social justice research paper thesis

150 Social Justice Essay Topics & Examples

⭐ top 10 social justice issues to write about, 🏆 best social justice topic ideas & essay examples, ⭐ simple & easy social justice essay titles, 📌 most interesting social justice topics to write about, 👍 good social justice research topics, ❓ research questions about social justice.

Social justice essays are an excellent tool for demonstrating your awareness of the current issues in society.

Inequality in society should be addressed, and social justice advocates are at the forefront of such initiatives. Everyone should be able to achieve their goals and dreams if they put in the effort, assuming of course that reaching that target is at all possible.

To that end, you should ask various social justice essay questions and investigate different situations, particularly those that surround marginalized communities.

While the civil rights movement has succeeded in eliminating discriminatory policies and gender segregation, people should remain vigilant so that inequality again.

There are many topics you can discuss in your essay, but is better to focus on something specific and conduct a detailed investigation. It is easy to take some examples of data that shows a situation that seems unequal and declare that the system is flawed.

However, the data may be inaccurate, and the causes may be different from what you initially perceive them to be. Many fields will be too small for statistic laws to apply, and so there will be a temporary prevalence of people with a specific trait.

Declarations of premature conclusions and calls to action based on these conjectures are not productive and will generally lead to harm.

Be sure to consider evidence from both sides when discussing the topic of injustice, especially in its sensitive applications.

The case of police officers and the racial disparity in arrests is a prominent example, as there is significant disagreement, and neither side can be considered entirely correct.

At other times, unequal treatments may be explained by racial and gender differences without the application of discriminatory practices, particularly with regards to cultural practices.

The importance of justice is above debate, but it is not always about declaring one side correct while the other is wrong and at fault. Humanity operates best when it is unified and follows the same purpose of fairness.

Lastly, try to avoid confusing equality with equity, as the two social justice essay topics are significantly different. The former involves similar starting conditions and opportunities for all people, though they will likely achieve varying successes in life.

The latter means equality of outcomes, meaning that the unsuccessful receive support, which logically has to come at the expense of those who succeed.

You may support either position, with equality being a more traditional concept that seems logical to many people and equity being considered effective at improving the conditions of marginalized communities. However, make your position clear, as the difference is critical and informs your personal concept of social justice.

Here are some additional tips for your paper:

• Separate the points you make in your essay with social justice essay titles. These titles will help the reader navigate the paper and understand your main claims.
• Try to introduce original ideas instead of contributing to ongoing debates. An essay does not allow enough space to let you add something that will change the situation to such discussions.
• The topic of social justice is inherently political, as most suggestions will involve policy-level changes. However, you should try to distance yourself from politics and work with factual information.

Visit IvyPanda to find more social justice essay examples and other useful paper samples to boost your creative process!

