Examination

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ECI 507
Social Justice Education
North Carolina State University
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Min Li
November 28, 2014

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Definition of Critical Social Justice
Social justice has been defined by many people by describing specific actions that may
help create a just society. These definitions are concerned with politics, economy, and education,
calling on people to pay attention and take measures to eliminate injustice and build a just
society. However, critical social justice embodies much more than social justice. Critical social
justice is meant to realize ones own positionality in social groups, to think critically about social
injustice that exists in the present society, to transform ones preexisting opinions, and then to
take proper actions to create an equitable society. The definition of critical social justice reflects
a process of transition from thinking to actions, which includes recognition of personal position,
analysis of injustice issues, transformation of personal opinions, and actions of eliminating
injustice.
To explain the definition of critical social justice, first, critical thinking should be in focus.
It is necessary to realize deeper layer of social injustice through critical thinking because
sometimes, the social injustice is difficult to see. If people cannot know the deeper layer of
injustice, they are probably unable to know how to take actions. Therefore, critical thinking is
important. As discussed by Sensoy & DiAngelo (2012), critical thinking requests people to
continuously search out for new information, as well as to understand the historical and social
connection in which the information is acquired and applied. It means that people need to
explore new knowledge of social justice and are not satisfied with only seeing the surface of
social injustice. Furthermore, people need to enforce themselves to analyze why and how the
injustice exists and happens and how to eliminate social injustice. In sum, people should see the
complexity of social justice in addition to the superficial phenomenon.

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Second, the definition of critical social justice involves various social groups. Although
people are individuals, they are also considered as a member of certain social groups. Since one
was born, they were socialized into the norms of culture. Sensoy & DiAngelo (2012) stated that
people should comprehend the relationship of position between one as an individual and one as a
member of certain social groups, as well as the interaction of positionality. The recognition that
where you stand in relation to others in society shapes what you can see and understand (Sensoy
& DiAngelo, 2012, p.187). It is necessary to realize ones positionality and norms of the social
group so that they can transform these social norms. Furthermore, Kumashiro (2000) talked
about Other and he explained Other as the minoritized groups, such as students of color,
students from under or unemployed families, and female students. He realized if he wanted to
talk about anti-oppressive education, he had to clarify the position where people stand in a
society first, and then he could talk about education for Other and education about Other
Kumashiro (2000). Because of the existence of social groups, there is unequal distribution of
resources among social groups, which implies social injustice. Therefore, it is also necessary to
realize ones positionality so that one can see social injustice clearly and take action to eliminate
social injustice.
Third, transformation is one element of the definition of critical social justice.
Transformation is mainly concerned with knowledge and pedagogy. As for knowledge, it means
that people should use new knowledge to challenge their traditional canon (Sensoy & DiAngelo,
2012). The new knowledge makes people see and understand social injustice deeper. However,
since people have preexisting canon, their understanding of social justice is affected and limited.
Therefore, after people think critically about their positionality in a society and social norms,
they need to transform their canon, preexisting opinions or knowledge so that they can take

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actions to make a just society. As for pedagogy, it means if people are expected to transform
their canon, transformative pedagogy is needed to guide people to do that. In sum, both
knowledge and pedagogy are needed for transformation.
Besides, the definition of critical social justice emphasizes equity. Everyone should not be
treated exactly the same. By contrast, each individual deserves according to their specific needs.
Considering individuals places in the society and the relation to social groups, they are getting
unequal resources. This reflects social injustice. The goal of social justice is to eliminate the
injustice and to provide them with equitable access to resources according to their needs to
achieve a true equity in the society.
Confusions or Misconceptions Educators May Hold About Critical Social Justice
Socialization is a confusion that educators may hold about critical social justice. As
mentioned in Sensoy & DiAngelo (2012), when people were born, they experienced
socialization. Socialization happens throughout ones whole life and never stops. The influence
of the forces of socialization is strong and unavoidable. Socialization makes people ignore of
some injustice that exists in the society. Some phenomena that people take for granted actually
may be examples social injustice. Take gender socialization as an example. When people were
born, they were socialized based on their gender, either male or female. Sensoy & DiAngelo
(2012) stated that male should be trained into manliness while females should be trained into
womanliness. People are confined to gender socialization and obey these norms spontaneously
as they grow up. Men do what they think should do and women do what women think should
do. For example, professions are distributed according to their gender. Men tend to be
policemen or lawyers. Women are likely to choose to be teachers or nurses. People think that
professional distribution is reasonable due to the role of social norms. At schools, education

