Social Justice Approaches to Cognitive, Emotional, and Language Development During Childhood and Adolescence (original) (raw)
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Children from very young ages internalize messages about power and privilege with regard to gender, race/ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, and language, which they perpetuate through their play and talk (Ryan & Grieshaber 2004). While families are a critical piece in shaping children's values on such matters, classroom practices communicate and reinforce strong, subtle, and repeated social messages about what is and is not valued. The consequences of these messages are enormous nor only for individual children, but also for a society that strives for equality and justice for all.
C hildren around the world are affected by discrimination and social exclusion due to their age, race, ethnicity, gender, religion, indigenous background, or other statuses. When considering the negative consequences of discrimination and social exclusion on children's development and well-being, it is of paramount importance to examine the psychological origins of prejudice and discrimination in order to create effective intervention programs. Legal mandates are only one step towards the elimination of prejudice and discrimination; there is also a need for interventions to change social interactions and behavior. Surprisingly, such interventions are rarely informed by developmental theory and research. Taking an international perspective, this Social Policy Report describes a developmental framework on how children understand the cultural hierarchies, status, and power related to social groups as well as the social exchanges that contribute to both prejudice reduction and the p...
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