• Unemployment.
• Global Warming.
• School Shooting.
• Income Inequality.
• Global Pandemic.
• Social Security.
• Racial & LGBTQ Discrimination.
• Mental Health Stigma.
• Famine and Starvation.
• Discrimination in Voting.
• Social Justice in Education With a clear distinction between justice taught in class and justice allowed to thrive in the school environments, teachers can be able to observe how their students perceive and response to social injustices in the […]
• Jay-Z’s Contribution to Hip-Hop and Fight for Social Justice One should admit that the crime rate among black people in some poor areas is really quite high, and that is another problem Jay-Z covers in his music.
• Advocating for Social Justice in Healthcare However, health care is also often related to the idea of social justice a term that describes the allocation of resources and benefits to people according to their needs and abilities.
• David Miller’s Theory of Desert in Social Justice The dependence of rewards on the variety of external and conditional factors makes the public and scholars question the idea of the desert and its use for justice.
• Social Justice and Mental Health However, it is difficult to imagine the U.S.taking nationwide action on mental health due to the absence of healthcare for physical health, which is widely accepted as a serious issue.
• Social Justice and the Australian Indigenous People The main idea behind the formation of the social justice commission was to give the indigenous Australian people choice by empowering them to stand up for their rights.
• Freedom and Social Justice Through Technology These two remarkable minds have made significant contributions to the debates on technology and how it relates to liberty and social justice.
• Factors of Strategic Management of Social Justice Starting to talk about economic and technological changes that affect the sector of social justice, it is possible to observe tendencies of the level of development of the country from social policy.
• Social Justice from a Philosophical Perspective Although their theories of justice were significant, they would not have existed without Plato’s influence and the contribution that their ideas of justice have made to political philosophy.
• Social Justice in the Modern World The main link in social relations is a measure of social justice, a derivative of the equality of people’s opportunities to realize their potential.
• Social Justice Quotes from “The Wife’s Lament” by Beck “never worse than now ever I suffer the torment of my exile”.”that man’s kinsmen began to think in secret that they would separate us” “so we would live far apart in the world” “My lord […]
• Social Justice in Counseling Psychology The other barrier which is likely to arise in the process of integrating social justice in the workplace is legal and ethical issues.
• Social Justice and Vulnerability Theories When the country’s economic analyzers assess the status of the economy, the older people are regarded as the first group of the population that is pulling the economy backward because they are entirely dependent.
• Social Justice in Social Work Practice The moral approach of social work is fundamentally based on the idea of social justice. Despite the numerous risks associated with advocating for social justice, criticizing injustice is one of the few courageous ways to […]
• Journal Editors’ Role Regarding Social Justice Issues Journal editors can involve professionals from social justice forums such as civil rights lawyers in their journals as well as reduce the complexity of the presentation of social justice article contents.
• Researching the Concept of Social Justice A special kind of justice is social justice, the subjects of which are large social groups, society as a whole, and humanity.
• The Role of Quilting in the African American Striving for Social Justice Perhaps quilting has become not only one of the symbols of African American national culture but also a way in which many black women have become visible and significant.
• Promoting Social Justice Through Serving God Therefore, serving God in action correlates with the promotion of social justice and reflects the importance of Christian teachings about kindness towards others.
• Social Justice and Importing Foreign Nurses Evaluation Given the lag between the submission of the article and its publication, it means that these sources most likely reflect the situation with the recruitment of foreign-educated nurses by the end of the 2000s.
• Promoting Social Justice With Head Start Program This essay will discuss the role of the Head Start program in the promotion of social justice in the US, focusing on the values taught to the children and the activities that constitute the program.
• Religion, Politics, and Social Justice Organized religions want to change and implement rebranding to fit the new trend, concentrating on social justice in general rather than the individual spiritual aspirations of a person or a family.
• Social Justice and Its Relevance in This Century To put the issue in perspective, he references the civil rights movement of the 1960s and juxtaposes it against the fact that the US had a black president.
• Social Justice Arts as a Remedy for People The work led to the formation of the movement called Black Lives Matter which calls for an end to oppressing black people through law enforcement.
• Social Justice, Diversity and Workplace Discrimination It also includes the fair distribution of the national wealth and resources among all citizens and the unbiased treatment of all individuals.
• Social Justice: Why Do Violations Happen? If there is social inequality in a society, it must be corrected to serve the interests of the most oppressed groups of the population.
• Social Justice From the Biblical Point of View Furthermore, all oppressed and poor people are considered to be “righteous” in the Bible because it “is a reflection of God’s faithful love in action and his desire for justice and righteousness in this world”.
• Definition of Social Justice and Social Justice in Leadership They should evaluate the situation, identify areas that need improvement and develop a plan to support the achievement of social justice.
• Community Engagement and Social Justice Promotion Furthermore, as social justice is integrated into the curriculum, I would like to participate in practice-oriented assignments and class discussions to make a meaningful change.
• Social Justice Leadership and Supervision While the concepts of leadership and supervision tend to be referenced within the clinical contend and primarily apply to the responsibilities of the professionals in mental institutions, the issues articulated in the article and chapters […]
• Uganda’s Economic Planning and Social Justice On the eastern, it borders Kenya, North is Southern Sudan, to the west is DRC and to the southwest is Rwanda, while to the South is Tanzania.
• Rise of Mental Social Justice It relates to the social justice leadership in clinical and supervisory practice in mental health settings by challenging the modern tenets of managerialism and neoliberalism.
• Social Justice in the US Healthcare System Social justice is a relatively broad concept, the interpretation of which often depends on the political and economic views of an individual.
• Conceptualizing Supervision in Search of Social Justice Based on these findings, it could be concluded that Social justice leadership is meant to become the remedy and the ideological, political, and medical opponent of the dominant positivist biomedical paradigm.
• Researching HIV, AIDS and Social Justice Disney claims that poverty and social injustice lead to the spread of HIV/AIDS among underprivileged people in all countries. The disease was a kind of stigma and infected people were subjected to discrimination and alienation.
• Equal Pay Convention Ratified by New Zealand and Ensuring Social Justice This paper seeks to identify whether the ratification of the International Labour Organisation equal pay for an equal value of work Convention by New Zealand delivered social justice to the women in the New Zealand […]
• Influence of Socioeconomic Status and Social Justice on Health in the US In the video, Richard David and James Collins have determined that racism, inappropriate social policies, and chronic stress are major social factors that lead to the delivery of low-weight babies among African American women.
• Social Justice Perspective Thus public health deals not only with the guarantee of a long healthy life but also regulate and control the death rate, try to expand the life interval, and other things that the policy of […]
• Deaf Youth: Social Justice Through Media and Activism The Deaf Youth USA for instance strives to educate, inspire, and empower the deaf youth to make difference in the communities.
• Re-Examining Criminal and Social Justice Systems: Reducing Incarceration Rates in the US The changes in criminal justice policy over the past decades and the alteration of the same from one of rehabilitative and social justice to one of retributive justice and increasing reliance on imprisonment as a […]
• Social Justice and Ethics: Beneficiaries of U.S. Welfare Programs In United States the beneficiaries include the poor, the old, the disabled, survivors, farmers, corporations and any other individual who may be eligible.
• Social Justice and Feminism in America So as to make a change in this situation, the feminists in America took efforts to improve the condition of women.
• Equality of Opportunity and Social Justice: Affirmative Action If this is the situation in advanced nations of the world, the plight in the newly emerging states in Africa, Asia, and Latin America can easily be imagined as to how difficult would it be […]
• Christianity Religion and Asian World: Social Justice It was also said that the greatest botched opportunity in all church history was in the 1260s the court of the great Kublai Khan asked the Polos when they returned to Italy in 1269 to […]
• Social Justice for Indigenous Women in Canada However, the problem of social justice or, to be more accurate, the lack thereof becomes especially poignant when considering criminal issues and their management, as well as the factors that contribute to reducing the rates […]
• Social Justice and Educational Reform in the US People are free to develop their individual attitudes to the importance of social justice in education and leadership. Social justice may be used in the creation of job announcements, proposals, and statements to attract attention […]
• Social Justice in Quality Health Care The provision of accessible health services is necessary to minimize the health risks of the low-income households and improve their quality of life.
• What Is Social Justice? To my mind, the two most important principles of justice that should be used to govern within a just society are the selection of highly virtuous state leaders and government representatives to put in charge […]
• Social Justice: Philosophy of Employment The philosophy of empowerment supports dignity and self-worth; as such, value to all people, regardless of their status or race is an important rule of empowerment.
• American Women’s Movements for Social Justice Like Alice Walker, Deborah Gray, and Collins, Tyra Banks continues the legacy of black women since she is ready to campaign against racism, sexism, and discrimination.
• Social Justice Group Work for Homeless Young Mothers The group discussed in the article was started for the purpose of assisting residents address the problem of homelessness especially in aspects of parenting and during pregnancy periods.
• Readings for Diversity and Social Justice: An Anthology In that way, the authors noted that racial and ethnic differences tend to produce impact on lives of communities in the entirety of their aspects, and thus can aggravate other social justice issues.
• Health Care Services: Social Justice Analysis For instance, the level of poverty in the USA is on the rise, and many people simply have no funds to purchase their health insurance. In conclusion, it is possible to note that social justice […]
• Social Justice Issues: Elderly Minority Groups Students should know the peculiarities of the populations in question and should be aware of practices and services available to those patients.
• Black Lives Matter and Social Justice Social media is a new public platform that has proved to be extremely effective in fighting against the normalization of violence against African-Americans.
• Ethics and Social Justice in Education Policies The real-life problem that contributes to those controversies is the multicultural genuineness of the community that was exposed to the federal and state standard reforms that transpired throughout the last ten years.
• Administrative Constitutionalism and Social Justice The current point of view at the crimes and violence is predestined by the commercial pressure applied to the mass media sources. In the majority of the cases, popular media becomes the viral source of […]
• Counselors as Social Justice Advocates The compelling vision of social justice is to achieve “free, full, and equal participation” of all groups in society to realize their aspirations and mutual needs.
• U.S. Postal Service’s Ethics and Social Justice In spite of the fact that the current agency was organized in 1971, the background of the organization is related to the development of the first postal service in the country based on the U.S.
• Ethics Issues: Social Justice In other words, it is observed that an individual has a duty of ensuring that the law is followed while the government is expected to provide the basic rights and freedoms.
• Education and Social Justice The society should also reduce the gap between the poor and the rich. The current level of inequality explains why “every school should reinvent itself in order to deal with social injustice”.
• Social justice and the black – white achievement gap From a national perspective, the achievement gap between the Black and White is reported to have narrowed down in 2007 as compared to the same gap in 1990.
• Setting an Agenda for Social Justice According to Wilkinson, Brundrett is a professor of Educational Research in the Faculty of Education, Community, and Leisure and the head of the Centre for Research and Evaluation, in the Liverpool John Moores University.
• Prosperity and Social Justice The short story was also the subject of debate when it was first written because it failed to fit in any particular genre at the time.”The Yellow Wallpaper” was mostly considered a horror story when […]
• Social Justice: Wray’s Essential Aspects of Biblical Law and Justice Wray has conducted an extensive study on the subject of social justice and suggests that students taking any course on law or social justice must go back to the origins of these laws and justice, […]
• Social Justice: The Catholic’s Social Teachings on Justice The church also seeks to instill value in the prisoners’ lives through teachings and practices that accept prisoners as people who deserve to be treated with dignity.
• Social and Criminal Justice Responses to Sex Work The negative attitude of the community and the criminalization of sex works made workers of his industry vulnerable and susceptible for the physical assaults of men in the street, their customers and even policemen.
• Is Social Justice the Same Thing as Political Egalitarianism? An Analysis from a Theory of Justice Perspective This is the question that is likely to arise when one is analyzing social justice in the context of political developments in the society.
• Social Justice and Gay Rights This perception of gays was radically reformed thanks to the efforts of gay rights movements which trace their roots to the 1960s and the Stonewall Riots of 1969 which marked the birth of the gay […]
• The People Demand Social Justice: The Social Protest in Israel as an Agoral Gathering
• The Woman Who Spoke of Love and Social Justice
• Peace and Eco-Social Justice: Failed Distributive Justice, Violence and Militancy in India
• Spirituality, Women ‘s Issues, Sustainability, and Social Justice
• Multicultural Counseling Social Justice and Advocacy Reaction
• The Paradox of Dominate Ideologies in The Fight of Social Justice
• Letter from Birmingham Jail’ by Martin Luther King Jr. and Social Justice
• Richard Spencer and the Issues of Social Justice and White Nationalism
• The Moving Beyond Pity and Inspiration: Disability as a social Justice Issue by Eli Clare
• The Importance of Human Rights and Social Justice
• Social Justice: The Role of Higher Education, Criminality and Race
• Turning Points in the Lives of Chinese and Indian Women Leaders Working Toward Social Justice
• Paulo Freire’s Social Justice Idea
• Producing and Practicing Social Justice in Education
• Urban Social Justice: The Gentrification Debate
• The Role of Education in Society as Explained in Conell’s Social Justice in Education
• The Issues of the Canadian Social Services and Social Justice Domain
• Wellbeing, Freedom, and Social Justice: The Capability Approach
• The Principle of Social Justice and Advocacy Support
• The Biblical Prophets’ Teachings on the Love of God in Social Justice
• The Relationship Between Free Market and Social Justice
• Uneasy Bedfellows: Social Justice and Neo-Liberal Practice in the Housing Market
• The Ethics of Pricing and Access to Health Care: A Social Justice Issue
• Measuring Attitudes Toward Distributive Justice: The Basic Social Justice Orientations Scale
• The Importance of the Covenant House as a Symbol of Christian Social Justice
• Social Justice Orientation and Multicultural Environment
• The New Political Economy of J. S. Mill: The Means to Social Justice
• The ‘s Coat of Arms Are Trust, Empathy, and Social Justice
• The Vietnam War and Its Impact on The Creation of Social Justice
• Race Relations and Social Justice Problems
• Poverty, Inequality and Social Justice in Nonmetropolitan America
• Rape Culture, Rapth, and the Cycles of Social Justice
• The Three Social Justice Issues That Fires Me Up as a Citizen in the United States
• Reading Baldwin After Harvey: Why Climate Change Is a Social Justice Issue
• The Importance of Social Justice Is Universal Across
• Effective Practice During The Social Justice System
• The Issue of Social Justice Activism in Various Social Media Networks
• Sustainable Development and Social Justice: Expanding the Rawlsian Framework of Global Justice
• Once Upon Today: Teaching for Social Justice with Postmodern Picturebook
• The Congressional Black Caucus Use of Social Media for Social Justice Issues
• The Effective Teaching Techniques of Lisa Espinosa in Providing Information on the Topic of Cultural Relevance and Social Justice
• Reading Baldwin After Harvey: Why Climate Change Is a Social Justice Issue?
• How Does Social Justice Highlight the Relationship Between Social Welfare and Crime Control?
• Social Justice and Academic Success: Is Individual Effort Enough?
• Rawls’s Theory of Social Justice: How Decisions Are Made?
• Are Consultation and Social Justice Advocacy Similar Exploring the Perceptions?
• How Arc Advances Social Justice?
• What Are the Different Factors Affect Social Justice?
• What Does the Information Society Mean for Social Justice and Civil Society?
• What Is the Connection Between Curricular Practices, Social Justice and Democratic Purpose in the United States Education System?
• How the United States Has Both Market and Social Justice?
• What Is the Impact of Social Justice on The United States?
• What Is the Impact of Social Justice on Human Development?
• How Does Social Justice Actions Project?
• When High Pressure, System Constraints, and a Social Justice Mission Collide?
• What Is the Concept of Social Justice Social Work?
• What Is the Connection Between Free Market and Social Justice?
• What Is the Goal of Social Justice Education?
• What Social Justice Issues Are You Most Passionate About?
• What Is Consist Social Justice Western Perspectives?
• How Social Justice Course Changed My Outlook?
• What Are the Three Social Justice Issues That Fires Up as a Citizen in the United States?
• What Has Limited the Impact of UK Disability Equality Law on Social Justice?
• What Is Rawls’ Expanding Framework for Global Justice?
• How Does the Film “Lord of Flies” Relate to Social Justice?
• Does the Legal System Promote Social Justice?
• Are the People Demand Social Justice?
• Social Justice and the University Community: Does Campus?
• What Does “Social Justice” Mean?
• What Does Teaching for Social Justice Mean for Teachers?
• Why Is Education a Social Justice and Right for Each Child?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Home — Essay Samples — Sociology — Individual and Society — Social Justice

Essays on Social Justice

Prompt samples for crafting a social justice essay.

Starting with the right prompt can set the tone for a powerful social justice essay. Prompts such as "Analyze the impact of systemic racism on education" or "Explore the role of social media in social justice movements" encourage critical thinking and provide a clear direction for your research and argumentation.

Brainstorming and Selecting a Compelling Social Justice Essay Topic

Choosing an impactful topic is crucial for writing an engaging social justice essay. Consider the following points during your brainstorming session:

• Relevance: Select a topic that is timely and resonates with current social justice issues.
• Passion: Choose an issue you are passionate about. Authentic interest will enhance your writing.
• Originality: Aim for a unique angle or perspective to stand out.
• Researchability: Ensure there are ample resources and research available on your chosen topic.

Innovative Social Justice Essay Topics

Avoid common and broad topics by focusing on specific issues. Here are several thought-provoking essay topics:

• The Intersectionality of Gender, Race, and Class in Education Disparities
• Critical Analysis of Environmental Justice in Urban Planning
• The Influence of Art and Culture in Propagating Social Justice Movements
• Evaluating the Effectiveness of Restorative Justice in Criminal Justice Reform
• The Role of Technology in Enhancing Accessibility and Advocacy

Inspirational Phrases and Paragraph Samples for Your Social Justice Essay

Here are examples of paragraphs and phrases to inspire your writing and help structure your essay:

Analyzing the Role of Social Media in Amplifying Social Justice Movements

Social media platforms have emerged as powerful tools for social justice advocacy, enabling grassroots movements to gain global attention. This section explores how digital activism transforms public discourse and mobilizes support for social justice causes.

The Critical Impact of Environmental Injustice on Marginalized Communities

Environmental injustice perpetuates inequality, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. This analysis delves into case studies where environmental policies have failed these communities and proposes solutions for equitable environmental governance.

Exploring Intersectionality as a Framework for Social Justice

Intersectionality provides a comprehensive approach to understanding the multifaceted nature of oppression. By examining the intersections of race, gender, and class, this essay highlights the importance of an inclusive social justice movement.

