The Sociology of Social Justice: Power, Difference and the Potential for Transformational Change

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The Sociology of Social JusticePower,
Difference and the Potentialfor Transformational
Change

• Dr. Paul R. Carr

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Overview of the presentation

• About me/context for the presentation
• Research approach
• Research projects
• Synthesis of the inter-connections and salience
  of the research
• Any and all comments/questions/critiques are
  welcome

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About me/context for the presentation

• Applied, experiential/academic background
• Political science
• Public administration
• Education
• Educational policymaking
• Policy, curriculum and program work re
  minority/equity/diversity/Aboriginal matters
• Latin American development
• Sociology (applied, theoretical, empirical,
  teaching)
• Work with colleagues in English/French/Spanish in
  diverse contexts
• Studies in France
• Five years as a professor in US
• Travel in a number of countries during last few
  years

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Research approach

• Sociological focus with interdisciplinary
  linkages
• Critical theoretical/conceptual framework,
  influenced by
• ?
• Bricolage methodological approach, problematizing
  and complexifying the sociology of social justice

Foundational influences Key scholars
Anti-racism work and Critical Race Theory Dei, James, Ladson-Billings, Bell, Tator, Henry, Walcott
Cultural studies and critical media studies Kellner, Chomsky, Denzin, Hall, Steinberg, Foucault, McChesney
Neo-Marxist critical theory and cultural Marxism Marx, Gramsci, McLaren, Wood, Bellamy Foster, Fanon
Freirian theoretical framework of conscientization and radical love Freire, Kincheloe, Giroux, Darder, Macedo, Sleeter
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• Shirley Steinberg (CAN) Peter McLaren (USA) Brad
  Porfilio (USA) Michael Hoechsman (CAN)
• ASSOCIATED with the Paulo and Nita Freire
  International Project for Critical Pedagogy
  Editor International J. of Critical Pedagogy

• LEGEND
• Major research themes
• Key areas of inquiry
• Working relationships
• Methodological approaches

Research Program connecting the Sociology of
Social Justice Dr. Paul R. Carr

• Neo-liberalism and the media
• Media literacy and education
• Media analysis and critical pedagogy
• Freirian studies and the media

Qualitative Analysis
Bricolage Approach

• Doing democracy
• Critical engagement
• Politics political literacy
• Democratic citizenship

• George Dei (CAN)
• Carl James (CAN)
• Darren Lund (CAN)
• Gina Thésée (CAN)
• ASSOCIATED with the Centre for Leadership and
  Diversity at OISE/U of T

• David Zyngier (AUS)
• Daniel Schugurensky CAN)
• Joel Westheimer (CAN)
• GDDRP (Latin America)
• Co-director of Global Doing Democracy Research
  Project, with projects in a dozen countries

• Whiteness
• Anti-racism
• Race, identity and globalization
• Immigration and neo-liberalism

• Lucie Suave (CAN) Reinaldo Fleuri (Brazil)
• Aline Gohard-Radenkovic (SUI) J-P Tsala-Tsala
  (CAMEROUN)
• BOARD MEMBER Comparative and Internat. Ed.
  Society Association pour la recherche
  interculturelle

• North/South relations
• Peace and the environment
• Environmental education
• Comparative international education

Discourse Analysis
Policy Analysis
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2) Research Some (interdisciplinary) projects
connecting the sociology of social justice

• Democracy, (inter)culturality and critical
  pedagogy
• Sociology, political studies, democratic
  education, critical theory, comparative studies
• Whiteness and Power (and Privilege) in a
  Colour-Blind Society
• Sociology, interculturalism, race and ethnic
  relations, epistemology, anti-racist education
• C) Environmental justice and peace
• Sociology, environmental studies, peace studies,
  critical theory, environmental education
• D) Political conscientization and critical media
  literacy
• Sociology, media studies, critical theory,
  cultural studies, media education

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(A) Democracy, (inter)culturality and critical
pedagogy
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Themes from research with teacher-educators in
Canada and the US

• ?Pertinence and definition of critical pedagogy
  as an approach to enhancing, framing and
  contextualizing democracy
• Four themes emerged
• the conceptualization of democracy, with an
  over-riding focus on elections
• the democratic educational experience of
  participants is often limited
• the concern about teaching controversial issues
  and indoctrination and
• the understanding of, and linkage to, social
  justice .
• Importance of neo-liberalism in defining the
  educational experience
• Lack of critical appreciation of democracy as a
  philosophy, ethos, political system and cultural
  phenomenon
• Limited focus on critical thinking, politics as a
  way of life, power-sharing, the decision-making
  process, the role of the media, alternative
  systems, and social responsibility as part of
  what could be considered thick democracy.

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Findings

• Cook Westheimer If people are not born
  democrats, then education surely has a
  significant role to play in ensuring that
  democrats are made.
• Connection between democracy and education needs
  to be made more concrete, enduring and critical
• Social justice needs to be re-centered
• Re Freires work, education is a political
  project avoiding embracing such a notion will
  diminish the educational and democratic
  experience for students
• ?political literacy
• Thick-thin spectrum of democracy and democratic
  education
• Implications for society if education is thinly
  connected to democracy

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(B) Whiteness and Power (and Privilege) in a
Colour-Blind Society
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The myth of White goodness, and resistance to
engaging Whiteness

