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This paper will discuss what is meant by social justice in relation to counselling psychology specifically and psychology generally within the UK, as well as briefly considering social justice in the wider context. It will discuss if there is a role for counselling psychologists and psychology in promoting social justice through challenging social inequalities and promoting anti-discriminatory practice. It will review the role of counselling psychology in potentially foregrounding inclusive practice which celebrates diversity and provides leadership on this issue. It will then discuss the possible skills and theories psychologists have at their disposal to undertake work which promotes social justice and equality and takes into consideration human rights. It will provide a range of examples of where psychologists have undertaken social justice work using their training and skills and provided leadership in a range of contexts outside the consulting room. The paper will argue that ta...
The Special Section for Social Justice in Training of the journal for Training and Education in Professional Psychology adds to the growing social justice literature and offers advances in training. This article reflects on the main themes presented in the Special Section including the prevalent role of developmental perspectives, multiculturalism, implementation of learning through action, and organizational recommendations. Further, we highlight areas for additional consideration including the importance of examining values and assumptions of the profession, issues of power within training programs, the need to provide training in navigating and negotiating in systems, benefits of interdisciplinary collaboration, pragmatic and ethical issues in shifting to a social justice framework, and professional development needs of faculty and supervisors.
The Counseling Psychologist, 2019
In this article, a diverse group of early, mid, and advanced career scholars call for counseling psychology to continue to evolve in our integration of social justice action in our field. In doing so, we first consider our history as proponents and enactors of social justice, highlighting the ways in which counseling psychologists have served as social justice leaders in psychology. We then discuss our field’s contemporary challenges to, and opportunities for, social justice progress as we work toward equity and justice. Finally, we offer recommendations for counseling psychologists individually and as a field to move forward in our social justice action. Given our longstanding social justice values and our unique training as counseling psychologists, if we aim with intentionality to use our skills toward systems change, counseling psychologists are poised to have a strong and proactive role as social change agents within psychology and society at large.
The Counseling Psychologist, 2004
abstract While social justice advocacy has been a part of counselling psychology since its inception , its role in the field has been debated. Many professionals have called for increased attention to social justice awareness and advocacy to enable the profession to meet the expanding needs of clients. The present article proposes that a move toward prioritizing social-justice issues necessitates the inclusion of graduate students. The authors contend that graduate programming in counselling psychology must provide students with opportunities to engage with the critical discourses of critical psychology, feminism, and multiculturalism in the aim of pursuing social justice-oriented practice and research. résumé Depuis les débuts du counseling en tant que discipline reconnue, la promotion de la justice sociale a toujours fait partie des débats. Bon nombre de discussions et de contestations existent toujours quant au rôle concret de la justice sociale au sein de cette discipline. En effet, plusieurs professionnels ont attiré notre attention sur l'importance de la prise de conscience et de mise en action de la justice sociale afin de permettre à la profession de remplir les besoins d'une clientèle grandissante. Cet article suggère qu'il est nécessaire d'inclure des étudiant(e)s de 2 et 3 cycles si l'on veut faire des sujets de justice sociale une priorité. Les auteurs soutiennent que le programme d'études supérieures en psychologie du counseling doit fournir aux étudiants des opportunités de pratiquer la psychologie critique, le féminisme, et le multiculturalisme dans le but de poursuivre en théorie et en pratique une meilleure justice sociale.
Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 2014
This article proposes that all psychologists-and all psychologies-are innately concerned with justice, and yet there is no consensually defined discipline of psychology, and no consensual understanding of social justice. Adopting an intergroup and identitybased model of what is and what should be, we will describe the mechanisms whereby identities and perceptions of justice are formed, contested, and changed over time. We will argue that psychological research and practice have implications for social justice even where-and perhaps especially when-these are not made explicit. Psychology is considered as the product of diverse groups with distinct and evolving identities, and with differential access to resources and power, which dynamically contest different normative perceptions of justice.
Psychology is maturing as a discipline and profession 133 years after Wilhelm Wundt began his research at the University of Leipzig. During this period psychology has seen a slow and steady progression from a purely objective, scientific and individually oriented profession to one increasingly aware of the personal impacts of societal injustices. Psychologists, counselors and educators are challenged to assume larger roles as advocates for those trapped by social, economic and political disparity.