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The Biblical Prophets' Teachings on The Love of God in Social Justice

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Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.

In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fulfill their societal roles and receive what was their due from society. In the current movements for social justice, the emphasis has been on the breaking of barriers for social mobility, the creation of safety nets, and economic justice. Social justice assigns rights and duties in the institutions of society, which enables people to receive the basic benefits and burdens of cooperation.

The relevant institutions often include taxation, social insurance, public health, public school, public services, labor law and regulation of markets, to ensure distribution of wealth, and equal opportunity.

The five main principles of social justice include access to resources, equity, participation, diversity, and human rights.

1. Tyler, T. R. (2000). Social justice: Outcome and procedure. International journal of psychology, 35(2), 117-125. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1080/002075900399411) 2. Zajda, J., Majhanovich, S., & Rust, V. (2006). Introduction: Education and social justice. International Review of Education/Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft/Revue Internationale de l'Education, 9-22. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/29737064) 3. Capper, C. A., Theoharis, G., & Sebastian, J. (2006). Toward a framework for preparing leaders for social justice. Journal of educational administration. (https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/09578230610664814/full/html) 4. Leach, M., Stirling, A. C., & Scoones, I. (2010). Dynamic sustainabilities: technology, environment, social justice (p. 232). Taylor & Francis. (https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/52748) 5. Kluegel, J. R., Mason, D. S., & Wegener, B. (1995). Social justice and political change. De Gruyter.. (https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110868944/html) 6. Duff, W. M., Flinn, A., Suurtamm, K. E., & Wallace, D. A. (2013). Social justice impact of archives: a preliminary investigation. Archival Science, 13, 317-348. (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10502-012-9198-x) 7. McKenzie, K. B., Christman, D. E., Hernandez, F., Fierro, E., Capper, C. A., Dantley, M., ... & Scheurich, J. J. (2008). From the field: A proposal for educating leaders for social justice. Educational administration quarterly, 44(1), 111-138. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013161X07309470?journalCode=eaqa) 8. Nussbaum, M. (2002). Capabilities and social justice. International Studies Review, 4(2), 123-135. (https://academic.oup.com/isr/article-abstract/4/2/123/1794864) 9. Apple, M. W. (2009). Global crises, social justice, and education. In Global crises, social justice, and education (pp. 9-32). Routledge. (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203861448-5/global-crises-social-justice-education-michael-apple) 10. Jost, J. T., & Kay, A. C. (2010). Social justice: History, theory, and research. (https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2010-03506-030)

Relevant topics

• Discourse Community
• Effects of Social Media
• Cultural Appropriation
• American Identity
• Sex, Gender and Sexuality
• Media Analysis
• Social Media
• Sociological Imagination

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Type of Information You Need

Where to look for research.

• Voter Education

What kind of information will you need?

By  using various kinds of information,  you can develop a good picture of your topic and  write about it convincingly . 

• Definitions of words or concepts
• Historical information 
• Biographical data (e.g. dates of birth & death, parents' names)
• Demographic data or population statistics 
• Experimental data & studies 
• Book or film reviews
• Essays or opinion pieces
• Literature reviews 
• Academic/ scholarly articles

As the subject of social justice is very large, you will probably have more success researching it if you focus on a narrower topic within it. Below are a few ideas for focusing your research.

Civil Rights:

• Affirmative Action
• Brown v. Board of Education
• Housing Policy
• Voting Rights Act 
• Americans with Disabilities Act
• Black Lives Matter Movement 

Law Enforcement & Criminal Justice:

• Adult Sentencing for Juveniles 
• Police Brutality
• Wrongful Conviction
• Mass Incarceration
• Mandatory Minimums

Immigration:

• Amnesty / Refugees
• Border Security
• Immigrant Labor
• Migrant Workers / Farm Workers
• Deportation 

Income Inequality:

• Homeless Rights
• Social Welfare Reform
• Minimum Wage (Federal or State)
• Affordable Care Act / Health Care Reform
• Student Debt Crisis 
• Labor Unions

Gender Inequality:

• Pay Gap  
• Women's Health Care
• Roe v Wade 
• Maternity Leave (or Paternity Leave)
• Online Harassment (example: Gamergate) 

LGBT Rights:

• Marriage Equality 
• Same Sex Adoption
• Obergefell v. Hodges
• Transgender Discrimination
• Conversion Camps 
• Violence Against Transgender Persons 

Other Cultural, Ethnic, & Gender Minority Issues:

• Portrayal in Media & Popular Culture
• Unequal Representation in Government
• Cultural Appropriation 
• Erasure from History 
• Targeted Assaults (i.e. Hate Crimes) 

Reference books

• Include  encyclopedias, dictionaries, almanacs, biographies, directories, and atlases .
• Great for setting a foundation for your understanding of a topic.
• These are usually reliable sources of widely accepted, factual data. 

Academic Journals  

• Collections of research articles, case studies, literature reviews, reports, experimental studies, and other writing. 
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8 Tips For Writing A Social Justice Essay

Social justice covers a variety of issues involving race, gender, age, sexual orientation, income equality and much more. How do you write an essay on a social justice issue that’s engaging, informative and memorable? Here are eight tips you should take to heart when writing:

When writing a social justice essay, you should brainstorm for ideas, sharpen your focus, identify your purpose, find a story, use a variety of sources, define your terms, provide specific evidence and acknowledge opposing views.

#1. Brainstorm creatively

Before you start writing your social justice essay, you need a topic. Don’t hesitate to look far and wide for inspiration. Read other social justice essays, look at recent news stories, watch movies and talk to people who are also interested in social justice. At this stage, don’t worry about the “trendiness” of your idea or whether a lot of people are already writing about it. Your topic will evolve in response to your research and the arguments you develop. At the brainstorming stage, you’re focused on generating as many ideas as possible, thinking outside the box and identifying what interests you the most. Take a free online course to get a better understanding of social justice.

You can take a creative brainstorming approach! A blog on Hubspot offers 15 creative ideas such as storyboarding, which involves laying out ideas in a narrative form with terms, images and other elements. You can also try freewriting, which is when you choose something you’re interested in. Next, write down everything you already know, what you need to know but don’t already, why the topic matters and anything else that comes to mind. Freewriting is a good exercise because it helps you decide if there’s any substance to a topic or if it’s clear there’s not enough material for a full essay.

#2. Sharpen your topic’s focus

The best essays narrow on a specific social justice topic and sharpen its focus, so it says something meaningful and interesting. This is often challenging, but wrestling with what exactly you want your essay to say is worth the effort. Why? An essay with a narrow, sharp focus has a clearer message. You’re also able to dig deeper into your topic and provide better analysis. If your topic is too broad, you’re forced to skim the surface, which produces a less interesting essay.

How do you sharpen your essay’s focus? Grace Fleming provides several tips on ThoughtCatalog . First, you can tell your topic is too broad if it can be summarized in just 1-2 words. As an example, “health inequity” is way too broad. Fleming suggests applying the questions, “Who, what, where, when, why and how,” to your topic to narrow it down. So, instead of just “health inequity,” you might end up with something like “The impact of health inequity in maternal healthcare systems on Indigenous women.” Your topic’s focus may shift or narrow even further depending on the research you find.

Writing a human rights topic research paper? Here are five of the most useful tips .

#3. Identify your purpose

As you unearth your topic and narrow its focus, it’s important to think about what you want your essay to accomplish. If you’re only thinking about your essay as an assignment, you’ll most likely end up with a product that’s unfocused or unclear. Vague sentiments like “Everyone is writing about social justice” and “Social justice is important” are also not going to produce an essay with a clear purpose. Why are you writing this essay? Are you wanting to raise awareness of a topic that’s been historically ignored? Or do you want to inspire people to take action and change something by giving them concrete how-to strategies? Identifying your purpose as soon as possible directs your research, your essay structure and how you style your writing.

If you’re not sure how to find your purpose, think about who you’re writing for. An essay written for a university class has a different audience than an essay written for a social justice organization’s social media page. If there are specific instructions for your essay (professors often have requirements they’re looking for), always follow them closely. Once you’ve identified your purpose, keep it at the front of your mind. You’ll produce an essay that’s clear, focused and effective.

#4. Find a human story

The best social justice essays don’t only provide compelling arguments and accurate statistics; they show your topic’s real-world impact. Harvard’s Kennedy School’s communications program describes this process as “finding a character.” It’s especially useful when you’re writing something persuasive. Whatever your topic, try to find the human stories behind the ideas and the data. How you do that depends on the nature of your essay. As an example, if you’re writing something more academic, focusing too much on the emotional side of a story may not be appropriate. However, if you’re writing an essay for an NGO’s fundraising campaign, focusing on a few people’s stories helps your reader connect to the topic more deeply.

How do you choose what stories to feature? Harvard suggests choosing someone you have access to either through your research or as an interview subject. If you get the opportunity to interview people, make sure you ask interesting questions that dig beneath the surface. Your subject has a unique perspective; you want to find the information and stories only they can provide.

#5. Rely on a variety of sources

Depending on your essay’s purpose and audience, there might be certain sources you’re required to use. In a piece for Inside Higher Ed, Stephanie Y. Evans describes how her students must use at least 10 source types in their final paper assignment. Most of the time, you’ll have a lot of freedom when it comes to research and choosing your sources. For best results, you want to use a wide variety. There are a few reasons why. The first is that a variety of sources gives you more material for your essay. You’ll access different perspectives you wouldn’t have found if you stuck to just a few books or papers. Reading more sources also helps you ensure your information is accurate; you’re fact-checking sources against one another. Expanding your research helps you address bias, as well. If you rely only on sources that reflect your existing views, your essay will be much less interesting.

While we’re talking about sources, let’s touch on citations. If you’re writing an essay for school, your teacher will most likely tell you what citation method they want you to use. There are several depending on the discipline. As an example, in the United States, social science disciplines like sociology and education tend to use the American Psychological Association (APA) style. Some places are very rigid about citation styles, while others are more relaxed. If you’re writing an essay where your citation won’t be checked, you still need to give credit to any ideas, thoughts, or research that’s not yours. Proper citation builds trust with your reader and boosts your credibility.

Here are more tips on writing a human rights essay!

#6. Define your key terms

To make your essay as clear and effective as possible, you want every reader on the same page right at the beginning. Defining your key terms is an important step. As Ian Johnston writes, creating an effective argument requires “the establishment of clear, precise, and effective definitions for key terms in the arguments.” You may have to adapt an existing definition or write your own. Johnston offers principles such as adjusting a definition based on the knowledge of who you’re writing for, focusing on what a term is and not just on its effects, and expanding a definition so it covers everything a reader needs to know.

