Different but equal? A developmental analysis of variability in adolescents' understandings of social justice
Year: 2016
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Coming of age in an increasingly diverse social world, contemporary youth must make sense of the complexities of social differences and the disparities that exist between privileged and marginalized groups. This mixed methods study had two main objectives: (1) to examine adolescents’ understandings of social justice through their social awareness and perspective taking in the areas of racism, sexism, and classism; and (2) to assess whether these understandings varied as a function of cognitive (critical thinking, moral judgment) and affective (empathy) skills. Ninety-eight adolescents in Grades 9 and 12, evenly divided by sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, completed a questionnaire measuring their awareness of social (in)justice in society at large and also participated in a semi-structured interview designed to assess their perspective-taking in hypothetical peer conflicts depicting these problems. Results showed that adolescents were moderately aware of social injustice overall, demonstrating greatest awareness of classism and least awareness of sexism. Qualitative analyses of interview responses revealed five levels of perspective taking, signifying increasingly mature interpretations of group differences. On average, participants assumed a `nominal` perspective that was naïve to social disparities and emphasized concerns about ‘equality’ over ‘equity’. Perspective taking was most sophisticated in the area of racism and least regarding sexism. Variability was also observed across grade, social location, and cognitive and affective skills. As expected, older adolescents demonstrated more mature understandings of social justice than younger adolescents. Furthermore, age-related differences were larger among adolescents attending higher SES schools. Minority youth showed greater awareness of racism than majority participants. Females demonstrated more mature understandings of sexism than males, and adolescents attending higher SES schools showed more mature understandings of classism than their lower SES counterparts. In addition, controlling for the effects of grade moral judgment predicted both social awareness and perspective taking, having the greatest effect in the area of classism and weakest in the area of sexism. Similarly, adolescents’ empathy levels predicted perspective taking in the area of sexism. These findings underline the importance of fostering adolescents’ understandings of social justice for the development of attitudes and behaviours that promote equity among all members of society.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Richard Samuel Rubenstein
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2566683386