Social change

About: Social change is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 61197 publications have been published within this topic receiving 1797013 citations.

The Personal is Political: Developing new subjectivities through participatory action research

Abstract: Participatory action research (PAR) is gaining critical attention from scholars across the social sciences, and in the field of geography more specifically, as it promises a viable alternative for researchers concerned with social justice. If most of the benefits of PAR are identified in terms of its potential as a vehicle for social change and action, PAR's role in personal change is less understood. This paper considers the development of new subjectivities in a PAR process from a post-structural perspective. My objective is to reframe and connect the social justice orientation of PAR to a feminist post-structural project which emphasizes the fluidity and multiplicity of subject positions as the basis for personal (and social) transformation. Analysis draws upon collaborative research conducted with six young women in New York City and their project Makes Me Mad: Stereotypes of young urban womyn of color. Discussion addresses the role of critical reflection, dialogue, emotion, and narrative in the parti...

Five Essential Components for Social Justice Education

Abstract: The question of how to teach effectively from a clear social justice perspective that empowers, encourages students to think critically, and models social change has been a consistent challenge for progressive educators. This article intends to shed light on this issue by demonstrating how educators can utilize a social justice pedagogical lens to treat their content in ways that meet their commitment to empowering education. Specifically, this article clarifies what social justice education is by introducing readers to five key components useful in teaching from a social justice perspective: tools for content mastery, tools for critical thinking, tools for action and social change, tools for personal reflection, and tools for awareness of multicultural group dynamics. While no pedagogical approach is a panacea, this approach offers readers five specific areas to focus on in their teaching and their efforts at working toward social justice in their classrooms.

The Ontogeny of Social Information Gathering

Abstract: When facing the unknown, humans tend to consult others for guidance. This propensity to treat others as information sources has wide-ranging implications, being in part responsible for the breadth and depth of our world knowledge. As yet, little is known concerning when and how young children acquire this important skill. Social referencing and communicative abilities in infancy have been interpreted by many as reflecting precocious social information-seeking ability, but the evidence is far from compelling and equally compatible with an attachment regulation interpretation. While the evidence indicates that infants as young as 12 months are good consumers of social information, it falls well short of demonstrating that they are active seekers of that information. Moreover, genuine social information seeking requires an implicit conception of the knowledge-ignorance distinction, and existing research on children's theories of mind suggests that such a conception is most likely not available in infancy. For these reasons, we argue for a developmental account of social information-gathering ability, one that is consistent with the larger body of evidence concerning sociocognitive abilities in infants and young children.

Social and Language Skills in Adolescent Boys with Asperger Syndrome

Abstract: Twenty-one adolescent boys with Asperger syndrome and 21 boys matched on age and an estimate of IQ were assessed using standardized measures of social perception (Child and Adolescent Social Perception Measure, CASP), social skills (parent, teacher, and student forms of the Social Skills Rating System, SSRS), number of close friends and frequency of contact (Child Behavior Checklist) and expressive and receptive language (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals-Revised). There were significant differences between groups on CASP scores, SSRS scores, number of friends, frequency of contact and social competence. There was also a significant difference on receptive language. The clinically and statistically significant differences between the groups on the measures of social skills help us understand the nature of the social deficits in Asperger syndrome and suggest the need to focus on specific deficits. These findings are discussed in relation to diagnostic criteria and intervention.

The Meaning Structure of Social Networks

Abstract: This essay proposes to view networks as sociocultural structures. Following authors from Leopold von Wiese and Norbert Elias to Gary Alan Fine and Harrison White, networks are configurations of social relationships interwoven with meaning. Social relationships as the basic building blocks of networks are conceived of as dynamic structures of reciprocal (but not necessarily symmetric) expectations between alter and ego. Through their transactions, alter and ego construct an idiosyncratic “relationship culture” comprising symbols, narratives, and relational identities. The coupling of social relationships to networks, too, is heavily laden with meaning. The symbolic construction of persons is one instance of this coupling. Another instance is the application of social categories (like race or gender), which both map and structure social networks. The conclusion offers an agenda for research on this “meaning structure of social networks.”