How do you decide which terms are important in your essay? First, never assume a reader understands a term because it’s “obvious.” The most obvious terms are often the ones that need the clearest definitions. If your reader doesn’t know exactly what you’re talking about when you use a term like “health equity,” your essay won’t be as effective. In general, you want to define any terms relevant to your topic, terms that are used frequently and terms with distinct meanings in the context of your essay.

#7. Provide specific evidence and examples

Social justice issues are grounded in reality, so an essay should reflect that. Don’t spend your whole paper being philosophical or hypothetical. As an example, let’s say you’re writing an essay about desertification in Mali. Don’t discuss desertification as an abstract concept. Include real statistics and case studies on desertification in Mali, who it’s affecting the most and what is being done about it. For every argument you make, present supporting evidence and examples.

The strength of your evidence determines the strength of your arguments. How do you find strong evidence? Cite This For Me lists a handful of examples , such as studies, statistics, quotes from subject matter experts and/or reports, and case studies. Good evidence also needs to be accurate and in support of your argument. Depending on your essay topic, how current a piece of evidence is also matters. If you’re not relying on the most current evidence available, it can weaken your overall argument. Evidence should also be as specific as possible to your topic. Referring back to our desertification in Mali essay, that means locating examples of how desertification affects people in Mali , not in Chad or Russia.

Academic essay writing requires specific skills. Here’s an online introductory course on academic writing .

#8. Acknowledge your critics

Not every social justice essay requires an acknowledgment of opposing viewpoints, but addressing critics can strengthen your essay. How? It lets you confront your critics head-on and refute their arguments. It also shows you’ve researched your topic from every angle and you’re willing to be open-minded. Some people worry that introducing counterarguments will weaken the essay, but when you do the work to truly dissect your critic’s views and reaffirm your own, it makes your essay stronger.

The University of Pittsburgh offers a four-step strategy for refuting an argument. First, you need to identify the claim you’re responding to. This is often the trickiest part. Some writers misrepresent the claims of their critics to make them easier to refute, but that’s an intellectually dishonest method. Do your best to understand what exactly the opposing argument is claiming. Next, make your claim. You might need to provide specific evidence, which you may or may not have already included in your essay. Depending on the claim, your own thoughts may be a strong enough argument. Lastly, summarize what your claim implies about your critics, so your reader is left with a clear understanding of why your argument is the stronger one.

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About the author, emmaline soken-huberty.

Emmaline Soken-Huberty is a freelance writer based in Portland, Oregon. She started to become interested in human rights while attending college, eventually getting a concentration in human rights and humanitarianism. LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, and climate change are of special concern to her. In her spare time, she can be found reading or enjoying Oregon’s natural beauty with her husband and dog.

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Language & Social Justice in the United States: An Introduction

Walt Wolfram , a Fellow of the American Academy since 2019, is one of the pioneers of sociolinguistics. He is the William C. Friday Distinguished University Professor at North Carolina State University, where he also directs the Language and Life Project. He has published more than twenty books and three hundred articles on language variation, and has served as executive producer of fifteen television documentaries, winning several Emmys. His recent publications include Fine in the World: Lumbee Language in Time and Place (with Clare Dannenberg, Stanley Knick, and Linda Oxendine, 2021) and African American Language: Language Development from Infancy to Adulthood (with Mary Kohn, Charlie Farrington, Jennifer Renn, and Janneke Van Hofwegen, 2021).

Anne H. Charity Hudley is Associate Dean of Educational Affairs and the Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education and African and African-American Studies and Linguistics, by courtesy, at the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. She is the author of four books: The Indispensable Guide to Undergraduate Research (with Cheryl L. Dickter and Hannah A. Franz, 2017), We Do Language: English Language Variation in the Secondary English Classroom (with Christine Mallinson, 2013), Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools (with Christine Mallinson, James A. Banks, Walt Wolfram, and William Labov, 2010), and Talking College: Making Space for Black Linguistic Practices in Higher Education (with Christine Mallinson and Mary Bucholtz, 2022). She is a Fellow of the Linguistic Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Guadalupe Valdés , a Fellow of the American Academy since 2020, is the Bonnie Katz Tenenbaum Professor of Education, Emerita, in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University. She is also the Founder and Executive Director of the English coaching organization English Together. Her books Con Respeto: Bridging the Distances Between Culturally Diverse Families and Schools: An Ethnographic Portrait (1996) and Learning and Not Learning English: Latino Students in American Schools (2001) have been used in teacher preparation programs for many years. She has recently published in such journals as Journal of Language, Identity, and Education; Bilingual Research Journal; and Language and Education.

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Walt Wolfram , Anne H. Charity Hudley , Guadalupe Valdés; Language & Social Justice in the United States: An Introduction. Daedalus 2023; 152 (3): 5–17. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/daed_e_02014

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In recent decades, the United States has witnessed a noteworthy escalation of academic responses to long-standing social and racial inequities in its society. In this process, research, advocacy, and programs supporting diversity and inclusion initiatives have grown. A set of themes and their relevant discourses have now developed in most programs related to diversity and inclusion; for example, current models are typically designed to include a range of groups, particularly reaching people by their race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, gender, and other demographic categories. Unfortunately, one of the themes typically overlooked, dismissed, or even refuted as necessary is language. Furthermore, the role of language subordination in antiracist activities tends to be treated as a secondary factor under the rubric of culture. Many linguists, however, see language inequality as a central or even leading component related to all of the traditional themes included in diversity and inclusion strategies. 1 In fact, writer and researcher Rosina Lippi-Green observes that “Discrimination based on language variation is so commonly accepted, so widely perceived as appropriate, that it must be seen as the last back door to discrimination. And the door stands wide open.” 2

Even academics, one of the groups that should be exposed to issues of comprehensive inclusion, have seemingly decided that language is a low-priority issue. As noted in a 2015 article in The Economist :

The collision of academic prejudice and accent is particularly ironic. Academics tend to the centre-left nearly everywhere, and talk endlessly about class and multiculturalism…. And yet accent and dialect are still barely on many people's minds as deserving respect. 3

As such, as the editors of this collection, we have commissioned thirteen essays that address specific issues of language inequality and discrimination, both in their own right and directly related to traditional themes of diversity and inclusion.

Recent issues of Dædalus have addressed immigration, climate change, access to justice, inequality, and teaching in higher education, all of which relate to language in some way. 4 The theme of the Summer 2022 issue is “The Humanities in American Life: Transforming the Relationship with the Public.” As an extension of that work, the essays in this volume focus on a humanistic social science approach to transforming our relationship with language both in the academy and at large.

There is a growing inventory of research projects and written collections that consider issues of language and social justice, including dimensions such as raciolinguistics, linguistic profiling, multilingual education, gendered linguistics, and court cases that are linguistically informed. Those materials cover a comprehensive range of language issues related to social justice. The collection of essays in this Dædalus volume is unique in its breadth of coverage and extends from issues including linguistic profiling, raciolinguistics, and institutional linguicism to multilingualism, language teaching, migration, and climate change. The authors are experts in their respective areas of scholarship, who combine strong research records with extensive engagement in their topics of inquiry.

The initial goal of this Dædalus issue is to demonstrate the vast array of social and political disparity manifested in language inequality, ranging from ecological conditions such as climate change, social conditions of interand intralanguage variation, and institutional policies that promulgate the notion and the stated practice of official languages and homogenized, monolithic norms of standardized language based on socially dominant speakers. These norms are socialized overtly and covertly into all sectors of society and often are adopted as consensus norms, even by those who are marginalized or stigmatized by these distinctions. As linguist Norman Fairclough notes in Language and Power , the exercise of power is most efficiently achieved through ideology-manufacturing consent instead of coercion. 5 Practices that appear universal or common sense often originate in the dominant class, and these practices work to sustain an unequal power dynamic. Furthermore, there is power behind discourse because the social order of discourses is held together as a hidden effect of power, such as standardization and national/official languages, and power in discourse as strategies of discourse reflect asymmetrical power relations between interlocutors in sets of routines, such as address forms, interruptions, and a host of other conversational routines. In this context, the first step in addressing these linguistic inequalities is to raise awareness of their existence, since many operate as implicit bias rather than overt, explicit bias recognized by the public.

Unfortunately, and somewhat ironically, higher education has been slow in this process; in fact, several essays in this collection show that higher education has been an active agent in the reproduction of linguistic inequality at the same time that it advocates for equality in many other realms of social structure. 6 Two essays in particular explore underlying notions of standardization and the use of language in social presentation and argumentation. The essays also address language rights as a fundamental human right. In “Language Standardization & Linguistic Subordination,” Anne Curzan, Robin M. Queen, Kristin VanEyk, and Rachel Elizabeth Weissler discuss how ideologies about standardized language circulate in higher education, to the detriment of many students, and they include a range of suggestions and examples for how to center linguistic justice and equity within higher education.

Curzan and coauthors give us an important overview of language standardization:

We have suggested some solutions to many of the issues we've highlighted in this essay; however, implementing solutions in a meaningful way first requires recognition of how important language variation is for our everyday interactions with others. Second, implementing solutions depends on recognizing how our ideas about language (standardized or not) can pose a true barrier to meaningful change. Such recognition includes the understanding that much of what we think about language often stands as a proxy for what we think about people, who we are willing to listen to and hear, and who we want to be with or distance ourselves from. 7

In “Addressing Linguistic Inequality in Higher Education: A Proactive Model,” Walt Wolfram describes a proactive “campus-infusion” program that includes activities and resources for student affairs, academic affairs, human resources, faculty affairs, and offices of institutional equity and diversity. Wolfram's essay shows directly and specifically how academics aren't always the solution but, as a whole, are complicit in linguistic exclusion. He writes:

A casual survey of university diversity statements and programs indicates that a) there is an implicitly recognized set of diversity themes within higher education and b) it traditionally excludes language issues. 8 Topics related to race, ethnicity, gender, religion, sexual preference, and age are commonly included in these programs, but language is noticeably absent, either by explicit exclusion or by implicit disregard. Ironically, issues of language intersect with all of the themes in the canonical catalog of diversity issues. 9

The absence of systemic language considerations from most diversity and inclusion programs and their limited role in antiracist initiatives is a major concern for these programs, since language is a critical component for discrimination among the central themes in the extant canon of diversity. Language is an active agent in discrimination and cannot be overlooked or minimized in the process.

