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Forum on Public Policy Online

Spring 2009 edition (Posted September 2009)

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Social Justice

• Race as a Social Construct:  The Impact on Education
  Ronald Dorris, Professor in Liberal Arts, African American Studies & English, Xavier University of Louisiana
• Twisted Social Justice: Father Coughlin & the Christian Front
  Gene Fein, Director of Academic Services & Adjunct Faculty, Fordham University
• Perspectives on Social Justice
  David G. Gil, Professor of Social Policy, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University
• Education, Policy and Social Justice: Searching the Borderlands Between Subjective Science and Experimental Art
  Andrew Gitlin, Professor, University of Georgia
• Poverty Immigration and Latinos in U.S. Texas Colonias
  Cecilia Giusti, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University
• The Obama Presidency and the Question of Social Justice: A Critical Analysis of the Meaningful Milestone
  Lawrence J. Hanks, Professor, Department of Political Science, Indiana University.
• Linguistic Diversity and Development: the Language Question and Social Justice in Southern Africa
  Themba Moyo, Professor of General Linguistics, University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
• Individual Development Accounts and Social Justice
  Yvette Murphy-Erby, Shikkiah Jordan, Marcia Shobe,  and Kameri Christy-McMullin
• Proudhon, Public Policy, and American Political Traditions
  Joseph Prud’homme and Stuart Farrand
• Social Justice and Evidence-Based Assessment with the Learning Record
  Margaret A. Syverson, Associate Professor, Department of Rhetoric and Writing, Director, The Undergraduate Writing Center, University of Texas at Austin
• Atavistic Culture:  The Bête Noire of Social Change
  Fred Viehe, Professor, Youngstown State University

Race as a Social Construct:  The Impact on Education
Ronald Dorris, Professor in Liberal Arts, African American Studies & English, Xavier University of Louisiana

Abstract 
Today as part of the network of globalization, the United States is trailing through the 21st century on the note of an unfinished past. As a legally segregated entity of United States citizenry from 1896-1954, people of African descent largely would be on their own when it came to creating a positive self-image.  Those who genuinely sought to contribute to a climate for change and growth were hopeful that experimentation with democracy at the expense of Africans in the United States eventually would cease.  
When the Supreme Court Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ruling that had rendered “separate but equal” was overturned with Brown v. Board of Education-Topeka, KS (1954), the latter opinion for the majority informed desegregation relative to education would go forward “with all deliberate speed.”  Given those deliberately throwing roadblocks at speed instead of speeding up a process would slow down that process for years to come.   In addition to the snail pace, another major development was unfolding. The United States closed out domestic social involvement in the 20th century by shifting policy from a banner of segregation to de-segregation and not to integration.  Hence policy central to equitable and quality education remains unaligned with human rights in the 21st century.   

Twisted Social Justice: Father Coughlin & the Christian Front
Gene Fein, Director of Academic Services & Adjunct Faculty, Fordham University

Abstract
The Labor Encyclicals of Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI urged Catholics to engage in a program of social justice, emphasizing a sense of Catholic unity to reach this elusive goal.  In the Depression-era United States, this sense of unity through social justice was twisted by the “radio priest” Father Charles Coughlin, and the followers of his grassroots movement, the Christian Front.  For some American Catholics in 1938, social justice meant a campaign of united Christian action to combat communism.
The Christian Front became part of the fascist minded anticommunist movement of the late 1930s and early 1940s within the context of American Catholic anticommunism.  Communism became the scapegoat for what was wrong in the United States.  In an effort to fulfill their own quest of unity and social justice, (and in an effort to become “better” Catholic Americans), many who joined the Christian Front went on an all-out assault against the perceived greatest enemy of Christianity: communism.  And in their efforts to re-connect to America by using their twisted sense of social justice, Catholics did so at the expense of the Jews.

Perspectives on Social Justice
David G. Gil, Professor of Social Policy, Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University

Education, Policy and Social Justice: Searching the Borderlands Between Subjective Science and Experimental Art
Andrew Gitlin, Professor, University of Georgia
                                   
As the global economic crisis worsens, it is timely to think through the role that education will play and should play within this unprecedented milieu. Historically, public schooling in the United States has been a follower.  Whether Spitnik (Brzezinski, 2008), so called lack of discipline (Cantor & Cantor, 2001), back to basics (Gehring, 2008), or falling standardized test scores (Kaplan, 2008), public schooling has reacted to policy directives as opposed to being at the forefront of these directives. This reactive role has strengthened the conservative nature of this institution by interpreting policy coming into the schools through established dominant traditions and discourses (Gitlin & McConaughy,2008).  This embrace of these dominant traditions and discourses diverts schooling from its potential role in forging policy.  And not just any policy, but policies that can redefine and challenge one of the effects of the current global economic crisis–the growing gap between the “haves” and “have nots”.

