Reflections on social justice, race, ethnicity and identity from an ethical perspective

Abstract

In these reflections, I identify complexities in few constructs that are often used in educational research, although not often critically, namely, social justice, race, ethnicity and identity. This paper suggests a non-ontological and non-epistemological approach to ethics as developed by Emmanuel Levinas as a normative means to deal with some of the complexities. In dealing with the construct of social justice, an ethical approach calls for productive research tools to not only understand exclusion but also to change situations of injustice to marginalised groups. Further, both constructs race and ethnicity can be used to identify groups of people based on their history, culture and/or lifestyles. As social constructions they have different historical origins and are open to alternative connotations, uses and abuses. An ethical perspective is useful to manage the dilemma of essentialism that group identification may lead into. Finally, the debate around the usefulness of the construct of identity raises some ethical questions about the role of research and the lived experience of its subjects. An ethical stance demands that constructs of analysis in social inquiry should not only demonstrate their utility for knowledge generation but also should demonstrate a responsibility for the construction and reconstruction of lifeworld in which academic endeavours are conducted.

Early Childhood Education at the Cultural Interface

“…Therefore, at an exosystem level in Australia, education policy aspires to a system where stigmatisation and separation will cease to exist and every learner's rights to human dignity, to education and to equality will be realised. The literature on social justice focuses precisely on issues of ethnicity, as well as race, class, gender and sexual orientation (Applebaum, 2012; Atweh, 2011; Beswick, Sloat, & Willms, 2008; Ho, 2012; Hytten & Bettez, 2011; Jennings, 2012; Jocson, 2009; Lee, 2012; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2012), where Australia is making gains but has not been able to empower its Aboriginal people to achieve on any measures to the same level as non-Aboriginal Australians. In the proposed model, it is possible to see a positive way forward if, at an exosystem level, some adaptations indeed need to be effected to achieve successful education at the cultural interface.…”

Uma Revisão Bibliográfica Sobre Aspectos Ontológicos E Epistemológicos Da Ciência: A Importância Da Concepção De Mundo Para a Educação Em Ciências

“…Partindo do fato de que muitos métodos atuais ainda partem dos princípios positivistas, Kincheloe e Tobin (2009) encorajam pesquisadores a identificar as ontologias, epistemologias e axiologias de seus métodos por meio da reflexão. Atweh (2011) trata da postura ética associada a construtos usados na pesquisa educacional, como justiça social e raça, e sugere uma abordagem não ontológica e não epistemológica da ética.…”

Student Affairs Practitioners' Leadership on behalf of Undocumented College Students in the USA

“…To begin with, Bankston (2010) addressed social justice as the equitable distribution of resources among all people as a fundamental right. However, scientists have criticized the original idea of equity for all, arguing that having social justice is much more complex than the fair allocation of resources (Atweh, 2011). In addition, there is a tendency to use labels to classify people, usually by race, gender, and class.…”