“Society Very Definitely Needs Our Aid”: Reflecting on <i>SPSSI</i> in History

Rutherford, Alexandra; Cherry, Frances; Unger, Rhoda K.

doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2010.01678.x

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…Such figures suggest that a focus on the poorest in the world, in both absolute and relative terms, was stronger in the global special issue than across a wider sample of the psychological literature from the same period. However, we do acknowledge, and caution, that the search term itself was restrictive, and only crudely indicative as a comparison point at best (for examples of the wider literature, see, Anand & Lea, 2011; Bullock, Lott, & Truong, 2011; Rutherford, Cheery, & Under, 2011). Not all of the manuscripts in the special issue itself would have been identified by the search.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Psychology and Poverty Reduction: A Global Special Issue

Carr

Thompson

Dalal

et al. 2014

International Perspectives in Psychology

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A "global special issue" on poverty brought together 9 international psychology journals during 2010 through 2013. The purpose was to highlight psychology's contribution toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These goals are rooted in the "capabilities approach" and highlight the importance of fostering environments that support 3 core domains: health, basic education, and income. Here, we analyze what the global special issue contributed. As a whole the global special issue provided an account of "how" psychology engages with poverty and poverty reduction. First, the global special issue, more than other research on poverty, was focused on lower-and middle-income settings. Second, while the content of the articles could be coded into 3 specific domains (health/well-being, education/development, and society/work), the vast majority of the articles straddled more than 1 category. Third, the contents of the global special issue could be organized in terms of the type of contribution: that is, practicality, theory, description, and advocacy. We highlight the importance of addressing wider situational and sociopolitical structures that constrain capability and potential, without losing sight of the person. Psychology might (a) concentrate resources on finding out what actually works to enable poverty reduction; and (b) apply what we know to ensure that research on poverty reduction is more informative and compelling to community stakeholders, organizations, and policymakers. Such an "implementation science" could advance poverty reduction and human development.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Psychology and Poverty Reduction: A Global Special Issue

Carr

Thompson

Dalal

et al. 2014

International Perspectives in Psychology

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“…Social justice and social responsibility are associated with counseling, counseling psychology, and many other specialty areas within psychology (Constantine, Hage, Kindaichi, & Bryant, 2007;Palmer, 2004;Rutherford, Cherry, & Unger, 2011). Moreover, social justice is foundational to counseling (Kiselica & Robinson, 2001) and counseling psychology (Toporek, Gerstein, Fouad, Roysircar, & Israel, 2006), sister disciplines rooted in the humanistic tradition that emphasize human wellness, strengths, and contextual considerations (Goodyear, 2000;Remley & Herlihy, 2010).…”

Section: Social Justice In Counseling and Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Counseling psychologists are not the only psychologists to have a demonstrated interest in and commitment to social justice and social responsibility. The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), founded in 1936 (Rutherford et al, 2011), and Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR, 2011), founded in 1982, are two groups that also have a long-standing historical commitment to social justice. These movements have also contributed to the increased awareness of social justice and infusion of same throughout the graduate training curriculum.…”

Section: Social Justice In Counseling and Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the nexus among counseling, psychology, and social justice (Ali, Liu, Mahmood, & Arguello, 2008;Crethar & Ratts, n.d.;Goodman, Liang, Helms, Latta, Sparks, & Weintraub, 2004), we were somewhat surprised that there is no common agreement as to what social responsibility or social justice entails. Social justice has been conceptualized as the meeting of everyone's basic needs (Smith, 2003as cited in Goodman et al, 2004, as the culmination of feminism and multiculturalism (Crethar, Rivera, & Nash, 2008), as advocacy (Ratts, Toporek, & Lewis, 2010), and as work to attain myriad specific goals (Rutherford et al, 2011;PsySR, 2011). Social justice has also been conceptualized as research and professional action to assure opportunities and access for historically marginalized people (Goodman et al, 2004).…”

Section: Social Justice In Counseling and Psychologymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Social Justice: Pushing Past Boundaries in Graduate Training

Brady-Amoon

Makhija

Dixit

et al. 2018

jsacp

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This article explores definitions and integration of social justice in graduate training in counseling and psychology. We examine both the professional literature and our own process in pushing past curricular and administrative boundaries by establishing an extra- or co-curricular component to graduate training that supports the further infusion of social justice principles in graduate training. We conclude with a call for further dialogue and action.

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“…More recently, other authors have attributed a culturally significant impact to the historical practices of SPSSI members. According to this interpretation, SPSSI has occupied a “unique position as a mediator between science and society” and “its members have shaped the contours of 20th century American society in myriad ways” (Rutherford, Cherry, & Unger, 2011, p. 5). The evidence presented to support such an assessment, however, consists of allusions to the 1930s when SPSSI was formed and Franklin D. Roosevelt was the U.S. president.…”

Section: Terms and Concepts Of Referencementioning

confidence: 99%

The personal and political economy of psychologists’ desires for social justice.

Walsh

Gokani

2014

Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology

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From an anticapitalist perspective we examine the personal and political economy of the desires for social justice expressed by psychologists associated with either the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) or Behaviorists for Social Responsibility (BSR). First, we consider terms and concepts related to social justice and acknowledge our conceptual debts to critical theory, poststructuralism, feminist epistemology, and liberation psychology. To provide context, we briefly review North American psychologists' historical relationship to the state. Then, after discussing the implications of different accounts of SPSSI's past expressions of interest in social justice, we assess three collections of articles in the last decade of SPSSI's house organ, the Journal of Social Issues. Next, we examine the interests in social justice shown by B. F. Skinner and subsequent generations of operant behaviorists, known as behavior analysts. Overall, our review of these two bodies of literature indicates that authors tended to use the language of social justice loosely and to present liberal political visions, abstracted from direct political involvement and aimed at reforming social conditions. Furthermore, we infer that the privileged socioeconomic status of academic psychologists compromises aspirations to contribute to social action that challenges the status quo. Accordingly, we propose abandoning attempts as psychologists to practice social justice. Instead, we advocate joining emancipatory struggles in solidarity with other citizens, while striving to overcome socioeconomic and intellectual hierarchies in academic psychology.

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“Society Very Definitely Needs Our Aid”: Reflecting on SPSSI in History

Cited by 6 publications

References 24 publications

Psychology and Poverty Reduction: A Global Special Issue

Psychology and Poverty Reduction: A Global Special Issue

Social Justice: Pushing Past Boundaries in Graduate Training

The personal and political economy of psychologists’ desires for social justice.

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