American Psychologist, 2012
Much of psychological science and knowledge is significantly relevant to social justice, defined here as the goal to decrease human suffering and to promote human values of equality and justice. A commitment to social justice has evolved as a more important value in the last few decades for psychology, including for the American Psychological Association (APA). The mission, vision, goals, Ethics Code, and strategic plan of APA all provide a rationale for psychologists' involvement in systematic and visible ways of applying our knowledge to social issues. Although psychology has not been immune to the application of psychological knowledge in destructive ways, overall, psychology, many psychologists, and APA have demonstrated a commitment to social justice. This article provides a brief review of the key proponents, debates, and controversies involved in applying psychological science and knowledge to complex societal problems. Psychologists often find themselves in conflict and honest disagreement when the association addresses complex and controversial issues. An important goal is that we continue to find ways to agree or disagree in a respectful manner regardless of where each of us stands on the various positions that APA takes.
2023
Recently, there has been a resurgence of interest regarding diversity and inclusion (D&I) movements within psychology in the UK. However, there haven't been any attempts made thus far at gathering insights into the attitudes held by the members of the UK psychology community towards such initiatives. To this end, the authors conducted a nationwide survey with the purpose of identifying the levels of support towards D&I movements, the members' view on their progression as well as what obstacles the movements may be currently facing. The authors found that the members of the UK psychology community overwhelmingly support D&I movements. Furthermore, survey participants (N=82) proposed curriculum diversification and re-conceptualisation of expertise, as two policies likely to advance the D&I cause. Accordingly, the authors argue that a unified movement with a clearly set agenda aimed at challenging the systems underpinning contemporary psychology may bring about further improvement to the field.
Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 2019
Given widespread interest and commitment among psychologists to promote social justice, this article takes up the question "What is social justice?" and critically examines the efforts of psychologists in its pursuit. Contemporary challenges to defining social justice are discussed as well as problems resulting from an absence of consensus regarding its meaning. It is argued that social justice only can be understood in light of its particular history. A brief historical overview of social justice is provided. This history supplies the grounds for a critical treatment of conceptions of social justice and psychological initiatives. Fraser's framework for social justice is presented as a theoretical guide for psychologists that can be defended in light of a "best account." Public Significance Statement This article investigates what social justice means and how it pertains to psychology.
2020
Leaders of the social justice research movement in school psychology argue that since the inception the profession, school psychology has had social justice as a key agenda item. A closer look at the representation of diverse backgrounds in researchers and practitioners and observations of the impact the profession has had on the education of marginalized groups, one could argue that school psychology has contributed to the oppression of said groups. In recent efforts, social justice has been made a focus (i.e. social justice task forces within National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), efforts of individual school districts and graduate training programs to recruit more trainees and practitioners of color, etc.). However, there is still more to be done when training future and current school psychologist who practice, those who train graduate students, and those who do research. The goal of this study is to inquire if the multi-cultural competence and social justice inter...
The European Journal of Counselling Psychology, 2018
Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology, 2008
Even though many applied psychology programs embrace a philosophy of social justice, faculty members and trainers are often faced with the practical struggle of implementing a social justice training agenda. This article discusses both the theoretical and practical aspects of implementing a social justice training agenda in applied psychology programs.
2015
The purpose of this study is to shed light on the factors that promote or detract from the integration of social justice (SJ) into counselling practice. Research shows that psychological well-being is contingent on the presence of SJ (Prilleltensky, 1999; 2012), therefore, it must be a priority in the practice of counselling psychology. Over the past ten years there has been an increasing amount of literature written about the importance of integrating SJ into counselling practice (Lewis, 2011), but there appears to be a gap in applied research that explores the factors that promote or detract from successfully integrating SJ into counselling practice. By using the enhanced critical incident technique (Butterfield, Borgen, Maglio, & Amundson, 2009), this investigation sought to answer the following research question: How do counselling psychologists successfully integrate SJ into their practice? Six registered counsellors and two counselling psychologists from North America, who rep...
The Counseling Psychologist, 2004
offered a number of useful suggestions for elaborating on social justice theory, practice, and training. Their reactions and feedback challenged Goodman et al. to revisit and clarify their thinking about several related issues, including (a) the importance of student and faculty self-examination, (b) the need to ground our social justice theories and practice in organizing philosophies, (c) the difficulties of educating students about social justice work, and (e) the imperative to collaborate across professions. In this reply, the authors discuss each of these issues in turn, noting points of agreement and disagreement with their colleagues.
