The What, the So What, and the Now What of Social Justice Education

Using a three-tiered format, The What, The So What, and the Now What of Social Justice Education presents the What of social justice education by addressing primary and secondary terminology and definitions, and an overarching conceptual framework within this field of inquiry. The So What of social justice education highlights the reasons why this field of inquiry is important to study and promote, and why one should care to reduce social inequities and transform our world into a more socially just environment. And the Now What of social justice education provides some "best (theoretical) practices" that can be taped and developed by individuals, institutions, and larger societies to work toward short- and long-term solutions in the attainment of a more equitable and less oppressive environment. Each tier introduces influential researchers, theorists, and practitioners who have significantly advanced our understanding of issues connected to social justice education pedagogy and practice. As the scope of Social Justice Education is wide and diverse, so too is the potential audience for this book. Though it can function as a primary academic and training source for educators – K-12 through university graduate professors, administrators, school psychologists – and high school, and college graduate and undergraduate students (education, social justice education, multicultural education, educational psychology, civil rights history, law, journalism) it can also serve as a reference for academic researchers in several disciplines as well as journalists.

Dr. Warren J. Blumenfeld is former Associate Professor in the School of Education at Iowa State University and current Lecturer in the College of Education at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He is also the author of Warren’s Words: Smart Commentary on Social Justice (Purple Press); editor of Homophobia: How We All Pay the Price (Beacon Press), and co-editor of Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (Routledge) and Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States (Sense), and co-author of Looking at Gay and Lesbian Life (Beacon Press).