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distinguishes children according to their gender. Boys are encouraged to play football or
basketball, while girls are trained to dance or sing. Because of socialization, educators take it for
granted without giving it a second thought. Some educators believe that once the norm is
violated, peoples behaviors are considered abnormal or appropriate. Consequently, educators
follow the social norms to teach students without realizing the existence of injustice or sexism in
schools.
One misconception that educators may hold about critical social justice is prejudice and
discrimination. People have prejudgment about members that do not belong to our groups
(Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012). The prejudgment originates from ones limited perspectives and
knowledge, which leads to prejudice. Educators may deny they have any prejudices since they
consider prejudices as facts. However, as mentioned in Sensoy & DiAngelo (2012), people
cannot avoid prejudice because it has been built into our socialization. Each individual has
prejudice but they take it for granted. Prejudice is often hard for each individual to realize.
When educators act on these prejudices, discrimination takes place but they still do not admit
that is discrimination. Because educators do not think they have prejudice, they do not think
they act discrimination, either. Consequently, educators are likely to bring prejudices to class
and discriminate against certain groups.
Another confusion that educators may hold is about intersectionality. Intersectionality is
the term scholars use to acknowledge the reality that we simultaneously occupy both oppressed
and privileged positions and that these positions intersect in complex ways (Collins, 2000;
Crenshaw, 1995, cited in Sensoy & DiAngelo 2012, p.115). Intersection of race, class, gender
and intersection of the injustice issues that exist in economy, politics, and education present
educators with the whole picture of social injustice instead of that in isolation. They need to see

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the issues of social injustice from these intersections. For example, educators see the privilege of
white women and at the same time, they need to see that those women are oppressed against
men, which help them analyze the whole picture and educate their students to eliminate the
injustice. As Sensoy & DiAngelo (2012) suggested the dynamics of intersectionality are very
important. People cannot think and dig deep if they do not realize the complexity of
intersectionality. For educators, they feel confused with the intersectionality. Intersectionality is
difficult for educators to see so they are probably unable to know the big picture and easily
ignore some injustice issues.
Reasons Why Educators Should Take on Challenge of Being Critical Social Justice
Advocates
The purpose of critical social justice is to motivate all people actively engage in critical
social justice practice (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012) and create an equitable society. Nowadays,
people can see that social injustice still exists, such as sexism, racism, classism, heterosexism,
etc. The ism words (Sensoy & DiAngelo, 2012) demonstrate the reality of unequal social and
institutional power between dominant and minoritized groups. Because the existence of social
groups, it is impossible for a certain individual to eliminate social injustice. As educators, they
have more opportunities to access to the next generation. It does not matter if they belong to the
dominant groups or the minoritized groups. They are mainstays of the future society. Educators
undertake the task of educating the next generation. Therefore, they should make students have
awareness of social justice and reverse the ism through education. Only in this way can we
gradually eliminate social injustice and make the next generation live in an equitable society.
Besides, Kumashiro (2000) demonstrated that teachers actions or inactions also bring harm to
students. Only educators have awareness of social justice and become advocates, they can take

