James,
Here's some material from my dissertation
Rita Gonsalves

Definitions:
Social justice: "Social justice is the full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs. Social justice includes a vision of society in which the distribution of resources is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure. . . . Social justice involves social actors who have a sense of their own agency as well as a sense of social responsibility toward and with others and the society" (Adams, Bell, and Griffin, 1997, p.3, as cited in Johnson and O'Grady, 2006). Rahima Wade (2007) defines social justice as "the process of working toward, and the condition of, meeting everyone's basic needs and fulfilling everyone's potential to live productive and empowered lives as participating citizens of our global community. 'Basic needs' include not just food, clothing, shelter, but also feeling safe, secure, and cared for. Fulfilling our potential requires education and health care, as well as respect, dignity, and the opportunity to pursue our dreams" (p.5).
Social responsibility: Members of a community feeling accountable for and committed to helping the community they live in.

     Social Change and Social Justice	

     The meaning of social justice has been debated by scholars. In the early 1900s scholars and theologians wrote about distributive justice and legal justice (Wade, 2007).  Distributive justice referred to equity in the distribution of goods and services; whereas, legal justice referred to citizens' commitment to individual rights and to society (Wade, 2007, p.5). Recent scholars have argued that social justice is about how we treat one another. "Is social justice about equity, equality, happiness, caring, difference, or power? . . . . Is social justice possible within a capitalist society? What are the roles of the individual and the institution in bringing about social change?" (Wade, 2007, p.5). Wade (2007) proposes that social justice is personal and global, and practical and visionary (p.5). Social justice is concerned with meeting everyone's basic needs, and fulfilling everyone's potential to live productive lives. It is concerned with equitable distribution as well as treating each other with respect and care (Wade, 2007, p.5).  Preskill and Brookfield defined social justice as:
Social justice is an orientation, a disposition, a set of commitments and a collection of practices that focus on: promoting greater equity for all; eliminating all prejudices that diminish people by virtue of their group membership; supporting people in more fully realizing themselves as persons or in helping them to flourish as human beings; and enhancing the ability of people to lead, learn and participate in creating a humane, caring and nurturing community (P.1).
     
     Most institutions of higher education are committed to service to the community through research, outreach and experiential education including service learning. The relationship between higher education and social problems has always been the subject of debates around competing theories like objective science versus social advocacy and critical thinking versus critical action (Pollack cited in Stanton, Giles, & Cruz, 1999).  Education serves several purposes in civil society, and one of the major roles of education is that of the "great social equalizer' (Dewey, 1916). Education has also been perceived as an instrument of social regulation and a promoter of social change (Dewey, 1916; Freire, 1998b; Wade, 2001). Saltmarsh (1996) challenged educators to go beyond Dewey's pragmatic communitarianism to pursue social justice as an essential component of service learning. Bok (2003) has strongly advocated for the use of applied and theoretical knowledge for the pursuit of social justice and believes that universities need to do more to remove obstacles that blight the lives of millions.
     Many universities offer service programs that range from one-time volunteer programs to those that work with groups that seek to achieve social change. There is a debate among scholars about whether service learning should be used for "charity" or for social justice and social change. Scholars have pointed out that there is a need to distinguish service activities that focus on charity from those that focus on root causes of social problems, politics and the need for change (Boyte, 1991; Kahne & Westheimer, 1996; Eyler & Giles, 1999). Stanton, Giles, and Cruz (1999) declare that from its beginning service learning has emphasized not only learning about social problems but addressing them in the community through social action.  Some scholars have proposed to categorize these programs along a continuum ranging from charity-based volunteer programs to those that seek social change (Eyler & Giles, 1999).  Questions about how to structure service experiences are important (Morton, 1995).  Morton (1995) questioned and explored the idea that service learning moves students from charity to social justice. He stated:
Most commonly, a service model is presented as running from charity to advocacy, from the personal to the political, from individual acts of caring that transcend time and space to collective action on mutual concerns that are grounded in particular places and histories. Charity emerges on this continuum as giving of the self, expecting nothing in return, and with no expectation that any lasting impact will be made. The risk inherent in charity is the risk of caring for another human being.

