Transformative research should be (1) ethical--with attention to human rights and social justice; (2) emancipatory--contributing to reduction of oppression; (3) empowering--serving marginalized and disadvantaged groups; and (4) holistic--identifying relationships between parts and the whole, micro and macro contexts, local and global issues. (SK)

The example of a campaign to save a rain forest in Australia shows that social action through informal organization can generate significant instrumental and empowering learning. (SK)

Provides an overview of materialism including concerns related to conceptualizations and measures of materialism, new developments in practice, and future prospects. (JOW)

Discusses how to move students beyond the college campus into civic activism. Defines literary activism in which students use research and writing to answer real-world questions as well as the standard academic questions whose answers are typically of less consequence. (CCM)

Presents the results of a national survey of political participation with a random sample of 513 social work leaders involved in health policy. Ten conceptually different prototypes of social work political participation were identified, which provide an empirical model that integrates routine functions with political components. Implications of…

Explores current social work practice and human service innovations based on interviews with practitioners in Chicago, New York City, and St. Louis. Offers rationale for reorientation of social workers' helping relationship and how it can contribute to human services reform. Examines strategies and innovations that can help professionals make this…

Asserts that service learning proponents are divided over direct charity versus justice advocacy models, with many claiming a need for justice advocates to moderate their philosophy in order to secure long-term support. Claims that despite justice advocacy's trouble institutionalizing itself (e.g., Settlement House, Students for a Democratic…

Cornel West presents a vision of a democratic struggle that is inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. He places heterosexism within the context of capitalism and connects it to other forms of oppression. (SK)

Argues that the thought of Mahatma Gandhi, as revealed in his social activism, is relevant to social work ethics and a resource for its ethical enrichment. Proposes that principles such as seeking truth through service to others, individual self-development, nonviolent social action, and material simplicity could enhance the current National…

The privatizing agenda of corporate globalization is being abetted by such institutions as the World Bank. Educators are being told to accept its inevitability. However, adult educators can assert alternative values and help build a healthy civic society. (SK)

Contrasts the current conceptualization of lifelong learning in the context of globalization with the concept in the context of Africa. States that lifelong learning in traditional African societies was the foundation for active citizenship in the process of becoming a revered ancestor. Suggests lessons for the current construction of lifelong…

Many developing countries are moving forward and implementing information communication technology (ICT) initiatives to improve their citizens' access to education, increase the quality of education, and implement educational reform. Because of the increasingly scarce supporting resources, it is imperative that effective and meaningful…

This article introduces a conceptual framework that integrates art therapy and social action. The author uses a transpersonal model of the human psyche and an interdependent paradigm of the self and views personal psychological experiences and external societal structures as entwined in a cocreative, mutually dependent relationship. From this…

This paper draws on the philosophical works of Emmanuel Levinas--namely, his notion of "useless suffering"--in order to open up questions of learning and community beyond typical configurations that structure (and sometimes limit) social attachments according to a requisite degree of commonality. It is argued that while discourses of…

This is a unique and groundbreaking collection of questions and answers coming from higher education institutions on diverse fields and across a wide spectrum of countries and cultures. It creates routes for further innovation, collaboration amidst the Sciences (both Natural and Social), the Humanities, and the private and public sectors of…