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the power of social justice to students and make it possible for their students change the world.
Therefore, no matter how difficult the challenge educators may encounter, they should take on
challenge of being critical social justice advocates.
I strongly believe that suffering can raise students awareness of social justice and take
measures to create an equitable society. Mintz (2013) cited Kumashiros saying, students cannot
learn new things that challenge their preexisting opinions or knowledge without experiencing
trouble. Only students go through the pains can they realize the necessity of eliminating social
injustice. Mintzs idea of compassionate suffering aligns with my personal view. Compassionate
suffering involves having students expose to social problems that another person suffers, causing
students painful emotion associated with the suffering, which motivates students to act against
injustice (Mintz, 2013). In addition to the above mentioned, another reason why educators
should be advocates is that they themselves experience compassionate suffering. They see that
students from minoritized groups cannot gain what they deserve. They are exposed to social
injustice, which motivates them to be advocates. Take me for an example, I once watched a film
titled Boys Dont Cry. I suffered the main characters suffering. In that film, the main character,
a female transsexual, was brutally raped and murdered. After watching this film, the main
characters tragic experience motivated me to learn more about social justice and try to be an
advocate against social injustice. The compassionate suffering makes me realize that no matter
whom you are, if you are exposed to social injustice problems that someone else suffers, you will
be motivated to act against social injustice. Compassionate suffering is common. We do not
experience everything personally but we witness, read, or hear about peoples sufferings every
day. As educators, it is necessary to discuss with students about their compassionate suffering. It

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is the way to inspire students consciousness of social justice and have students take action to
create a just world in the future.
Challenges that Educators Should Prepare to Confront
One personal challenge that educators should prepare to confront is their own prejudice.
Prejudice is from peoples own experiences and social norms. Thus, sometimes it is hard for
people to realize the existence of prejudice. Everyone has prejudice and it is hard to change or
eliminate because of historical reasons and limited knowledge. If educators keep their own
prejudice and act them on students, discrimination occurs. It is harmful to students. Students
suffer unfair treatments and easily take them to the society and continue to implement some
behaviors of social injustice, which leads to a vicious cycle of social system. Thus, the goal of
critical social justice will not be achieved. Whats worse, the social system of vicious cycle will
continuously influence other educators determinations of being critical social justice advocates.
They do not see the bright future and easily give up.
If educators are willing to take the role as critical social justice advocates, one professional
challenge would be the limitation of their knowledge construction and pedagogy. As mentioned
in Sensoy & DiAngelo (2012), knowledge is constructed based on social context. Banks (1996)
was cited in Sensoy & DiAngelos book, it is our understanding of social framework and our
own positions in a society that impact on the knowledge. If educators do not realize where they
stand connecting to their social groups, they will not know themselves and will not understand
knowledge well. If their knowledge is limited and superficial, it is impossible to cultivate
students to see social injustice deeply. Especially, nowadays, there are many advertisements,
movies and music videos that contain sexism around us every day. People think it is normal and
do not think sexism exists. As can be seen, social injustice such as sexism becomes invisible. If

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educators do not see the deeper layer of social injustice, they will not be able to educate students
to understand the issues of social injustice. Additionally, if educators lack critical thinking, it is
hard to help students develop their critical thinking skills. Students will not grow faster in their
thinking about social injustice. As for pedagogy, as hooks (1994) mentioned, if teachers can
overcome the challenge of self-fulfillment, they can create pedagogical practices to engage
students and offer the methods of thinking to help students improve the ability of their lives. By
and large, educators should prepare to confront this challenge and try to enrich and renew their
own knowledge construction and pedagogy.
In conclusion, although educators have some confusions and various challenges when they
choose to become critical social justice advocates, I believe that as long as they are determined
and equipped with adequate knowledge, they can overcome the difficulties to help students
understand the importance of eliminating social injustice and help more people to be aware of
social justice and create an equitable society.

References
hooks,b. (1994). Teaching to transgress. New York: Routledge.
Kumashiro, K. K. (2000). Toward a theory of anti-oppressive education. Review of Educational
Research, 70 (1), pp. 25-53.
Mintz, A. I. (2013). Helping by hurting: the paradox of suffering in social justice education.
Theory and Research in Education, 11(3) 215-230.
Sensoy, O. & DiAngelo, R. (2012). Is everyone really equally? New York: Teachers College
Press.