Literature Review: Ideas of Social Justice and Equity in Psychology and Education

The introduction to the article is set up with examples of extreme examples of social justice in education, calling them the “by products of […] an elementary school education rooted in social-justice principles” (Reynolds, 2012, p. 1). Reynolds argues that schools are increasing the “weave [of] social justice throughout the primary school curriculum” (Reynolds, 2012, p.1). The ideas of social justice in the education system to inspire children to become critical thinkers of current events.

Social movements frequently engage in some formal resistance operations thereby creating a different image from the normal running of the United States. Education systems that are available in the textbooks and elementary schools give some few lies about the US politics and laws. According to the basic background of the United States, it was known to be the sexiest and racist in the world but in the present days, they have entirely changed due to the changing of different laws. Spade has described the use of racial projects to show the transformation that was experienced in the United States. Therefore, the social movement has enabled the categorization of people through their gender, national origin, indignity, and race. According to Spade, “Resistance to the political theories has helped in the fight against the state violence that could create central harms especially to women, people with disabilities, immigrants and native people.” The rise in the editorial sectors towards updating the available textbooks has

Dr. Patrick O’Brien was the ACT presenter for the third ACT Brown Bag event. The presentation focused on the aspects of social justice dealing with gender discrimination, children, and mass incarnation. The presenter posed a question to the students, What does Social Justice mean to you? When I think about social justice, I think about advocating for the rights of individuals that are facing injustice acts. Also, I feel it also means education individuals of what is currently going on in the society that needs to change. This paper will focus on understanding why certain groups are targeted.

Change occurs rapidly and sometimes it seems that change is the only constant. The world experiences transformation everyday, and in most cases, for the better. In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee describes the beginning of a change in the mindset of common people in America during the 20th century that has greatly benefited the whole nation. Also, with the newly legalised gay marriage in the United States, our society is becoming a more equitable and fairer place for all. Lastly, with the establishment of competitions and awards such as the Google Science Fair, the power and innovation of the young are being realised and harnessed for the betterment of the world.

Equality has one main component that called social justice. Social justice is defined as the embodiment of the vision of a society that is equitable and in which all ‘members are physically and psychologically safe’ (Levy and Sidel 529). Members of the community are safe from others passing judgment on an individual without knowing them. Levy and Sidel go on to write, “It is not possible to address trauma and violence without also wrestling with poverty, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and all other forms of stigma. Because of this, we cannot ignore deep seated inequalities as we seek answers to problems like violence and trauma. Rather, we must struggle with these problems clearly and honestly” (529). Through adversity we must persevere and demand respect for the African Americans. If we don’t demand change we will be trapped in an identical box as our ancestors.

Social justice is the view from a person’s mind that everything and everybody is equal no matter the gender, race, social group, or religion. One of the biggest problems in the world, especially in the US, is child poverty. One third of United State’s children live with under thirty one thousand dollars a year which is below the sixty percent of the national median income. This alters their hope for their future as adults, it affects their learning, and impacts their health and safety.

People can not put on the news without seeing at least one story about social inequality or injustice, if everyone knows about these inequities why are they not being solved? Inequities are not limited to America, social inequity is a global problem making it extremely important to raise awareness of the topic. Inequities such as racism and sexism impact teenagers in America, but to counteract this persecution authors can use various genres of literature to promote tolerance and reduce the effects of inequities. Racism and sexism violates people’s rights in schools, the workplace, and almost every place in the world. Through the words of authors, society can learn the harmful effects of these inequities, and learn how

The term social justice is normally used when referring to the ideas of equality and providing equal opportunities to pupils within school, regardless of their background, history or circumstances. Views of social justice can change depending on who is discussing the topic.

The notion of justice is existence of proper balance of rights and its access under the laws of land. It refers to not depriving any person from availing privileges, opportunities etc. John Rawls writes, "Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override"It means that the interaction in a society must be free from any sort of discrimination such as religion, race, color, caste or sex. It ensures fair distribution of assets and equal opportunity. José P. Laurel defines Social Justice as “Social justice is neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the state so that justice in its rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated.”

One of notable contributions of social psychology is research on social justice (Jost & Kay, 2010), racism, and prejudice (Ross, Lepper, & Ward, 2010). Within the topic of social justice, themes such as equality, equity, liberty, morality, and others are studied. The surge of academic attention in social justice post World War II partially attributes to the political interest in fighting fascism. Nevertheless, issues that are related social equality are continuing to be relevant today. A challenging aspect of this topic is a lack of consensus among scholars with regards to its definition. Moreover, understandings of social justice require integration of individual, group, and system level insights. Holding a balance between subjective and objective experiences with respect to what construed as just is essential. Understandings gained from research would assist researchers to identify obstacles to fair community including selfishness, laziness, human tendency to dehumanize perceived enemies, and common social misconceptions. Research results can assist the public to encourage dialogues integral to social justice (Jost & Kay, 2010).

Over the last eight weeks, we have visited and deeply discussed many topics that surround social justice in the classroom. These topics have ranged from social justice in the world to how to create a socially just classroom and everything in between. In class, there has been a few times where it has been uncomfortable because the topics can bring out many opinions in the room. Many people in the room shared their opinions, including me, which brought up many other discussions. In this essay, I will be discussing our navigations through the social justice issues that classrooms face by talking about the key points of our class throughout the last eight weeks.

Social justice is not an “us versus them” mentality; rather it is a “were in it together” mentality where the powerful and powerless work together. Obviously those who are in need are the poor and oppressed: women, African-Americans, Jews, Latin Americans, etc. However, due to the fact that these people are in these oppressive situations, they gain insight into the injustices that surround them specifically, and society in general. Although they are made poor by those in power and the structures, institutions, and organizations run by those in power, they still possess “strength to resist, capacity to understand their rights, [and the ability] to organize themselves and transform a subhuman situation (Boff, 1)”. The poor and oppressed are held above the rich and powerful, in other words are given preferential treatment. Due to their oppression in life,

The notable differences between classical and contemporary theories of social justice are the way the issue is explored. Differences also occur in the emphasis placed on different aspects of social justice and how to achieve it. The notable similarities seem to be that there is a need for social justice and that to achieve social justice many changes need to occur. Another similarity is the debate that social justice is not an easily achievable outcome.

Social sciences and social justice are both based on the structure of rights. Our rights were designed to create equality for all. However, there are always outliers in our justice system and these outliers can be seen by all. My background and demographic are aggressively average growing up in a small, rural community with little diversity which has affected my views about justice. The class Social Problems and Social Injustice has aggressively opened my eyes to new statistics about society and has made some of my intuitions validated and destroyed some of my prior views. My new understanding of social justice is that is was created for all by excluding some. Justice is the structure of our institutions and society.

According to Nielsen (2013), in the United States, the government has been working hard in the due process of providing education to the children in the country. Despite the efforts that have been initiated by the United States education department, there is a problem of equity in education access around the nation. There are a good number of students who do not have the same opportunities as others when it comes to the education sector. For instance, in most cases, the quality of education that a student will get depends with their social class in the community. Those with a weak living condition are less likely to have the same quality of education as those who belong to the wealthy families. Therefore, the importance of equity, issues with sameness and the strategies suggested by Natalie (2013) and the report by the equity and excellence commission will form the basis of discussion for this paper.