The Counseling Psychologist, 2014
The social science and education fields are increasingly looking to nontraditional pedagogical methods as a way to increase students’ awareness of social justice issues. Critical inquiry projects, human rights education, and service learning models are some of the theoretically grounded approaches that advocate for novel ways of increasing social justice awareness in education. In this article, we propose a model of social justice consultation training activities that build on key principles of social justice work, core components of social justice competencies, and the American Psychological Association Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. We present the Climate Initiative case study to illustrate consultation training activities designed to promote social justice competencies. The Climate Initiative was a collaborative project between class members in a multicultural issues in counseling course and a social justice–oriented prison education program.
The European health psychologist, 2011
The current economic crisis in Europe behoves all organisations to reexamine the contribution that they make to society. Put simply, society wants to know if it is getting value for money from the services and organisations they fund. The EHPS is predominately populated by university employees whose salaries are (typically) funded by taxpayers. Thus, the need for Health Psychology to be relevant has never been more important. The present article was prompted, in some part, by the thought provoking keynote speech by Prof. Michael Murray (EHPS Cluj; 2010), whereby Michael suggested that Health Psychology has a weak ego and challenged us all to ruminate on how our activities impact upon society. This is a good question, and deserves an answer. With all the aforementioned in mind, I have approached a sample of senior health psychologists to ascertain their personal experiences of how their own careers have contributed to social justice in the world. The following article represents their responses to the following question: How do these aims match the aims of social justice? Psychology is the scientific study of the interaction of behaviour, cognition and emotion with each other, and with the environment. Although environmental context is crucial to psychology, its role is often a secondary rather than primary focus. Applying psychology to the promotion of health and reduction of disability has the capacity to increase social well-being, but this does not automatically translate into increasing equity and equality. Improved health services can lead to increased inequality, due to unequal access to services, with those from low income and ethnic minority groups underserved by services. Population health interventions, such as persuasive mass media marketing, can also increase inequality if not targeted to the more deprived sections of the population.
Education Sciences, 2022
This paper locates the educational psychologist’s (EP) involvement in addressing social justice in practice. It uses some philosophical ideas from Jacques Rancière, particularly the idea of the distribution of the sensible and dissensus, to help us question how systems that are aimed at contributing to a socially just society can limit social justice itself. Whilst the argument of this paper is applicable to educational psychologists internationally, this paper is situated within a Scottish context. It uses a vignette to draw out a philosophical reading of the EP’s involvement in the narrative. This paper gives some examples of how structures that are aimed at supporting social justice often position the EPs within these systems so that thinking, being and doing are shaped according to the structures that they inhabit. The establishment of such structures and discourses have limited the meaning and implementation of social justice. This means that the identity of both those requiring the involvement of the EP, as well as the EP and other professionals is determined in terms of their ‘proper place’ and their activity is determined in terms of its ‘proper function’. The paper argues that EPs can interrupt the procedural flow and provide a dissenting voice which can ultimately lead to social justice in ways that the normal flow of procedure does not.
The social science and education fields are increasingly looking to nontraditional pedagogical methods as a way to increase students’ awareness of social justice issues. Critical inquiry projects, human rights education, and service learning models are some of the theoretically grounded approaches that advocate for novel ways of increasing social justice awareness in education. In this article, we propose a model of social justice consultation training activities that build on key principles of social justice work, core components of social justice competencies, and the American Psychological Association Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists. We present the Climate Initiative case study to illustrate consultation training activities designed to promote social justice competencies. The Climate Initiative was a collaborative project between class members in a multicultural issues in counseling course and a social justice–oriented prison education program.
Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 2010
Calls from the psychological literature have highlighted a need for the integration of social justice training in both didactic and fieldwork practicum experiences in professional psychology. This article presents concrete strategies for practicum instructors and applied fieldwork training site staff to integrate social justice work into practicum experiences. The authors review current scholarship on social justice training, identify foundational principles of social justice and recommendations for teaching social justice in applied training facilities, and apply these principles and recommendations to practicum experiences. Learning activities and evaluation methods are identified and presented, and recommendations for integration of these methods for teaching psychology trainees are underscored.
Journal of Counseling & Development, 2007
The authors discuss the historical and contemporary connection to social justice issues in the fields of counseling and counseling psychology via the multicultural counseling movement. In addition, the authors present ways in which social justice issues can be addressed in counselors' and counseling psychologists' work with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds and in graduate training programs.
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