Communities for Social Change ─ Practicing Equality and Social Justice in Youth and Community Work

Communities for Social Change: Practicing Equality and Social Justice in Youth and Community Work examines core ideas of social justice and equality that underpin community and youth work. It informs understanding of a range of community concepts and practices that are used to identify practical skills and characteristics that can help to promote equality by challenging injustice. Working with people in different types of community can bring the kind of social change that makes a real and lasting difference. Although justice is a contested notion, Annette Coburn and Sinéad Gormally assert that it is closely interlinked with human rights and equality. A critical examination of contemporary literature draws on educational, sociological, and psychological perspectives, to set community practices within a context for learning that is conversational, critical and informal. Social justice is about identifying and seeking to address structural disadvantage, discrimination, and inequality. The authors assert that by refocusing on process, participation and collective rights, it is possible to create and sustain social justice. Transformative research paradigms help to produce findings that inspire and underpin political social action, and an analysis of practice based examples supports the promotion of increased critical consciousness. This makes Communities for Social Change a ‘must read’ for anyone studying or teaching community youth work or who is working in communities or with individuals who experience oppression or inequality. If you are committed to teaching and learning about theory and practice that promotes social change for equality and social justice, you will not be disappointed!

Dr. Annette Coburn is a lecturer in community education at the University of the West of Scotland. Dr. Sinead Gormally is a senior lecturer in community development and adult education at the University of Glasgow. Working collaboratively, Annette and Sinead’s teaching interests are framed by commitment to social and democratic purposes that promote equality and enhance understanding of what makes a good life possible. Their research interests are varied and focused on creating praxis between theoretical and practical underpinnings of community and youth work in striving for a more socially just society.