms of social cooperation are the same and that the specific kind of social cooperation Rawls has in mind is, in at least three central respects, different from the kind of social cooperation involved in the collective pension schemes Otsuka describes.

Datafied ageing futures: Regimes of anticipation and participatory futuring

With this paper we join others in their call to resist and challenge regimes of anticipations that suggest our futures are inevitably linked to certain imaginaries about data-driven systems. The future is not simply happening but is made now – through regimes of anticipation that shape our expectations, imaginaries, visions and hypes, and define what is thinkable and desirable. Who or what is able to claim the future is an exercise of power and a matter of social justice. However, current anticipations circulating about datafied futures are often determined by powerful social actors such as states or technology companies. In this paper, we explore how we might open up futures-making to different people in relation to futures of ageing. Central is the question of whether and how we can actually think (and imagine) outside of powerful anticipation regimes around the increasing spread and relevance of data-driven systems and/or ageist assumptions about how to ‘fix’ the problem of demographic ageing. We draw on data from a series of design fiction workshops with older adults, civil society organisations and civil servants in Germany, Austria and the UK. Our analysis explores how participatory futuring might allow participants to question their own assumptions and anticipations about the futures of data-driven technologies in ageing societies but that, due to ‘discursive closure’, this may not lead to radically different futures imaginaries.

A Review of the Edited Collection, Narrative Research Now: Critical Perspectives on the Promise of Stories

Narrative Research Now: Critical Perspectives on the Promise of Stories, edited by Ashley Barnwell and Signe Ravn (2024), is a compelling and engagingly written collection of research projects, or stories, that showcase use of narrative in research. This review, written through the lens of a narrative therapy and community work practitioner-researcher, asks what resonances and points of interest the collection may hold for the narrative therapy and practice research field. Congruent themes highlighted include nuanced ethical caretaking, concern for matters of social justice, bringing forth subordinated knowledge, centering lived experience, paying attention to the politics of representation, and researcher transparency when grappling with complex decision-making. Traversing diverse social, ethical, and creative terrains, while carrying people at its heart, this wonderfully crafted collection is an exciting offering. This review proposes that in its interlacing of storytelling, academic endeavor, and context-relevant ethics to produce meaningful, transformative research innovations, Narrative Research Now has much to offer narrative therapy and community work practitioner-researchers by way of inspiration, companionship, consultation, and possibility.

“The unbearable lightness of being” a post-industrial learner: Contemporary capitalism, education and critique

In his 1984 allegorical novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera explores existential questions around freedom and identity, meaning and purpose, in a period of upheaval in Soviet dominated Czechoslovakia. In this paper we draw on the rich symbolism in Kundera’s novel to bring into view upheavals in the social relations underpinning contemporary societies, and the tensions between freedom and commitment, lightness and weight that seem to characterise the nature of work in post-industrial societies. Our paper addresses three tasks. Theoretically, we take up the invitation offered by this Special Issue to re-engage with critical theory, and in our case, the Frankfurt School tradition, to develop a more situated critique of education and work in contemporary capitalism and society. Substantively, we use this more reflexive and situated approach to critical theory to examine the tensions in the OECD’s current education futures policy work, and specifically their turn to a set of humanistic concepts. Normatively, we critique the OECD’s futures policies, and propose a set of propositions that might guide education into the future, as a matter of social justice.

Ivory tower in MD/PhD programmes: sticky floor, broken ladder and glass ceiling

ObjectiveAchieving gender equity in academic medicine is not only a matter of social justice but also necessary in promoting an innovative and productive academic community. The purpose of this study...

Being the supervisor: A duo-ethnographic exploration of social justice in postgraduate health professions education.

There is growing global awareness of the importance of matters of equity and social justice. In health professions education (HPE), research has focused at undergraduate level and on health sciences curricula. Increasingly, health care professionals engage in HPE Master's and doctoral studies, where they are educated as curriculum designers and 'producers' of knowledge through their research. Considering their role in shaping what (and how it) is taught in health sciences curricula, questions can be asked about the extent to which postgraduate pedagogies are mindful of matters of social justice. As supervisors of postgraduate HPE students and as directors of such programmes, we interrogated and juxtaposed our perspectives on social justice and how these perspectives influence our postgraduate HPE supervisory and directing practices in our respective contexts. Utilising a duo-ethnographic approach, in which we each represented a site of enquiry, we generated data through written reflections and dialogic engagement framed around research questions about (1) our understanding of social justice, (2) how this influenced our practices as postgraduate supervisors and (3) how this influenced our practices and policies as directors of postgraduate studies. We recorded and transcribed our data generation meetings. Based on open coding of the transcriptions and written reflections, we constructed a conversation around our research questions. We integrated our reflexive journals in the conversation. Our conversations were characterised by three sets of ideas involving the terminology around social justice, the complex nature of social justice, and the individual and social justice. These played out differently in our contexts, but they caution both of us against assumptions and encourage us to create time for conversations with our students, to consider what we 'teach' them, how we guide them and how we avoid gatekeeping their entry into the disciplinary space.