Some of the essays in this volume of Dædalus address the sociopolitical dominance of a restricted set of languages and its impact on the lives of speakers of devalued languages. The authors of these essays consider the effects of climate, social, educational, legal, and political dissonance confronted by speakers of nondominant languages. They also show how the metaphors of “disappearance” and “loss” obscure the colonial processes responsible for the suppression of Indigenous languages. People who speak an estimated 90 percent of the world's languages have now been linguistically and culturally harmed due to the increasing dominance of a selected number of “world languages” and changes in the physical and topographical ecology. The authors describe the implications of this extensive language subjugation and endangerment and the consequences for the speakers of these languages. Both physical and social ecology are implicated in this threat to multitudes of languages in the world.

Linguistics in general, and sociolinguistics in particular, has a significant history of engagement in issues of social inequality. From the educational controversies over the language adequacy of marginalized, racialized groups of speakers in the 1960s, as in linguist William Labov's A Study of Non-Standard English , to ideological challenges to multilingualism and the social and cultural impact of the devaluing of the world's languages, as described in the essays by Wesley Y. Leonard, Guadalupe Valdés, and Julia C. Fine, Jessica Love-Nichols, and Bernard C. Perley, the role of language is a prominent consideration in the actualization and dispensation of social justice. 10

In addition, this collection addresses areas of research that are complementary to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ 2017 report by the Commission on Language Learning, America's Languages: Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century . 11 In spite of the long-term presence of the teaching of languages other than English in the American educational system, concern over “world language capacity” has surfaced periodically over a period of many years because of the perceived limitations in developing functional additional language proficiencies. The consensus view (as in Congressman Paul Simon's 1980 report The Tongue-Tied American ) has been that foreign/world language study in U.S. schools is generally unsuccessful, that Americans are poor language learners, and that focused attention must be given to the national defense implications of these language limitations. 12 In the 2017 Language Commission report, foreign/world language study is presented as 1) critical to success in business, research, and international relations in the twenty-first century and 2) a contributing factor to “improved learning outcomes in other subjects, enhanced cognitive ability, and the development of empathy and effective interpretive skills.” 13

The Academy's report presents information about languages spoken at home by U.S. residents (76.7 percent English, 12.6 percent Spanish). It also includes a graphic illustrating the prevalence of thirteen other languages (including Chinese, Hindi, Filipino and Tagalog, and Vietnamese) commonly spoken by 0.13 percent to 0.2 percent of the population, as well as a category identified as all other languages (a small category comprising 2.2 percent of residents of the United States). 14 The report focuses on languages - rather than speakers-and recommends: 1) new activities that will increase the number of language teachers, 2) expanded efforts that can supplement language instruction across the education system, and 3) more opportunities for students to experience and immerse themselves in “languages as they are used in everyday interactions and across all segments of society.” It also specifically mentions needed support for heritage languages so these languages can “persist from one generation to the next,” and for targeted programming for Native American languages. 15

While it effectively interrupted the monolingual, English-only ideologies that permeate ideas on language in the United States, the conceptualization of language undergirding the report needs to be greatly expanded. The report focuses on developing expertise in additional language acquisition as the product of deliberative study. For example, in the case of heritage languages (defined as those non-English languages spoken by residents of the United States), the report highlights efforts such as the Seal of Biliteracy. Through this effort (now endorsed by many states around the country), high school students who complete a sequence of established language classes and pass a state-approved language assessment can obtain an official Seal of Biliteracy endorsement. Unfortunately, the series of courses and the assessments required to obtain the Seal are only available in a limited number of languages. The report mentions other efforts, including dual language immersion programs, yet it does not recognize family- and community-gained bilingualism and biliteracy. Notably, the report specifically laments what are viewed as limited literacy abilities of heritage language speakers and recommends making available curricula specially designed for heritage language learners and Native American languages.

The view of language that the report is based on is a narrow one and does not represent the linguistic realities of the majority of bilingual and multilingual students. In her contribution to this volume, “Social Justice Challenges of ‘Teaching’ Languages,” Guadalupe Valdés “specifically problematize[s] language instruction as it takes place in classroom settings and the impact of what I term the curricularization of language as it is experienced by Latinx students who ‘study’ language qua language in instructed situations.” 16 Valdés shows us how these specific issues play out in what is typically viewed as the neutral “teaching” of languages. She writes that challenges to

linguistic justice [result] from widely held negative perspectives on bi/multilingualism and from common and continuing misunderstandings of individuals who use resources from two communicative systems in their everyday lives. My goal is to highlight the effect of these misunderstandings on the direct teaching of English. 17

In “Refusing ‘Endangered Languages’ Narratives,” Wesley Y. Leonard draws from his experiences as a member of a Native American community whose language was wrongly labeled “extinct”:

Within this narrative, I begin with an overview of how language endangerment is described to general audiences in the United States and critique the way it is framed and shared. From there, I shift to an alternative that draws from Indigenous ways of knowing to promote social justice through language reclamation. 18

Leonard encourages us to directly refute “dominant endangered languages narratives” and replace the focus on the actors of harm in Indigenous communities with a focus on the creativity and resolve of native scholars working to revitalize native language and culture. As he states, the “ultimate goal of this essay is to promote a praxis of social justice by showing how language shift occurs largely as a result of injustices, and by offering possible interventions.” 19

In “Climate & Language: An Entangled Crisis,” Julia C. Fine, Jessica Love-Nichols, and Bernard C. Perley

note that these academic discourses-as well as similar discourses in nonprofit and policy-making spheres-rightly acknowledge the importance of Indigenous thought to environmental and climate action. Sadly, they often fall short of acknowledging both the colonial drivers of Indigenous language “loss” and Indigenous ownership of Indigenous language and environmental knowledge. We propose alternative framings that emphasize colonial responsibility and Indigenous sovereignty. 20

Fine, Love-Nichols, and Perley present models of how language and climate are intertwined. They write, “Scholars and activists have documented the intersections of climate change and language endangerment, with special focus paid to their compounding consequences.” The authors “consider the relationship between language and environmental ideologies, synthesizing previous research on how metaphors and communicative norms in Indigenous and colonial languages influence environmental beliefs and actions.” 21

The essays in this volume profile a wide range of language issues related to social justice, from everyday hegemonic comments to legislative policies and courtroom testimony that depend on language reliability and the linguistic credibility of witnesses who do not communicate in a mainstream American English variety. In 1972, the president of the Linguistic Society of America, Dwight Bolinger, gave his presidential address titled “Truth is a Linguistic Question” as a forewarning of the linguistic accountability of public reporting of national events. In his other work, he describes language as “a loaded weapon.” Through these essays, we find both concepts to be true. 22

Over recent decades, the field of linguistics has developed a robust specialization in areas that pay primary attention to the application of a full range of legal and nonlegal verbal, digital, and document communication that is at the heart of equitable communication strategies. Language variation is also a highly politicized behavior, extending from the construct of a “standardized language” considered essential for writing and speaking to the use of language in negotiating the administration of social and political justice. The essays on linguistic variation and sociopolitical ideology, by Curzan and coauthors, Jonathan Rosa and Nelson Flores, and H. Samy Alim, examine both the ideological underpinnings of consensual constructs such as “standard” versus “nonmainstream” and their use in the political process of persuasion and sociopolitical implementation. 23 The authors in this section address key issues of language variation and language discrimination that demonstrate the vitality of language in issues of social justice, both independent of and related to other attributes of social justice. This model includes standardization in media platforms, as described in Rosa and Flores's essay, demonstrating the systemic othering of those who do not speak this variety as their default dialect.

In “Rethinking Language Barriers & Social Justice from a Raciolinguistic Perspective,” Rosa and Flores show how “the trope of language barriers and the toppling thereof is widely resonant as a reference point for societal progress.”

We argue that by interrogating the colonial and imperial underpinnings of widespread ideas about linguistic diversity, we can connect linguistic advocacy to broader political struggles. We suggest that language and social justice efforts must link affirmations of linguistic diversity to demands for the creation of societal structures that sustain collective well-being. 24

Rosa and Flores present and update their raciolinguistics model in current spaces where race meets technology. With this emerging technology as a reference point, they demonstrate why “it is crucial to reconsider the logics that inform contemporary digital accent-modification platforms and the broader ways that purportedly benevolent efforts to help marked subjects modify their language practices become institutionalized as assimilationist projects masquerading as assistance.” They also note that disability has always been part of the story-and needs to be brought back to light-sharing that Mabel Hubbard and Ma Bell, who were both influential on modern linguistic technology, were deaf women. 25

In “Black Womanhood: Raciolinguistic Intersections of Gender, Sexuality & Social Status in the Aftermaths of Colonization,” Aris Moreno Clemons and Jessica A. Grieser “call for an exploration of social life that considers the raciolinguistic intersections of gender, sexuality, and social class as part and parcel of overarching social formations.” They center the Black woman as the prototypical Other, her condition being interpreted neither by conventions of race nor gender. As such, we take “Black womanhood as the point of departure for a description of the necessary intersecting and variable analyses of social life.” Clemons and Greiser “interrogate the intersections of gender, sexuality, and social status, focusing on the experiences of Black women who fit into and lie at the margins of these categories.”

They highlight the work of semiotician Krystal A. Smalls, who “reveals a model for how interdisciplinary reading across fields such as Black feminist studies, Black anthropology, Black geographies, and Black linguistics can result in expansive and inclusive worldmaking.” 26

In “Asian American Racialization & Model Minority Logics in Linguistics,” Joyhanna Yoo, Cheryl Lee, Andrew Cheng, and Anusha Ànand “consider historical and contemporary racializing tactics with respect to Asians and Asian Americans.” Such racializing tactics, which they call model minority logics,

weaponize an abstract version of one group to further racialize all minoritized groups and regiment ethnoracial hierarchies. We identify three functions of model minority logics that perpetuate white supremacy in the academy, using linguistics as a case study and underscoring the ways in which the discipline is already mired in racializing logics that differentiate scholars of color based on reified hierarchies. 27

The authors consider the often-overlooked linguistic experiences of Asian Americans in linguistics and show how “ideological positioning of Asian Americans as “honorary whites” is based on selective and heavily skewed images of Asian American economic and educational achievements that circulate across institutional and dominant media channels.” 28

In “Inventing ‘the White Voice’: Racial Capitalism, Raciolinguistics & Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies,” H. Samy Alim explores

how paradigms like raciolinguistics and culturally sustaining pedagogies, among others, can offer substantive breaks from mainstream thought and provide us with new, just, and equitable ways of living together in the world. I begin with a deep engagement with Boots Riley and his critically acclaimed, anticapitalist, absurdist comedy Sorry to Bother You in hopes of demonstrating how artists, activists, creatives, and scholars might: 1) cotheorize the complex relationships between language and racial capitalism and 2) think through the political, economic, and pedagogical implications of this new theorizing for Communities of Color. 29

Alim digs deep into models of aspirational whiteness in Sorry to Bother You and shows how it goes past the mark. In the script, Boots states, “It's not really a white voice. It's what they wish they sounded like. So, it's like, what they think they're supposed to sound like.” All of the authors in this section examine varied kinds of intervention strategies and programs in institutional education and social action that can raise awareness of and help to ameliorate linguistic subordination and sociolinguistic inequality in American society.

