The present mixed-methods study examined adolescents’ social perspective taking in contexts of social justice as demonstrated by their awareness and interpretations of hypothetical peer interactions depicting racism and sexism. Fifty adolescents in Grades 9 and 12 participated in a semi-structured interview in which they were presented with two scenarios, involving adolescents in conflicts portraying racism and sexism. They were asked a series of questions designed to elicit their awareness and understanding of social group differences. Qualitative analyses revealed three categories of adolescents’ responses, reflecting distinct interpretations of social group differences. On average, adolescents assumed a perspective that was naïve to the disparities existing between vulnerable and less vulnerable social groups. Furthermore, it was shown that older adolescents had significantly more sophisticated social justice understandings than younger adolescents. These findings highlight the need to educate adolescents about issues of social justice and facilitate an appreciation of social group differences.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/32221 |
| Date | 21 March 2012 |
| Creators | Rubenstein, Richard |
| Contributors | Arnold, Mary Louise |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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