Climate Change and Ecosystem Services: A Participatory Approach in a Brazilian Mountainous Region

Climate change is present in all sectors of global societies, causing various damages, including to agriculture. In this process, understanding the perception of the most affected population and including them in decision-making is a matter of social justice and a more assertive path. Aiming to obtain subsidies for better adaptation to climate change in family farming, this study established a methodology for evaluating the risks of climate change impacts on ecosystem services, related to water and food security, under the perception of rural actors in the mountainous region of the Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil. The methodology consisted of five steps, including the application of the questionnaire to 29 rural actors and ending with validation of the results in a focus group. The main results obtained were that the interviewees perceive the risks of the impacts of climate change in ES, both related to water and food security. Additionally, 24.14% of interviewees mentioned that their family has a monthly income below the Brazilian minimum wage, which exposes their food insecurity. In relation to water security, the risks classified as Very High were mainly in relation to low per capita investments in adaptation policies and infrastructure for environmental protection, between others. The use of many chemical inputs in agriculture also highlighted as a risk to water and food security. Regarding the methodology, it concluded that it was effective in obtaining the perception of the rural actors interviewed regarding the impacts of climate change on ecosystem services at a local scale.

The Role Of Trade Unions In Health Protection And Provision Of Safe Working Conditions For Medical Workers Part 2. Health care Workers' Trade Union Activities

Introduction. Healthcare workers are an important part of national healthcare systems ensuring its sustainability. Thus, it is necessary to introduce state mechanisms aimed at protecting their health and ensuring safe working conditions. Moreover, protection of rights and interests of healthcare workers is a matter of social justice. International and national public organizations and especially trade unions of healthcare workers play an important role in dealing with these issues. The purpose of the study is to consider examples of trade union activities on health protection and provision of safe working conditions in a number of countries upon the data on health issues that experience medical specialists as well as factors influencing these issues. Materials and methods. A content analysis of the official Internet pages of trade union organizations and their reporting documents for 2015-2024 was performed. Also, such methods as analysis, synthesis, secondary analysis and systematization of data were used. Results. Around the world, healthcare workers face occupational risks of infectious diseases, and are constantly exposed to various types of biological and non-biological hazards due to their working conditions, which are considered unsafe. Even cases of ill-treatment, threats, attacks or insults during the performance of professional duties are documented. Therefore, protection of health and safety of medical professionals, as well as their social and labor rights and interests is one of the main areas of trade unions as public organizations created on the initiative of healthcare workers.

A REVIEW OF THE EFFECTS OF WOMEN LITERACY AND POVERTY REDUCTION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Despite the potential of the strategies put in place by successive governments in Nigeria, women's literacy and poverty reduction for sustainable development, Nigeria continue to grapple with persistent challenges in realizing the full transformative impact of educated and empowered women in the country. This paper examined the effects of women literacy and poverty alleviation on sustainable development in Nigeria. The paper relied on documentary sources of data obtained from textbooks, journal articles, official gazettes, conference papers and the internet. The paper deployed the Liberal Feminism theory to provide a theoretical guide for the study. The paper observed that the relationship between women's literacy, poverty alleviation, and sustainable development in Nigeria is complex and multifaceted and emphasized that empowering women is not only a matter of social justice but a catalyst for sustainable development. It recommends a conscious implementation of policies and programs that should aim to eliminate barriers to education for girls and women, including addressing financial constraints, cultural norms, and discriminatory practices as well as the development and implementation of targeted economic empowerment initiatives, such as vocational training and entrepreneurship programs, to enhance women's skills and make them job creators rather than job seekers, thereby increasing their participation in the formal economy.

Initial Experiences of African Students When Entering the Higher Education Institution: A Social Justice Perspective

Access to resources is a fundamental component when addressing matters of social justice, fairness, and human rights within a democratic society. In this article, utilising a social justice framework, the author delves into the perspectives of social work students regarding the preferential or detrimental access of first-year African students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds at a South African university. For this study, a purposive sample of twenty-two (N = 22) participants was selected. Data were gathered through focus group discussions and individual semi-structured interviews. The participants emphasised key aspects of access, including the university’s location, admission to preferred programmes, accommodation, and financial support. These access factors critically reflect on issues of justice and fairness when it comes to entering higher education institutions. Interestingly, the diverse profiles and backgrounds of the students did not influence the university administration’s approach to access, resulting in a negative impact on the students’ access experiences due to an emphasis on equality rather than equity. Consequently, there is a pressing need for social justice principles to guide decision-making processes that focus on students’ access to higher education. Structural transformations within higher education institutions are imperative to ensure fairness in access, particularly for historically disadvantaged students.