From our perspective, it is not sufficient to raise awareness and describe linguistic inequality without attempting to confront and ameliorate that inequality. Thus, our third and final set of papers by John Baugh, Sharese King and John R. Rickford, and Norma Mendoza-Denton offer legal and policy alternatives that implement activities and programs that directly confront issues of institutional inequality. As linguist Jan Blommaert puts it, “we need an activist attitude, one in which the battle for power-through-knowledge is engaged, in which knowledge is activated as a key instrument for the liberation of people, and as a central tool underpinning any effort to arrive at a more just and equitable society.” 30 Our authors illustrate the communicative processes involved when we use our human capacity for language to work toward justice.

In “Linguistic Profiling across International Geopolitical Landscapes,” Baugh “explore[s] various forms of linguistic profiling throughout the world, culminating with observations intended to promote linguistic human rights and the aspirational goal of equality among people who do not share common sociolinguistic backgrounds.” 31 Baugh extends his previous work on linguistic profiling into the international geopolitical landscape and notes, in countries that have them, the role that language academies play in reinforcing narrow norms, showing how those practices relate to practices in countries where these processes are more organic and situated in the educational systems.

In “Language on Trial,” King and Rickford draw on their case study of the testimony of Rachel Jeantel, a close friend of Trayvon Martin, in the 2013 trial of George Zimmerman v. The State of Florida . 32 They show that despite being an ear-witness (by cell phone) to all but the final minutes of Zimmerman's interaction with Trayvon, and despite testifying for nearly six hours about it, her testimony was dismissed in jury deliberations. “Through a linguistic analysis of Jeantel's speech, comments from a juror, and a broader contextualization of stigmatized speech forms and linguistic styles,” they show that “lack of acknowledgment of dialectal variation has harmful social and legal consequences for speakers of stigmatized dialects.” 33 Their work complements legal scholar D. James Greiner's essay on empiricism in law, from a previous volume of Dædalus , to show how empirical linguistic analysis should be included in such models. 34 As King and Rickford state:

Alongside the vitriol from the general public, evidence from jury members suggested that not only was Jeantel's speech misunderstood, but it was ultimately disregarded in more than sixteen hours of deliberation. With no access to the court transcript, unless when requesting a specific playback, jurors did not have the materials to reread speech that might have been unfamiliar to most if they were not exposed to or did not speak the dialect. 35

In “Currents of Innuendo Converge on an American Path to Political Hate,” Norma Mendoza-Denton shows that politicians’ “innuendo such as enthymemes, sarcasm, and dog whistles” gave us “an early warning about the type of relationship that has now obtained between Christianity and politics, and specifically the rise of Christian Nationalism as facilitated by President Donald Trump.” She demonstrates that “two currents of indirectness in American politics, one religious and the other racial, have converged like tributaries leading to a larger body of water.” 36

Anne H. Charity Hudley concludes the collection with “Liberatory Linguistics,” offering the model as “a productive, unifying framework for the scholarship that will advance strategies for attaining linguistic justice […] [e]merging from the synthesis of various lived experiences, academic traditions, and methodological approaches.” She highlights promising strategies from her work with Black undergraduates, graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty members as they endeavor to embed a justice framework throughout the study of language broadly conceived that can “improve current approaches to engaging with structural realities that impede linguistic justice.” 37 Charity Hudley ends by noting how this set of essays is in conversation with the 2022 Annual Review of Applied Linguistics on social justice in applied linguistics, and the forthcoming Oxford volumes Decolonizing Linguistics and Inclusion in Linguistics , which “set frameworks for the professional growth of those who study language and create direct roadmaps for scholars to establish innovative agendas for integrating their teaching and research and outreach in ways that will transform linguistic theory and practice for years to come.” 38

As our summaries suggest, this collection of essays is diverse and comprehensive, representing a range of situations and conditions calling for justice in language. We hope these essays, along with other publications on this topic, broaden the conversations across higher education on language and justice. We are extremely grateful to the authors who have shared their knowledge, research, advocacy, and perspectives in such lucid, accessible presentations.

See, for example, the statement by the Linguistic Society of America, “LSA Statement on Race,” May 2019, https://www.linguisticsociety.org/content/lsa-statement-race .

Rosina Lippi-Green, English with an Accent: Language, Ideology, and Discrimination in the United States (New York: Routledge, 2012).

R. L. G., “The Last Acceptable Prejudice,” The Economist , January 29, 2015, https://www.economist.com/prospero/2015/01/29/the-last-acceptable-prejudice .

Cecilia Menjívar, “The Racialization of ‘Illegality,’“ Dædalus 150 (2) (Spring 2021): 91-105, https://www.amacad.org/publication/racialization-illegality ; Jessica F. Green, “Less Talk, More Walk: Why Climate Change Demands Activism in the Academy,” Dædalus 149 (4) (Fall 2020): 151-162, https://www.amacad.org/publication/climate-change-demands-activism-academy ; D. James Greiner, “The New Legal Empiricism & Its Application to Access-to-Justice Inquiries,” Dædalus 148 (1) (Winter 2019): 64-74, https://www.amacad.org/publication/new-legal-empiricism-its-application-access-justice-inquiries ; Irene Bloemraad, Will Kymlicka, Michèle Lamont, and Leanne S. Son Hing, “Membership without Social Citizenship? Deservingness & Redistribution as Grounds for Equality,” Dædalus 148 (3) (Summer 2019): 73-104, https://www.amacad.org/publication/membership-without-social-citizenship-deservingness-redistribution-grounds-equality ; and Sandy Baum and Michael McPherson, “The Human Factor: The Promise & Limits of Online Education,” Dædalus 148 (4) (Fall 2019): 235-254, https://www.amacad.org/publication/human-factor-promise-limits-online-education .

Norman Fairclough, Language and Power , 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2001).

Stephany Brett Dunstan, Walt Wolfram, Andrey J. Jaeger, and Rebecca E. Crandall, “Educating the Educated: Language Diversity in the University Backyard,” American Speech 90 (2) (2015): 266-280, https://doi.org/10.1215/00031283-3130368 .

Anne Curzan, Robin M. Queen, Kristin VanEyk, and Rachel Elizabeth Weissler, “Language Standardization & Linguistic Subordination,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 31, https://www.amacad.org/publication/language-standardization-linguistic-subordination .

Kendra Nicole Calhoun, “Competing Discourses of Diversity and Inclusion: Institutional Rhetoric and Graduate Student Narratives at Two Minority Serving Institutions” (PhD diss., University of California, Santa Barbara, 2021), https://www.proquest.com/openview/552b09ea236453a210e8b541d03188fe/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y .

Walt Wolfram, “Addressing Linguistic Inequality in Higher Education: A Proactive Model,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 37, https://www.amacad.org/publication/addressing-linguistic-inequality-higher-education-proactive-model .

William Labov, A Study of Non-Standard English (Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics, 1969), https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED024053.pdf ; Wesley Y. Leonard, “Refusing ‘Endangered Languages’ Narratives,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): https://www.amacad.org/publication/refusing-endangered-languages-narratives ; Guadalupe Valdés, “Social Justice Challenges of ‘Teaching’ Languages,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): https://www.amacad.org/publication/social-justice-challenges-teaching-languages ; and Julia C. Fine, Jessica Love-Nichols, and Bernard C. Perley, “Climate & Language: An Entangled Crisis,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 84-98, https://www.amacad.org/publication/climate-language-entangled-crisis .

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, America's Languages: Investing in Language Education for the 21st Century (Cambridge, Mass.: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2017), https://www.amacad.org/publication/americas-languages .

Paul Simon, The Tongue-Tied American: Confronting the Foreign Language Crisis (New York: The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1980), https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED206188 .

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, America's Languages , vii.

Valdés, “Social Justice Challenges of ‘Teaching’ Languages,” 53.

Leonard, “Refusing ‘Endangered Languages’ Narratives,” 69.

Fine, Love-Nichols, and Perley, “Climate & Language,” 84.

Dwight Bolinger, Language: The Loaded Weapon—The Use and Abuse of Language Today (New York: Routledge, 2021).

Curzan et al., “Language Standardization & Linguistic Subordination”; Jonathan Rosa and Nelson Flores, “Rethinking Language Barriers & Social Justice from a Raciolinguistic Perspective,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 99-114, https://www.amacad.org/publication/rethinking-language-barriers-social-justice-raciolinguistic-perspective ; and H. Samy Alim, “Inventing ‘The White Voice’: Racial Capitalism, Raciolinguistics & Culturally Sustaining Pedagogies,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 147-166, https://www.amacad.org/publication/inventing-white-voice-racial-capitalism-raciolinguistics-culturally-sustaining .

Rosa and Flores, “Rethinking Language Barriers & Social Justice from a Raciolinguistic Perspective,” 99.

Ibid., 101-102.

Aris Moreno Clemons and Jessica A. Grieser, “Black Womanhood: Raciolinguistic Intersections of Gender, Sexuality & Social Status in the Aftermaths of Colonization,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 115, 117, 119, 124, https://www.amacad.org/publication/black-womanhood-raciolinguistic-intersections-gender-sexuality-social-status-aftermaths .

Joyhanna Yoo, Cheryl Lee, Andrew Cheng, and Anusha Ànand, “Asian American Racialization & Model Minority Logics in Linguistics,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 130, https://www.amacad.org/publication/asian-american-racialization-and-model-minority-logics-linguistics .

Ibid., 134.

Alim, “Inventing ‘The White Voice,’“ 147.

Jan Blommaert, “Looking Back, What Was Important?” Ctrl+Alt+Dem, April 20, 2020, https://alternative-democracy-research.org/2020/04/20/what-was-important .

John Baugh “Linguistic Profiling across International Geopolitical Landscapes,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 167, https://www.amacad.org/publication/linguistic-profiling-across-international-geopolitical-landscapes .

John R. Rickford and Sharese King, “Language and Linguistics on Trial: Hearing Rachel Jeantel (and Other Vernacular Speakers) in the Courtroom and Beyond,” Language 92 (4) (2016): 948-988, https://www.linguisticsociety.org/sites/default/files/Rickford_92_4.pdf .

Sharese King and John R. Rickford, “Language on Trial,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 178, https://www.amacad.org/publication/language-on-trial .

Greiner, “The New Legal Empiricism & Its Application to Access-to-Justice Inquiries.”

