Conversations on Social Justice: How our Social Locations Shape our Work

Using a social justice framework, this session will explore how individuals' social locations shape involvement in education, research, and practice. Social location is the combination of social categories including race, ethnicity, social class, gender identity, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, ability status and many others. This examination of social locations, and interactions within and between broader systems of privilege and oppression, will provide family scholars and practitioners with an opportunity to reflect on how their social locations affect their approaches to education, research, and practice. This special session is sponsored by the Inclusion and Diversity Committee as part of an ongoing dialogue regarding social justice concerns related to diverse families. Goal: To equip participants with new insights and skills that can help to challenge institutionalized inequality one classroom experience, therapy session, or family interaction at a time.

Objectives

(1) Attendees will reflect on and identify their personal social locations as well as the social locations of those they work with. (2) Attendees will have an opportunity to explore how their social locations affect their approaches to education, research, and practice. (3) Attendees will examine how social locations can promote or constrain a social justice orientation across family science domains.