INVEST IN WOMEN

Investing in women can accelerate progress across various sectors, including economic growth, education, healthcare, political participation, technology, and gender equality. Supporting women entrepreneurs stimulates job creation and innovation, while investing in girls' education leads to long-term societal benefits. Improved healthcare access for women enhances maternal and child health outcomes, and promoting women's involvement in politics fosters inclusive decision-making. In STEM fields, investing in women drives innovation, and initiatives for gender equality address issues like discrimination and violence. Ultimately, investing in women is not only a matter of social justice but also a strategic investment for economic and social advancement

The Role Of Trade Unions In Health Protection And Provision Of Safe Working Conditions For Medical Workers. Part 1. Health And Safety Of Healthcare Workers As a Medical And Social Problem

Introduction. Healthcare workers are an important part of national healthcare systems ensuring its sustainability. Thus, it is necessary to introduce state mechanisms aimed at protecting their health and ensuring safe working conditions. Moreover, protection of rights and interests of healthcare workers is a matter of social justice. International and national public organizations and especially trade unions of healthcare workers play an important role in dealing with these issues. The purpose of the study is to consider examples of trade union activities on health protection and provision of safe working conditions in a number of countries upon the data on health issues that experience medical specialists as well as factors influencing these issues. Materials and methods. A content analysis of the official Internet pages of trade union organizations and their reporting documents for 2015-2024 was performed. Also, such methods as analysis, synthesis, secondary analysis and systematization of data were used. Results. Around the world, healthcare workers face occupational risks of infectious diseases, and are constantly exposed to various types of biological and non-biological hazards due to their working conditions, which are considered unsafe. Even cases of ill-treatment, threats, attacks or insults during the performance of professional duties are documented. Therefore, protection of health and safety of medical professionals, as well as their social and labor rights and interests is one of the main areas of trade unions as public organizations created on the initiative of healthcare workers.

Repositioning Ethnomathematics in European Context as a Matter of Social Justice

The aim of this theoretical article is to, on the one hand, highlight the need for rethinking about EM—considering it as a dynamic field of knowledge and action, and taking into consideration the context in which EM has emerged and developed in counterpoint with current global conditions. On the other hand, this article demonstrates the importance of an EM perspective within the European context; this requires a shift from the experience of colonialism, within which Europe had the central and formative role, toward the more recent phenomenon of coloniality, that is, with the structures, epistemologies, and power relations that maintain societal and cultural hierarchies, in particular, those institutional and social structures that constitute and inform education and mathematics education. Europe, identified as a totality with the exercise of power, has made the recognition of asymmetric power relations within its own geographic boundaries less explicit; this situation has also hampered the development of EM in the European context. The identification within Europe of the Symbolic South (Santos, 2015), and the associated forms of epistemicide of (mathematics) knowledge that comes from out-of-mainstream (marginalized) populations within Europe, for example Roma mathematical practices, activated together the efforts reflected in this article. Methods of ethnomathematics, informed by the analysis of the Symbolic South present in European communities and ongoing structures of coloniality that create epistemicide, can respond to issues of inequity and social justice. ME in the European context and in dialogue with non-structural theories can also broaden the typical EM perspective and methods.

Developing an alternative curriculum for mathematics teaching in a detention faculty adopting an ethnomathematics perspective

In Greece, as more or less all over the world, the curriculum is a matter of central authority and teachers can only apply it in their classrooms, without any connection to the whole curriculum development process. Students’ population in prison schools, and especially young prisoners, often show school denial, poor performance, academic inadequacy, and failure, leading to low self-esteem (Mallett, 2014). Common barriers to participation are lack of motivation —often because of the absence of any means for meaning-making and identity formation in prison— and previous negative education experiences (Liebling, 2011) especially in secondary school when they frequently begin to truant. Working, as teacher, for long time in the secondary school of a youth detention center in Greece, I faced the challenge to reconsider the formal curriculum. Following an ethnomathematics perspective, an alternative curriculum is developing aiming to meet young prisoners’ needs and expectations as a matter of social justice, taking into consideration the need of techniques and strategies that can help to untangle and respond to above structures as part of ongoing research, policy, and practice. The young detainees following the official curriculum applied in the mainstream classes are faced with various problems, such as lack of appropriate schoolbooks, the need to motivate and successfully address educational, psychological and environmental difficulties, and the need for developing a framework for alternative teaching practices and materials based on a multicultural education with the teaching and learning of mathematics, as is the case in the field of ethnomathematics is dictated.