King and Rickford, “Language on Trial,” 181.

Norma Mendoza-Denton, “Currents of Innuendo Converge on an American Path to Political Hate,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 194, https://www.amacad.org/publication/currents-innuendo-converge-american-path-political-hate .

Anne H. Charity Hudley, “Liberatory Linguistics,” Dædalus 152 (3) (Summer 2023): 212, https://www.amacad.org/publication/liberatory-linguistics .

Alison Mackey, Erin Fell, Felipe de Jesus, et al., “Social Justice in Applied Linguistics: Making Space for New Approaches and New Voices,” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 42 (2022): 1-10, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190522000071 ; Anne H. Charity Hudley and Nelson Flores, “Social Justice in Applied Linguistics: Not a Conclusion, but a Way Forward,” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 42 (2022): 144-154, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190522000083 ; Anne H. Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson, and Mary Bucholtz, eds., Decolonizing Linguistics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming); and Anne H. Charity Hudley, Christine Mallinson, and Mary Bucholtz, eds., Inclusion in Linguistics (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

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116 Social Justice Essay Topics

🏆 best essay topics on social justice, 🔎 easy social justice research paper topics, 🎓 most interesting social justice research titles, 💡 simple social justice essay ideas, ❓ social justice research questions.

• Social Justice in Nursing Practice
• The Social Justice Concept Definition
• The Concept of Social Justice in Nursing
• Gender Equity and Social Justice in Schoolchildren
• Ethics and Social Justice in Mental Health System
• The Environment and Social Justice
• Gun Violence as the Social Justice Issue
• Social Justice and Civil Rights Justice is guaranteed by the emergence of appropriate civil rights for various populations, which limits the freedom of others but makes life fairer for all.
• Criminal and Social Justice Intersection: Annotated Bibliography The annotated bibliography of the sources where the criminal and social justice intersection relations are researched.
• Racial Discrimination as a Social Justice Issue Racial discrimination is more pronounced in other US regions than others, and that is why the respective states need to work harmoniously to avert social evil.
• Social Justice Protests Regarding Abortions This study aims to understand abortion rights and how they were significant in women’s equality. Roe v. Rode was a case that challenged the rule about abortion.
• Creative Voices as Social Justice Advocates Poetic language presents information in a way that enables readers to relate the message to their personal experiences and make informed decisions.
• Social Justice, Education, and Critical Pedagogy Education plays a significant role in development. Praxis is the philosophical concept that allows learners to bring into action theories and ideas taught in class.
• Engineering Ethics Education for Social Justice The incident at Morales is a case that provides the reader and the viewers with a moral problem that is arguably confronted at work and home.
• The Social Justice and Nutrition in a Family This paper provides a wider understanding of the practical application of social justice and how the social determinants of health can be used in the description of the family.
• Criminal and Social Justice The example of the PATRIOT Act is especially useful in this regard, as it stands as a shining example of government legislation being misappropriated.
• Individual Responsibilities on Definirion of Social Justice Issues Considering divergent opinions from reviews concerning the non-precision or non-existence of the definition of social justice.
• General Definitions of Social Justice It is essential to provide several general definitions of social justice that will allow us to fully understand and appreciate this concept.
• Social Justice and Barriers in Healthcare One of the most important social justice topics that relate not only to nursing in particular but to healthcare in general, is affordable healthcare.
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Its Contribution to Social Justice This paper focuses on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discussing its coverage in scholarly literature, implications for the public, and discussions in Congress.
• The Principle of Social Justice in World Religions This essay examines the principle of social justice as the subject of a comparative study among the three schools of thought: Islam, Christianity, and Judaism .
• Autonomy and Social Justice for African American and Latino Populations These study objectives are formulated so that the findings will promote autonomy and social justice among the study population.
• Social Justice: American Arab, Jewish American, and Africans Jewish Americans have many variations of cultural features depending on the degree of involvement in religion.
• Exploration of Social Justice Aspects One can state that the government should play a significant role in support for families with children while ensuring child welfare measures being taken are fair.
• The Climate of Social Justice, Racism, COVID-19, and Other Issues The paper argues ideas of music, culture and society are contended to be inseparably connected, which can be clarified through the space of ethnomusicology.
• Advocating for Social Justice Nurses should continue advocating for social justice and suggest strategies to fix the system, making the system genuinely fair.
• Social Justice in Britain’s Workforce Although racism has been outlawed as a social vice, nonetheless, racial discrimination is still one of the major ethical dilemmas in the modern workplace.
• Working for Social Justice Instances of social inequality are common in the current century. This paper discusses the different authors who address the topic of social justice.
• Female Genital Cutting and Social Justice A female genital cutting is a form of female circumcision extremely detrimental to the natural function of the female body.
• Social Justice and Sustainable Business Practices Corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies are gradually acquiring legal effects as they are integrated into elements such as supply chain contracts and labor law.
• The Black Lives Matter Movement as the Call for Social Justice: Analyzing Available Sources of Information A range of sources shed light on the movement The Black Lives Matter, its goals, and the accomplishments that it has achieved so far. This paper analyses some of them.
• American Policing and Social Justice Social justice is a phenomenon that reflects the economic, political, legal, and moral conditions of life and the development of society.
• Catholic Moral Teaching on Charity and Social Justice This paper discusses why Catholic moral teaching is so concerned with charity and social justice and how it can influence the rate of immorality that goes on in this world.
• Social Justice to Maintain Democracy in Australia This essay will look into the impact of social justice concepts in maintaining democracy in Australian society.
• Reconciliation, Australian Aborigines, and Social Justice The objective of the paper is to discuss the relevance of the policy of reconciliation and relevance of the policy of reconciliation to social justice for Australian Aborigines.
• Narrative for Advancing a Social Justice Agenda Gender parity in education is changing, but gender inequality continues to exist in favor for boys in Los Angles.
• Teacher’s Reflection, Liberal Arts and Social Justice The use of reflection by a teacher in the process of writing and thinking enables him/her to reflect on how effective a lesson is.
• Social Justice and Books: Educational Aspects Sherman Alexie’s quote is quite harsh, but true: young adult fiction should not become milder or sweeter just because some of the critics see is as too daunting.
• Getting Involved in Advocacy Practice for Social Justice Analyzing the main factors influencing the willingness of people to get involved in advocacy efforts is the key to figuring out how to boost the activity of the workers.
• Social Justice and Pregnant Addicted Mothers When a pregnant mother is addicted to alcohol and drug, she may end up causing irreparable damage to the unborn child.
• Social Justice and Equality in America There is no single vision of the idea of equality in American society, especially with references to the concept of social justice.
• Social Justice Towards War Veterans
• Freedom, Capitalism, and Institutions for Delivering Social Justice
• Social Justice, Utilitarianism, and Indigenous Australians
• Public Health and Social Justice in the Age of Chadwick
• Social Justice, Free Market Style
• Self-Ownership and Social Justice among Libertarians
• Special Education, Social Justice, and Effective Learning
• Old and New Testament Views on Social Justice Religion
• Criminal Justice, Social Justice, and Morality
• Social Justice Reformers and the Progressive Era
• How Social Justice Is Taught in Elementary School?
• Social Justice Orientation and Multicultural Environment
• Hispanic Social Justice Issue
• Social Justice and the LGBT Community
• The Social Justice Issue in the United States
• 19th Century Jihads and Social Justice, Security, and Prosperity
• Human Morality and Social Justice
• Justice and the Moral Code of Social Justice
• Social Justice and the Performing Arts in Appalachia
• Technology and the Advancement of Social Justice
• Ottawa Charter Social Justice Principles
• Relationship Between Education and Social Justice
• Legal and Social Justice for Hispanics and Women
• Criminal and Social Justice Issues
• Natural Resources, Economic Rents, and Social Justice in Contemporary Africa
• Social Justice and Adult Education
• Health and Social Justice Issues in Saharan Country
• Social Justice Movement and Social Work
• Residential Segregation and Social Justice
• Social Justice Towards Students with Disabilities
• Racial Discrimination, the Complete Opposite of Social Justice
• Parental Participation for Social Justice in Education
• Social Justice and Its Impact on the United States
• The Vietnam War and Its Impact on the Creation of Social Justice
• Social Justice Historic Marxist Classical Writers Believe
• How the Congressional Black Caucus Uses Social Media to Address Social Justice Issues
• Social Justice and Injustice in Kenya
• Race, Medicine, and Social Justice: Pharmacogenetics, Diversity, and the Case of Bid
• Social Justice and the Canadian Correctional System
• The Biblical Prophets’ Teachings on the Love of God in Social Justice
• Social Justice: The Role of Higher Education, Criminality and Race
• Multicultural Education and Social Justice Education
• Globalization and Social Justice in OECD Countries
• Social Justice and Special Needs Students
• Income Disparity and Social Justice Based on Graph
• Social Justice and Different Views of Natural Law among XIX Century Economics
• Producing and Practicing Social Justice in Education
• What Does Teaching for Social Justice Mean for Teacher?
• Nations and Social Classes as the Greatest Barriers to Social Justice
• Anthropology and Social Justice Convergence
• What Does Social Justice Mean?
• Are Consultation and Social Justice Advocacy Similar?
• What Are the Principles of Social Justice and Inclusion?
• Does Perceiving the Poor as Warm and the Rich as Cold Enhance Perceived Social Justice?
• What Has Limited the Impact of UK Disability Equality Law on Social Justice?
• How Does the Film “Lord of the Flies” Relate to Social Justice?
• Why Are Diversity and Inclusion Important for Social Justice?
• How Can Social Justice Be Achieved in Our Society Today?
• What Is the Most Important Issue in Social Justice?
• Does Social Justice Highlight the Relationship Between Social Welfare and Crime Control?
• What Is Needed to Achieve Social Justice?
• Is Social Justice Just About Equality?
• What Is the Relationship Between Equality and Social Justice?
• Is Social Justice a Reasonable Relationship Between the Individual and Society?
• What Is the Main Focus of Social Justice?
• How Does Social Justice Impact Society?
• What Is the Role of Social Justice in Social Work?
• Is Inclusion a Part of Social Justice?
• How Can We Promote Social Justice in the Community?
• Who Is Responsible for Social Justice and Why?
• How Can Social Justice Be Maintained in the Society?
• What Would Happen to the World Without Social Justice?
• Does Social Justice Apply to Everyone?
• What Is the Golden Rule of Social Justice?
• Are Human Rights Based on the Concept of Social Justice?