While charity is at one end of the continuum, advocacy is at the other end of the continuum. Advocacy implies both change and a strong voice. "Acts of service are steps in a larger strategy to bring about change, quite often assessed as the redistribution of resources or social capital. The risks of advocacy are political" (Morton, 1995, p.20). In this model the first steps are acts of charity, which help develop caring, and lead to the next and higher steps of analysis of the causes of problems. In this model charity is viewed as the provision of direct service and control of the service rests with the provider (p.21). The service is temporary and short. Service is part of a larger strategy to bring about change and the redistribution of resources or social capital. From a social change perspective the problems of the poor and oppressed are rooted in the structural organization of society. The goal of community service is to empower the disenfranchised.
     Morton (1995) rejected the continuum model from charity to change. Instead he proposed three orientations or models of service that students may conceptualize or adopt: the charity orientation which involves direct service to a few individuals over a limited period of time; the project development paradigm which includes service models that focus on defining problems and their solutions through a well-articulated plan created by an organization; and the social change paradigm in which the served and the servers participate in planning for major, long-term change.  Morton (1995) clarified that people select from these models based on their primary orientation.
Each paradigm is based upon distinct worldviews, ways of identifying and addressing problems, and long-term visions of individual and community transformation. Further each paradigm contains a range from "thin" to "thick", that is from expressions which lack integrity or depth to those which have integrity and depth. Educationally, this means that, rather than moving students along a continuum, we are doing two things simultaneously: challenging and supporting students to enter more deeply into the paradigm in which they work; and intentionally exposing students to creative dissonance among the three forms (p. 21).  

Using Morton's (1995) model of paradigms of service, scholars have studied student preferences and found that college students, especially women and younger students, showed a strong preference for the charity model.  Students with community service experience in high school were more likely to support the social change model (Moely & Miron, 2002). 
     Kahne, Westheimer, and Rogers (2000) conducted a national study of programs based Morton's model and found that three conceptions of citizenship emerged: the responsible citizen, the participatory citizen, and the social reformer.  Kahne, Westheimer, and Rogers believe that service-learning programs reflect one or another of these models in their choice of activities and topics for reflection and thus influence student's orientations towards community and engagement. 
     Some scholars have argued that the majority of serving learning programs encourage volunteerism and charity but do not emphasize the study of social and economic structures, social movements and systemic change. Marullo and Edwards (2000) distinguished between two models of service learning: charity service learning and service learning for justice. Most service learning activities, according to them, are acts of charity and they are helpful but they are moral acts and not political acts. Marullo and Edwards argued that while charity is valuable service learning needs to focus on social justice and social change instead of charity. Wade (2000) highlighted the difference between service to an individual and "service for an ideal" (p. 97). In addition to asking how we can help people, it is important to question why these conditions exist and how students and teachers can be agents of change (Wade, 2000; Mitchell, 2007). Butin (2007) argues for "deep and sustained service learning . . . . that fosters a justice-oriented framework that makes possible the questioning and disruption of unexamined and all-too often oppressive binaries of how we view the struggle toward equity in education" (p.1).
     Some in the field believe that service learning is inherently linked with social justice, but others believe that these connections need to be intentional and explicit. Critical service learning connects service learning and social justice education through deliberate introduction, analyses, and discussion of issues (Mitchell, 2007). Some educators believe that research has focused on citizenship and has ignored social action and the pursuit of social justice (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004).  


-----Original Message-----
From: Paulo Freire SIG (159) Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of James Sheldon
Sent: Wednesday, April 08, 2009 12:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: definition of social justice

I'm looking for a definition of 'social justice' in the context of
higher education.  It seems to be the latest buzzword in higher ed,
but no one I talk to quite seems sure of its meaning.  Are there any
articles or books that take a systematic look at this question?

Thanks,
James

-- 
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James Sheldon
Graduate Student, Education: Equity and Social Justice, San Francisco
State University
Special Education Paraprofessional, San Francisco Unified School District
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