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The purpose of this study was to examine how undergraduate students who became social justice allies during college understood their development. Six traditionally-aged, heterosexual, White students, 3 women and 3 men, who first acted as allies while in college were interviewed using an open-ended interview protocol. Critical factors included precollege egalitarian values, gaining information about social justice issues, engagement in meaning-- making processes, developing confidence, and the presentation of opportunities to act as social justice allies.
Research on students' attitudes and behaviors regarding social justice issues on college campuses has generally fallen into one of two areas: the prevalence of negative or hostile attitudes and behaviors by members of dominant social groups, or the struggle of members of these targeted groups to end oppression. Only recently, however, have studies appeared that explore how dominant-group students come to develop affirmative attitudes toward issues of diversity or to challenge oppression based on social-group membership (Guthrie & King, 1996; Tatum, 1992, 1994).
College students have long been involved in efforts to develop more just and equitable societies (Keniston, 1973; McAdam, 1986, 1988). Recently, this involvement has been evidenced in students' participation in community service activities as well as efforts to ensure greater racial diversity in the student body and the faculty (Dalton, 1991). However, little attention has been paid to the process whereby students become advocates for social justice issues. Beyond the university, the role of members of dominant social groups in the struggle to end oppression has been documented (Blumberg, 1990; Fogleman, 1994; McAdam, 1986, 1988; Norris, 1962; Oliner & Oliner, 1988; Pinkney, 1968; Reed, 1991; Schultz, 1995), particularly in the cases of Gentile rescuers of Jews in the Holocaust and White participants in the civil rights movement. However, the question of how people become social justice allies rarely has been asked.
The purpose of this study was to examine how undergraduate students understood their development into social justice allies during college. Social justice allies are members of dominant social groups (e.g., men, Whites, heterosexuals) who are working to end the system of oppression that gives them greater privilege and power based on their social-group membership (Hardiman & Jackson, 1982; Washington & Evans, 1991). In this study I examined the development of social justice allies who...