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Social Justice - Essay Samples And Topic Ideas For Free

Social justice is the view that everyone deserves equal economic, political, and social rights and opportunities. Essays could explore the various theories of social justice, historical and contemporary social justice movements, and the ongoing challenges in achieving social justice globally. They might also discuss the role of individuals, communities, and nations in promoting social justice and addressing systemic inequalities. We’ve gathered an extensive assortment of free essay samples on the topic of Social Justice you can find at Papersowl. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

How to Achieve Social Justice

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Catholic Social Justice Community Service Reflection

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The Era of Social Injustice

"Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children" (King 1). Back during the Civil Rights Movement African Americans were penalized due to their skin color and were not offered the same rights as people with white skin. African Americans were treated with no respect and were given the impression that they had no place […]

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Social Justice System

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Understanding of the Social Justice

When people hear social justice, they may not really understand what the term means and may assume it is just a form of freedom and our rights. According to the Oxford dictionary, Social Justice is justice regarding the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. However, I do not believe that definition is completely correct. What it fails to acknowledge is that the distribution should be equal among individuals of a society. If it is not equal for […]

Michael Walzer’s Theory of Justice

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A Problem of Social Justice in World

Multiple people are discriminated for their race, their religion, or their sexuality. The idea of entitlement has been an issue in the United States for centuries. Even before the United States became a country in 1776, racial prejudice existed. At first it was the Native Americans' who were looked down on and forced to do the new white settlers dirty work. Then it became African Americans. Whites have been seen to be superior to African Americans for many years, more […]

Social Justice for African American Women

Are African American women not being treated fairly? Are Black women being discriminated against more without holding a high school diploma or some degree? Does slavery play a part in how Black women are treated today? Racial discrimination plays a part in the crime and social justice of gender inequality on African American women. Since slavery is over, African American women have the same rights as White people. However, discrimination still takes place today. Authors such as Areva Martin, Guest […]

A Social Workers in the United States

On February 14th 2011, twins Nubia and Victor Barahona fell victim to their abusive father. The children were found locked in their father’s truck in West Palm Beach, Florida. Nubia was dead and Victor has severe chemical burns all over his tiny body. An anonymous tip was called into the child abuse hotline but the social worker Andrea Fleary was so backlogged with cases that it took her 4 days to conduct a welfare check. That was precious time taken […]

Mental Illness and Social Justice

Mental illness has a history in the United States since colonial times, possibly even before. The first hospital specializing in mental health opened in 1773 in the United States. Prior to 1773, individuals were left to care for themselves or be cared for by family members or they were placed in jail for criminal behavior. In the mid-1800s, Dorothea Dix noticed the inhumane treatment of prisoners and the mentally ill in prisons and institutions. Patients were often living in deplorable […]

Crime and Social Justice on Gender Inequality

I'm using these five sources to talk about crime and social justice on gender inequality. Gender inequality is more of a social injustice because gender inequality is an unfair practice between men and women being carried out in the society. Within discussing this topic, I talk about racism and sexism. My topic is towards African Americans and women in the workplace. How come African American women or women, in general, are not seen as an equal to men? Cheeks, Maura. […]

A Problem of Social Injustices

There have been many unjust systems when it comes to the law providing help for the people and social injustice throughout times when it came to gender for many years, women have come along way throughout the years to become a significant role in what goes on in the law system and empowering women to be able to be in most careers that were thought before to not be suitable for women. And, an issue we still in America is […]

Social Justice, Race, and Gender Issues in American Society

Although known for its ancient history, large population, and incredible beauty; Africa also holds record numbers for its staggering amounts of child slavery and poverty stricken lands. Aside from AIDS, one of Africa’s major social problems is in fact, child labor and slavery. At the heart of Africa’s economic boom, the need for youth to actively become laborers on farms, in fields, workshops and factories is prevalent. Africa, being successful in producing rich, delicious cocoa, seeks young boys whose ages […]

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How to Write an Essay About Social Justice

Understanding social justice.

Before you start writing an essay about social justice, it's essential to have a clear understanding of what social justice entails. Social justice refers to the fair and just relation between the individual and society, measured by the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity, and social privileges. It involves a focus on the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. Begin your essay by defining social justice and its importance in modern society. Discuss the various dimensions of social justice, which may include issues like racial equality, gender equity, economic fairness, LGBTQ rights, and more.

Developing a Thesis Statement

Your essay on social justice should be centered around a clear, concise thesis statement. This statement should present a specific viewpoint or argument about social justice. For instance, you might explore the effectiveness of current social justice movements, analyze historical social justice issues and their resolution, or argue the need for a specific approach to achieve social justice in a particular context. Your thesis will guide the direction of your essay and provide a structured approach to your analysis.

Gathering Supporting Evidence

To support your thesis, gather evidence from a range of sources, including academic research, case studies, historical examples, or current events. This might include data on social inequality, examples of successful social justice initiatives, or testimonies from individuals or groups affected by social injustice. Use this evidence to support your thesis and build a persuasive argument. It's important to consider different perspectives and address potential counterarguments to your thesis.

Analyzing Social Justice Issues

Dedicate a section of your essay to analyzing specific social justice issues. Discuss the causes and impacts of these issues, the challenges in addressing them, and the strategies employed to overcome these challenges. Consider both the successes and the ongoing struggles in the realm of social justice. This analysis will help illustrate the complexities involved in achieving social justice and the various factors that influence it.

Concluding the Essay

Conclude your essay by summarizing the main points of your discussion and restating your thesis in light of the evidence provided. Your conclusion should tie together your analysis and emphasize the importance of striving for social justice. You might also want to reflect on the broader implications of your findings or suggest future directions for social justice activism or policy.

Reviewing and Refining Your Essay

After completing your essay, take time to review and refine it. Ensure that your arguments are clearly articulated and supported by evidence. Check for grammatical accuracy and ensure that your essay flows logically from one point to the next. Consider seeking feedback from peers, educators, or experts in social justice to further improve your essay. A well-written essay on social justice will not only demonstrate your understanding of the topic but also your ability to engage critically with complex ethical and societal issues.

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25 Interesting Social Justice Research Paper Topics

Through a social justice research paper, you get to demonstrate your awareness as per the current or trending issues in society. Through these research papers, you get to address issues such as inequalities in society while acting as an advocate of social justice. With that in mind, you have to choose an appropriate topic for your research paper, one that will bring you out as a great advocate of social justice. However, with the vastness of social justice, choosing a topic for your research paper can be challenging. But you do not have to worry about that anymore. In this article, we shall outline 25 of the best social justice paper topics in the 21 st century. They are well researched and grouped into categories for ease of selection and comparison. So when your professor asks, are you ready to write your research paper on social justice? You will be prepared because we have got you covered.

What is a social justice research paper?

A social justice research paper is whereby the writer discusses the human thoughts that people should receive equal access to privileges and opportunities within their society. It is a tricky paper but one that is exciting to handle.

List of 25 research topics for paper on social justice

Best social justice research paper topics.

Well, the topics under this “best” category are great topics to use for your research paper. They have excellent research sources, they are current and trending issues in society, and they are fun to venture into. These topics include:

• Gay rights and social justice

Under this topic, you can focus on:

• The history of gay people
• The history of the gay rights movement
• How the perception of gays was reformed radically due to the efforts of the gay rights movements
• Is political Egalitarianism the same as social justice

If you like analyzing social justice in a societies’ political development context, this topic can be thrilling.

• The indigenous people of Australia and social justice relationship

The commission of social justice was formed to provide indigenous people of Australia with a choice. A choice to stand up and push for their rights.

• Criminal and social justice responses to the act of sex working

Criminalization and the negative attitude shown to the sex working community has made sex workers susceptible and vulnerable to physical assault by:

• Men when in streets
• Even policemen
• Catholic teaching on social justice

Churches also want to instill some values in prisoners’ lives via practices and teachings. These teachings lead up to the acceptance of prisoners as individuals who should be treated with dignity.

Interesting topics for a social justice research paper

Now let us look at some interesting topics that you can utilize to broaden your imagination.

Interesting civil rights topics for a research paper on social justice

• The voting right act
• The act representing individuals with disabilities in America
• The BLM(Black lives matter) movement
• Affirmative action

Interesting criminal justice and law enforcement topics for a research paper about social justice

• Mandatory minimums
• Mass incarceration
• Wrongful conviction
• Police brutality

Immigration topics for a college paper about social justice

• Deportation
• Immigration labor
• Border security
• Migrant workers

These interesting topics are bound to develop a pretty thrilling and exciting research paper. Through these topics, you experience social justice and its importance in a whole new way.

Good social justice paper topics on gender minority, cultural, ethnic, and other issues

Under this category, we shall go through some topics that are trending in the world. They are exciting topics and great options to have:

• Cultural appropriation
• Unequal government representation
• Portrayal in popular cultures and media
• Targeted assaults, for example, hate crimes

As per social justice research paper examples, you can find them on the internet by simply searching for the best social justice research paper example. You can then use these examples to master the art of writing a perfect social justice research paper.

The social justice sector is of great importance to society, considering all the injustices that occur every day. We hope this article has helped you choose the perfect social justice research paper topic to express your understanding of society.

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Toward More Interesting Research Questions: Problematizing Theory in Social Justice

• Published: 24 July 2014
• Volume 27 , pages 395–411, ( 2014 )

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• Tyler G. Okimoto 1  

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The majority of research in social justice, indeed in all of social science, is incremental, has received few citations, has garnered little attention in the public, and can be viewed as dull and uninteresting by both academics and lay readers. Although often well versed in a variety of methodological techniques for testing research questions, we rarely receive explicit guidance in how to construct them in a way that is interesting, useful, and pushes theory forward. A novel “problematization” approach for constructing interesting research questions has been proposed by Alvesson and Sandberg (Constructing research questions: doing interesting research. Sage Publications, London, 2013 ). In this essay, I introduce the problematization method to social justice scholars in a comprehensive review and critique that identifies the benefits and limitations of the approach. Then, to provide a cursory illustration of the method in practice, I problematize the domain of retributive justice, attempting to identify potentially interesting directions for future research inquiry.

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Introducing the Special Issue on “Social Justice: Lessons Learned and Needed Research”

Robert Folger, Regina Taylor & Hayley Morrison

Going to Where Your Research Takes You

Past, Present, and Future of Social Justice Theory and Research

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge Mats Alvesson and Jörgen Sandberg for open discussions about their method and workshopping its application. The author also would like to thank Andrew Burton-Jones for suggestions with the critique, Dena Gromet and David Rooney for feedback on early drafts, and Michael Wenzel for leading the extensive review on retributive justice that was essential to the development of this essay.

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Okimoto, T.G. Toward More Interesting Research Questions: Problematizing Theory in Social Justice. Soc Just Res 27 , 395–411 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-014-0215-5

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Published : 24 July 2014

Issue Date : September 2014

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s11211-014-0215-5

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