• Canada as a civilized, non-colonizing, pacifist
  nation, with two founding peoples , more
  welcoming and charitable (and less racist) than
  the US
• Canadians embrace multiculturalism, difference
  and minority status(?)
• How do we reconcile our history of history of
  colonization, slavery racism?
• Canada as a White country (embassies, symbols,
  monarchy)
• Prime Ministers, Supreme Court Judges, major
  cultural and media figures, business icons, etc.
  are largely, if not exclusively, White
• Power income incarceration employment
  discrimination status representation based on
  race, etc.
• Equity advancements have often avoided racial
  issues (i.e., womens movement)
• Networks, associations, clubs, etc. are changing
  but Whiteness is still a predominant factor
• Unwritten, unspoken, coded language

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Mimi Pinguin, important characature in Mexico in
the 1940s, in a series of stamps in 2005(Source
http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/art
icle/2005/06/29/AR2005062902831.html)
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Is Tin-Tin racist?(Sources
http//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml/ne
ws/2007/07/12/ntintin112.xml) (http//vivirlatino
.com/2007/07/13/racist-book-ruffles-feathers-in-th
e-uk.php)
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Whites who paint their faces black
(Blackface)(Source http//en.wikipedia.org/wik
i/Blackface)
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White hate groups (Sources http//www.rulen.com
/kkk/ et http//sun.menloschool.org/sportman/ethn
ic/individual/kkk/)
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• (C) Environmental justice and peace
• Confronting ecological indifference

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Problematic

• The over-development of the North ?multiple
  vulnerabilities in the South
• Environmental education ?education on/for/about
  sustainable development
• Colonialist and neo-liberal hegemony invalidate
  knowledge of others
• ? epistemological racism
• Is peace an option for resolving conflict?
• How do we reconcile military intervention with
  the environment?
• What are the implications of a passive, neutral,
  apolitical environmental education based on
  science education?

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Analytical and conceptual framework A
Vulnerability Index

Necessity (are our actions necessary?)
Risks (do we evaluate the level of risk for our actions?)
Predictability (do we know of the impact of our actions in advance?)
Objective and result (do we achieve what we plan to achieve?)
Costs and benefits (are we satisfied with the results of our actions?)
Centrality of the environment (what is the place of the environment in our actions?)
Vulnerability (who is the most affected by our actions?)
Social justice (is social justice a part of our actions?)

Necessity (are our actions necessary?)
Risks (do we evaluate the level of risk for our actions?)
Predictability (do we know of the impact of our actions in advance?)
Objective and result (do we achieve what we plan to achieve?)
Costs and benefits (are we satisfied with the results of our actions?)
Centrality of the environment (what is the place of the environment in our actions?)
Vulnerability (who is the most affected by our actions?)
Social justice (is social justice a part of our actions?)
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Four vignettes on the environment, power and
vulnerability

• Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans (2005)
• Iraq War (2003 - present) Iraq War (1991)
• Vietnam War (1959-1975)
• Haïti (slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism)

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Hurricane Katrina
http//images.google.com/images?qhurricanekatrin
aphotoshlenlrsaXoiimagescttitle
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Iraq
http//images.google.com/images?qiraqwarndsp20
svnum10hlenlrstart80saN
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Vietnam
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Haiti
http//www.sun-sentinel.com/news/caribbean/sfl-edg
e-n-haitierode,0,2849490.flash
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Peace, the environment, the media and education

• The need to learn and teach about the environment
  from a critical perspective, including the
  visible and invisible linkages to peace (and war)
• Contextualizing standards-based education within
  a neoliberal context in relation the environment
  is fundamental
• Environmental studies must also, necessarily, be
  interdisciplinary, linking peace, the media,
  politics and critical engagement in and through
  education
• How should we understand media coverage of the
  environment outside of hegemonic considerations
  related to militarization?

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(D) Political conscientization and media
(il)literacy Critiquing the media as a form of
democratic engagement
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Methodology

• Surveys on media literacy at beginning and end of
  course
• Several weeks of discussions , blogs and
  presentations re the role of the media
• Critical analysis techniques and perspectives
  Factor analysis (political, legal, economic,
  social, educational, stakeholder)
• Practical media activities
• Culminating project students monitor, document
  and analyze 2 or more media outlets (television,
  newspaper, internet, and radio) for one week
• Some areas of inquiry
• What is the context for the news?
• What perspectives are elucidated? Political
  vantage-points?
• Does the news vary from medium to medium ? Impact
  of Corporate control?
• How is race (and social justice) portrayed?
• How do the media connect with and to education?

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Themes

• Theme 1 Superficial treatment of media literacy
  in schools
• Theme 2 The media includes more than traditional
  outlets (newspaper, television, radio)
• Theme 3 The corporate infiltration in the mass
  media
• Theme 4 The omni-presence of (neo-liberal)
  standards overrides media literacy
• Theme 5 Media literacy needs to be approached
  from multiple vantage-points
• Theme 6 The marginalization of diverse groups in
  the mass media
• Theme 7 The effect of the course on media
  literacy

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Connecting the sociology of social justice

• (A) Democracy (B) Whiteness (C) Environment
  (D) Media ? link together through a critical
  social justice theoretical/conceptual perspective
• Fundamental commonalities
• Power and inequitable power relations
• Hegemony and corporate/institutional/governmental
  control
• Salience of neo-liberalism
• Diluted debate on race/class/gender/
• Political literacy is marginalized
• Interdisciplinary connections in understanding,
  and linking, each
• Critical theory/methods/studies (can) enhance our
  understanding of each as well as a collectivity
• Conscientization can be a way of addressing
  inequalities, difference, an understanding of
  oppression and transformational change
• Praxis and critical engagement (in part, through
  education) is imperative

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• Thank you! Merci ! !Gracias! Meegwetch!