Social Impact – European Community Psychology Association

The editorial of Loris Vezzali and Orla Muldoon opens a debate on the pages of the Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology (JCASP) concerning the value of applied and field research and of social impact for the journal. The editorial can be found here.

Announcements

Call for papers: Climate change and environmental activism

Special Issue Call for Papers, JSSE-Journal of Social Sciences Education Environmental activism about climate change has been at the core of social movements. Across the globe, activists engaged in demonstrations, organised strikes, occupied buildings of corporations and, more recently, performed targeted civil disobedience actions. Some of these activists are engaged in transnational organisations that share, not only slogans (‘there is no planet B’) and information, but also educate one another on the use of online and offline strategies. More notably than before, many of these movements involve and are led by children and young people, in a clear demonstration of their political agency – and their concerns about the future. While this raises important questions about the role of schools and education in this existential crisis, the complexity of the situation is enhanced by other factors. The actions of governments and politicians have been erratic. For some, climate change is still debatable, ideological and ‘fake news’. For others, promoting community resilience in the face of climate change is a new priority, but one that coexists with the maintenance of a carbon-based economy. As there are growing signs of the severe consequences of the rise in the planet’s warming, there are also signs of the lack of serious policy regarding climate change. Furthermore, it seems that the climate challenge is one of these new issues that drive political polarisation and structure the culture wars about the curriculum and the role of (socio-)scientific knowledge in school and society in general. On the other hand, the intensity of environmental injustice is immense and works across other layers of inequality: intergenerational, as many of these changes will dramatically affect future generations; geographical since the countries most troubled by climate change are not those who are contributing the most to global warming; colonialism, given the historical continuity of patterns of exploitation, displacement and extractivism; as well as the intersection with existing economic, gender, race and disability inequalities. This special issue welcomes papers that address climate change and environmental activism from this broad perspective, focusing on political, social and economic education, its policies, goals, institutions, practices and challenges. This includes discussions of the civic and political identities and experiences of climate change activists, but also on the political controversies and debates around climate change. It also welcomes papers that address how formal and non-formal education for climate change can play a role in generating relevant knowledge, dispositions and actions, or in creating community resilience towards climate change. How does engagement with climate change activism influence participants’ civic and political agency and empowerment?How are climate change controversies approached in educational settings and social and traditional media?In what ways does climate change anxiety interfere with individual and community resilience about climate change regarding forms of dealing with it in diverse educational contexts?In what forms are transnational and global activism taken up in educational contexts?What are the effects of climate change formal and non-formal education in participants and communities? How are the knowledge and rationalities that have so far been deemed relevant in socio-scientific education being challenged, contested and changed?Which transformative approaches to social science education are being further developed and how are these linked to the global education agenda setting, for example of UNESCO?How does environmental injustice intersect with other layers of inequality and how is this interplay addressed in education?How are minoritized groups and communities engaging in climate activism? How are links with capitalism, colonialism and globalisation explored in educational approaches to climate change? Deadline for manuscript submission: March 15, 2023. Editors: Maria Fernandes-Jesus, Andrea Szukala, Isabel Menezes. More info HERE.

Call for papers: Community Psychology in the face of the climate crisis: What contributions?

Special issue call for papers: PSICOLOGIA DI COMUNITA’ (Community Psychology Italian Journal) Community Psychology in the face of the climate crisis: What contributions? Climate change is long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns caused by chemical changes in the Earth’s atmosphere and in land use. Scientists agree not only on the reality of climate change, but also on the responsibility of human activities in determining it. Scientists also largely agree on the consequences: not only rising seas, declining biodiversity, extreme weather events, changes in agricultural productivity (e.g., IPCC Sixth Report), but also related impacts on migration, human health, conflicts related to resource scarcity, etc. This scenario makes it even more necessary to strive towards the goals of the 2030 Agenda and makes the interconnectedness earth and human experience and action even more evident. Fighting against climate change is itself a goal (SDG13) of the 2030 Agenda, but it is clearly linked to reducing inequalities (SDG10); organising safe, resilient and sustainable communities and cities (SDG11); implementing sustainable production and consumption patterns (SDG12); protecting the oceans and seas and protecting the terrestrial ecosystem (SDG14 and 15); promoting peaceful societies (SDG16); and building partnerships that promote the achievement of the goals themselves (SDG17). Achieving these goals will require addressing multiple challenges and capabilities. In particular, it is quite apparent that the negative impacts of the climate crisis on people’s lives in terms of well-being, decision-making, and disruption of individual, family, and whole community lives are increasingly important. While the climate crisis affects all of humanity, it does not affect all people in the same way. Indeed, it is evident that this crisis has exacerbated global inequalities between North and South and between classes and genders, making even more compelling the need for redistribution of power and climate justice, which is inseparable from social justice. There are many varied skills that derive from Psychology and are useful in addressing this crisis and its effects. This has resulted in recent years in the rise of a “Psychology of sustainability”, which, hopefully, will continue to gain increasing relevance and cross-connections with psychological and other disciplines. The goal of this Call for Paper is to elucidate specific contributions for understanding and intervention into the climate crisis that can be derived from community psychology. The perspective taken by community psychology (e.g. clinical and political, ecological, multilevel, action-oriented, multidisciplinary), the issues it addresses (e.g. resilience, coping, prevention, well-being, sense of community, participation, networking, power and empowerment), the justice-oriented values (e.g. social and climatic justice) may contribute a useful framework to face this crisis and offer intervention. Anyone interested in submitting a paper may send an abstract (max. 200 words) to the Guest Editor at angela.fedi@unito.it, by November 30, 2022. The deadline for submission of papers is January 30, 2023.

Call for papers: Understanding Environmental Justice

Special Issue Call for Papers, Understanding Environmental Justice, Social Sciences. Environmental justice is based on psychological and social processes related to shared practices and characterized by solidarity, mutual respect and the understanding of rights and duties for all peoples and living beings. Any individual, independently of their geographical or cultural origin, is considered to have the right to be free from any form of discrimination or prejudice. Environmental justice promotes ethics and responsibility in the use of land and renewable resources in the interest of a sustainable planet. Topics relating to the extraction, production and disposal of waste whose management threatens the fundamental right to clean the air, land, water and food will be valid for this Special Issue. A significant part of this Issue will be dedicated to workers and their rights to stay in safe and healthy environments. Issues relating to politics and economics will not be excluded, but these must not have the character of propaganda or meanings of supremacy. The Special Issue is intended to enhance multiple research perspectives, mixed methods, as well as traditional qualitative and quantitative approaches. More info please see HERE. Special Issue Editors: Dr Eugenio De Gregorio, Dr Marco Boffi, Dr Lavinia Cicero, Dr Nicola Rainisio, Dr Lorenza Tiberio. Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2023.