Social Identity and Social Justice Orientation among Social Work Graduate Students: Examining the Role of Perceived Injustice and Self-Efficacy.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of social justice orientation among social work students by employing a psychological framework to explore trajectories through which social identity shapes an individual’s worldviews and engagement with social justice. It was hypothesized that perceived injustice and self-efficacy would simultaneously mediate the relationship between critical awareness of one’s social identity and their interest in social justice activities, their commitment to future engagement in social justice efforts, and their belief in the social change mission in social work. Participants completed measures of racial and gender identity (Gurin & Markus, 1988), belief in a just world (Lipkus, 1991), social justice self-efficacy, social justice interest, and social justice commitment (M. J. Miller et al., 2009) and belief in the mission of social work (Santangelo, 1993). One hundred and thirty one (131) Masters of Social Work students completed online surveys in March and April of 2012. Results indicated that belief in a just world and social justice self-efficacy both mediated the relationships between racial identity and social justice interest. However, only social justice self-efficacy mediated the relationships between and between racial identity and social justice commitment and between racial identity and belief in the mission of social work. Results also indicated that only social justice self-efficacy mediated the relationships between gender identity and social justice interest and between gender identity and social justice commitment, while only belief in a just world mediated the relationship between gender identity and belief in the mission of social work. Findings call attention to the importance of professional socialization of students toward social work’s professional values in social work education, as well as to the importance of empowering students to become agents of social change regardless of their practice orientations. Implications for social work education and career counseling are discussed.