"If they focus on giving us a chance in life we can actually do something in this world": Poverty, inequality, and youths' critical consciousness

Developmental Psychology
Amanda L RoyMeriah DeJoseph

Abstract

Critical consciousness (CC) has emerged as a framework for understanding how low-income and racial/ethnic minority youth recognize, interpret, and work to change the experiences and systems of oppression that they face in their daily lives. Despite this, relatively little is known about how youths' experiences with economic hardship and structural oppression shape how they "read their world" and motivate participation in critical action behaviors. We explore this issue using a mixed-methods design and present our findings in two studies. In Study 1 we examine the types of issues that a sample of low-income and predominantly racial/ethnic minority youth (ages 13-17) living in the Chicago area discuss when asked to reflect on issues that are important to them. The most commonly mentioned themes were community violence (59%), prejudice and intolerance (31%), world issues (25%), and economic disparities (18%). In Study 2 we examine youths' quantitative reports of engaging in critical action behavior; more than 65% had participated in at least one activity targeting social change in the previous 6 months. We then examined relationships between youths' experiences with poverty within their households and neighborhoods, neighborhood i...Continue Reading

Citations

Apr 14, 2020·The British Journal of Developmental Psychology·Kelly KirklandMark Nielsen
Nov 14, 2020·Journal of Youth and Adolescence·Marbella UriosteguiChristine Pajunar Li-Grining
Jun 20, 2021·Journal of Experimental Child Psychology·Kelly KirklandMark Nielsen
Nov 26, 2021·Journal of Research on Adolescence : the Official Journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence·Rebecca M B WhiteUNKNOWN PLACE Development Working Group

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