Poverty Immigration and Latinos in U.S. Texas Colonias
Cecilia Giusti, Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, Texas A&M University

Abstract
Poverty, inequality, and exclusion are the basis of social justice. While these problems are prevalent in developing countries, they also occur in developed countries.  In the United States, not only is poverty present, but it is also highly concentrated.  Minorities, new immigrants, and women represent the most vulnerable U.S. groups. Officially, poverty is defined based on household incomes, yet characterizing poverty only on the basis of monetary resources is insufficient.  As discussed in this article, poverty can also be classified on quality of life indicators, from housing, health, and education to socialization and political participation.  This paper’s objective is to establish the built environment and financial exclusion–two dimensions of a broad definition of poverty–as the foundation of social justice. A successful microloan program that addresses these two aspects of poverty is presented.  The focus is on the effects of poverty in Texas colonias, ranging from how poverty is defined to its spatial manifestations.
Colonias represent an extreme case of isolation, exclusion, and an inadequately built environment.  Poverty is observed through the quality of space and the capacity of individuals to access financial systems for improvement of their housing and neighborhoods.  Specific policies targeting vulnerable groups within the country are proposed.

The Obama Presidency and the Question of Social Justice: A Critical Analysis of the Meaningful Milestone
Lawrence J. Hanks, Professor, Department of Political Science, Indiana University.

On January 20, 2009, essentially 200 years after the enactment of the embargo against the slave trade, 40 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Hussein Obama became the 44th President of the United States of America. Using the one drop rule for racial designation which has prevailed in the USA for most of its history, America had elected its first black President. Using the new standard created by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2000, America now had its first commonly acknowledged bi-racial President.  All can agree that Obama is not “wholly white,”—he is a “man of color” and therein lays the milestone; someone other than a white male was President of the United States of America.  Analysts on the right were quick to declare that the US had overcome the challenge of race and the term “post-racial” abounded—from their perspective, race as a barrier to social justice had clearly been overcome. While acknowledging the achievement and progress of the major milestone, analyst on the left adamantly rejected the term “post racial” and argued that race still mattered with respect to one’s life chances of success.

Linguistic Diversity and Development: the Language Question and Social Justice in Southern Africa
Themba Moyo, Professor of General Linguistics, University of Zululand, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

 Abstract:  The linguistic landscape of Southern African states, which includes South Africa, is diverse and complex. Multilingualism being a global norm today, this should be an advantage rather than a disadvantage for individual countries. However, the problem is that African countries in Southern Africa, which include South Africa, favour ex-colonial languages rather than indigenous African languages, but it is these tongues that the majority of Africans use in their day-to-day interaction.

The article argues that the non-use of the countries’ pronounced official languages is unjust in the socio-economic and political life, since the citizenry are excluded from fully participating in aspects of their national lives. The central argument, therefore, is that there is absence of social justice to correct the imbalances of the apartheid rule in post-colonial South Africa. South Africa’s constitution of eleven official languages, is hailed as one of the most progressive language policies in the world, but this is only gesturising and theoretical. It is mired in undemocratic practices with absence of rights to the majority of its country’s citizens. In practice, Afrikaans and English are the de facto languages of use in higher education, government, commerce and industry, diplomacy, and in almost all documentation. The linguistic domination continues to politicise the language question and there seems to be lack of the political will to implement appropriate policies.

The article towards the end examines these socio-economic and political consequences of language policies and the impact of the efficacy of various development projects in the region. The challenge is to convince policy makers of the pedagogical usefulness of using African languages in education and also in society, at large, not instead of European languages but in addition to them.