Awareness, experiences and perceptions regarding genetic testing and the return of genetic and genomics results in a hypothetical research context among patients in Uganda: a qualitative study

BackgroundGenetic testing presents unique ethical challenges for research and clinical practice, particularly in low-resource settings. To address such challenges, context-specific understanding of ethical, legal and social issues is essential. Return...

The social determinants of mental health and disorder: evidence, prevention and recommendations.

People exposed to more unfavourable social circumstances are more vulnerable to poor mental health over their life course, in ways that are often determined by structural factors which generate and perpetuate intergenerational cycles of disadvantage and poor health. Addressing these challenges is an imperative matter of social justice. In this paper we provide a roadmap to address the social determinants that cause mental ill health. Relying as far as possible on high-quality evidence, we first map out the literature that supports a causal link between social determinants and later mental health outcomes. Given the breadth of this topic, we focus on the most pervasive social determinants across the life course, and those that are common across major mental disorders. We draw primarily on the available evidence from the Global North, acknowledging that other global contexts will face both similar and unique sets of social determinants that will require equitable attention. Much of our evidence focuses on mental health in groups who are marginalized, and thus often exposed to a multitude of intersecting social risk factors. These groups include refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons, as well as ethnoracial minoritized groups; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) groups; and those living in poverty. We then introduce a preventive framework for conceptualizing the link between social determinants and mental health and disorder, which can guide much needed primary prevention strategies capable of reducing inequalities and improving population mental health. Following this, we provide a review of the evidence concerning candidate preventive strategies to intervene on social determinants of mental health. These interventions fall broadly within the scope of universal, selected and indicated primary prevention strategies, but we also briefly review important secondary and tertiary strategies to promote recovery in those with existing mental disorders. Finally, we provide seven key recommendations, framed around social justice, which constitute a roadmap for action in research, policy and public health. Adoption of these recommendations would provide an opportunity to advance efforts to intervene on modifiable social determinants that affect population mental health.

CARE JUSTICE FOR UNPAID AND UNDERPAID CARE WORKERS

Abstract Scholarship on older women, family caregiving, feminist gerontology, community-based services and policy change intersected throughout my career. As a social worker, care of older adults has always been a matter of social justice. My focus now is on care justice for those who perform the critical work of long-term services and supports: unpaid family caregivers and underpaid home care workers. This lecture will examine the interrelationships among both types of care laborers, who often face structural constraints on their decision to care and whose work is devalued, marginalized and invisible. Inequities for care workers by race, immigrant status, and sexual orientation are rooted in systemic racism, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia. This lecture presents the components of a care justice framework, informed by feminism, intersectionality, and care theory, of fundamental structural changes to value collectively the essential work of care, ensure meaningful choice to care, and reduce inequities in care labor.

Perspectives on Research Paradigms: A Guide for Education Researchers

This scholarly article undertakes a thorough exploration of current theoretical perspectives within the domain of educational research, concentrating specifically on the positivist, interpretive, and critical paradigms. It commences by establishing a comprehensive understanding of research within the larger context, with a particular spotlight on educational research and its central paradigms. The manuscript subsequently provides a concise yet illuminating examination of these three primary research paradigms, shedding light on their ontological, epistemological, and methodological dimensions. Additionally, it conducts an evaluation of each paradigm based on criteria pertinent to rigorous research, thereby accentuating their individual merits and shortcomings.The positivist paradigm, firmly grounded in empiricism, places a strong emphasis on empirical evidence and the systematic application of the scientific method to reveal objective truths and establish causal relationships. It is renowned for its unwavering dedication to objectivity, quantifiability, and the potential for broad generalization, frequently making use of hypothesis testing and experimental methodologies. Despite facing criticism for its potential to oversimplify intricate phenomena, positivism continues to maintain its predominance across a wide array of fields.The interpretive paradigm, firmly rooted in hermeneutics, places a primary emphasis on the investigation of subjective meanings and the realm of human experiences. This paradigm utilizes qualitative research methods to deeply explore the intricacies of individuals' perspectives, recognizing researchers as active interpreters of the collected data. Interpretive research emerges as highly valuable in the examination of areas such as cultural practices, the development of identities, and social interactions.The critical paradigm, drawing from interpretive principles as its foundation, rigorously examines power dynamics and matters of social justice. Through the use of qualitative research methods, it thoroughly explores structural inequalities and issues related to equity, demonstrating particular relevance in situations that demand a comprehensive assessment and active intervention in systemic injustices.