Suchergebnisse

The New Jersey Death Penalty Abolition Movement (DPAM) developed a pragmatic strategy that effectively communicated the argument for replacing capital punishment with life without parole, and the state of New Jersey repealed the death penalty by legislative action, on December 17, 2007. This case study analyzes the issue frames and messages used by the movement, and the possible lessons for movements in other states working to repeal the death penalty. Interviews with key stakeholders in the movement indicated which frames were used most frequently and effectively. Implications for the broader DPAM nationally include the power of the issue frames of murder victims' families who oppose the death penalty, innocent people on death row, and law enforcement opposition to the death penalty, among others.

We argue the need for a national public debate re-assessing the nuclear industry in light of recent Bush Administration initiatives for expansion of the nuclear industry in the US, and expressed support for nuclear power by Barack Obama. Specifically, we use a critical theoretical lens to re-examine the worst nuclear accident in US history at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear power plant in 1979. Our three-part argument includes a focus on the conflicting imperatives in institutional and economic spheres; critique of the ideology of nuclear science and technology; and a discussion of processes by which the public sphere is de-politicized and, potentially, re-politicized. Through the critical re-interpretation of the TMI accident, we assert the essential importance of a deliberative, engaged public sphere.

Brulle (2000) has noted the failure of the recent literature in critical theory to reflect the commitment of its founders to applying their philosophical and theoretical scholarship to create concrete social change. The authors have taken up the challenge to recover critical theory's "forgotten materialist component" and simultaneously responded to the call to reinvigorate the civic mission of the public university through efforts to integrate critical theory with community service learning and community-based research. The paper discusses historical, philosophical and theoretical issues in this effort and some reflections on our attempt to apply them in practice through the revitalization of the Center for Community Action and Research at Pennsylvania State University at Harrisburg.

This paper examines how youth participation in different community settings can foster critical consciousness. A group of 22 teens and pre-teens chose to participate in one of two groups. One group learned to play chess at a local community center and a second group participated in a community service project. Drawing upon Freire's (1970) theory of consciousness-raising, we developed a critical thinking and consciousness-raising checklist that includes the exploration of personal behaviors, self-efficacy, group efficacy and stereotypes. Open-ended critical thinking focus groups were administered at the start and at the end of the five week period to assess the level of critical thinking of each group. The discussions were analyzed according to four themes: personal behavior, self efficacy, group efficacy, and challenging stereotypes. In general, participants in both groups showed evidence of increased critical thinking skills and an increased sense of community over the five week period.