Individual Development Accounts and Social Justice
Yvette Murphy-Erby, Shikkiah Jordan, Marcia Shobe,  and Kameri Christy-McMullin

Abstract
The concept and practice of dedicated savings accounts, called Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), was initiated in the United States nearly 20 years ago. Given that IDAs are in their early development, few research efforts have focused on well-being outcomes associated with IDA programs and asset retention nor have they employed rigorous designs.  Additionally, no current research efforts employ longitudinal designs to explore well-being outcomes.
To bridge this gap, we present justification for such designs and share our experiences in developing and implementing a quasi-experimental, longitudinal, research project focused on well-being outcomes associated with participation in IDA programs in Arkansas and New Mexico.  To place the paper in context, we begin by identifying and addressing the theoretical basis of IDA programs, provide an overview of IDA initiatives nationwide and offer a brief literature review of existing IDA research. We conclude with an overview of lessons learned from the first two years of our proposed ten-year project. 

Proudhon, Public Policy, and American Political Traditions
Joseph Prud’homme and Stuart Farrand

Abstract
In this work we explore the writing of the French political thinker Pierre Joseph Proudhon with the goal of applying his thought to contemporary policy issues in the United States. We do this first by providing a reassessment of Proudhon’s 1840 work What is Property? We seek to correct common misconceptions concerning his understanding of private property and the operation of economic markets. We establish that Proudhon’s thought has commonly been misconstrued as socialist. We show that Proudhon advocates a non-socialist philosophy, but one that provides a sophisticated approach to advancing social justice in the context of a free market. We then apply insights gleaned from Proudhon’s writing to questions surrounding intellectual property claims under United States law.
Rather than advocating socialism, Proudhon defends private property but in a way that renders property rights conditional on non-exploitative use of land and capital. Proudhon seeks to create a background environment in which market transactions will take place, one that will incline market actors to dispose of their private property rights in a socially just manner. We then apply this understanding to controversial issues in American patent law. We end the work by arguing that Proudhon’s ideas should be appreciated as a system of thought bearing striking similarities to key developments in American political history. As such, Proudhon should be seen not as a foreign and radical thinker, but as one who defends enduring political ideals that have resonated throughout American history.    

Social Justice and Evidence-Based Assessment with the Learning Record
Margaret A. Syverson, Associate Professor, Department of Rhetoric and Writing, Director, The Undergraduate Writing Center, University of Texas at Austin

Abstract

The educational system perpetuates social injustice through structural inequities of assessment and evaluation. High-stakes standardized testing has a destructive effect on teaching and learning that affects all students, teachers, and schools; it is particularly damaging for disadvantaged students—minorities, students with disabilities, students from violent or impoverished circumstances, non-native speakers, migrant students, and many others who do not meet cultural “norms.” Yet policy-makers, parents, and administrators fear that without the tests, schools cannot be held accountable for meeting educational standards. Alternative assessments such as portfolios have been tried with little success.
This paper presents the Learning Record, a successful alternative for documenting, analyzing, and evaluating student achievement and performance based on evidence drawn from actual learning environments, and analysis based on research in learning theory. Yet this model answers the need for rigor, validity, and reliability as well. The Learning Record provides an organized, coherent account of student learning through observations and samples of naturally-occurring student work, analysis based on Lev Vygotsky’s dimensions of learning, and evaluation according to criteria established by the teacher, by state frameworks, or other performance criteria. Large-scale assessment with the Learning Record is collaborative, open, public assessment through moderation readings. It is an inherently equitable and positive form of assessment with one fundamental rule: we must document what students demonstrate they know and can do, not their deficits or errors.

Atavistic Culture:  The Bête Noire of Social Change
Fred Viehe, Professor, Youngstown State University

Abstract:
In both Britain and America, lower class youths and young adults organized themselves into street gangs according to atavistic cultural norms emphasizing race, ethnicity and religion.  In mid-nineteenth century America, in major northeastern and Midwestern cities, nativist Protestant street gangs launched neighborhood invasions against Irish and German immigrants via anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic riots, as well as election riots.  The nativists’ goal was to prevent the latter’s socio-economic advancement, and perhaps, to discourage them from remaining in the United States. 
In mid-twentieth century Britain, a similar phenomenon developed with the appearance of the Teddy Boys.  They too organized themselves according to atavistic cultural norms, and in 1958 launched a week-long series of neighborhood invasions against West Indian immigrants in Notting Hill and elsewhere, seeking to prevent West Indians from gaining employment and social advancement.  In effect, atavistic culture in both Britain and the United States pitted those from the lower classes against each other to prevent social change.