Social Justice and Psychology:
What Is, and What Should Be
Winnifred Louis, Ken Mavor and colleagues will have a paper published in the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology on how social psychology struggles with issues of social justice. The paper is part of a special issue to come out in late 2013.
Louis, W. R., Mavor, K. I., La Macchia, S. T., & Amiot, C. E. (in press). Social justice and psychology: What is, and what should be. in M. Arken & J. Yen (Eds.), Justice and Psychology, special issue of the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. doi: 10.1037/a0033033
Abstract
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 identity based 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.
