0033.tif A Social Justice Agenda Vickie M. Mays University of California, Los Angeles T he m o r a l i m p e r a t i v e o f f e r e d to p s y c h o l o g y b y b o t h J a c k s o n (2000, this issue) and Strickland (2000, this i s s u e ) is to m o v e into this n e w c e n t u - r y l e a v i n g not one s i n g l e p e r s o n b e h i n d . N o one s h o u l d h a v e t h e i r future, t h e i r h e a l t h , or t h e i r w e l l - b e i n g c o m - p r o m i s e d f o r r e a s o n s o f c l a s s , g e n d e r , n a t i o n a l o r i g i n , p h y s i c a l a n d p s y c h o l o g i c a l a b i l i t i e s , r e l i g i o n , or s e x u - al o r i e n t a t i o n , or as a r e s u l t o f u n f a i r d i s t r i b u t i o n o f r e s o u r c e s . B o t h a u t h o r s e x h o r t p s y c h o l o g i s t s to w o r k d i l i g e n t l y to e n s u r e the b r i g h t e s t f u t u r e for all. In 1999, the A m e r i c a n Psychological Association (APA) embraced issues o f race, ethnicity, culture, and mul- ticulturalism. This focus was historic in its scope and re- sulted in rich contributions to the field. The presidency o f Richard Suinn, the first Asian American president o f APA, which coincided with the terms o f five division presidents drawn from persons o f color (D. W. Sue, Bingham, Porchr- Burke, & Vasquez, 1999), became an organizing force that concentrated the association's ability to address questions o f diversity, difference, and inequality (D. W. Sue et al., 1999). This was most evident at two meetings: the January 1999 National Multicultural Conference and Summit (NMCS) and A P A ' s 107th annual convention in August 1999. At the APA convention, m a n y psychologists participated in an opening ceremony o f cultural sharing, highlighted b y the interconnectedness o f the participants despite their m a n y differences. The Reverend Jesse Jackson spoke eloquently at the ceremony about the inequalities in U.S. society and the social problems they generate: increased violence, a sense o f hopelessness, deteriorating physical and mental health, and reductions in health care, social services, and the quality and amount o f educational resources. The tools o f psychology in the next century ought to address Strickland's and Jackson's concerns about those who are different. The tools should possess not only internal validity but extemal validity (S. Sue, 1999), or they will fail to address the inclusive social justice agenda that Jackson (2000), Strickland (2000), and the participants in the NMCS (D. W. Sue et al., 1999) see as A P A ' s moral imperative in t h i s next century. Psychology, as a discipline, needs also to ensure that its approaches to promoting psychological well- being and preventing mental disorders are culturally valid and available, delivered competently, and affordable to all who need them (Ziglio, Levin, & Bertinato, 1999). We can learn from the field o f public health, which advocates pre- vention at a community or population level to eliminate or significantly reduce morbidity (Albee, 1998a, 1998b). Ef- fective prevention will help individuals find ways o f build- ing their individual capacity, but achieving good mental health at an individual level is often beyond the control o f individuals. We enter the new millennium with the United States enjoying a sustained period o f extraordinary wealth. This wealth offers both unthought-of possibilities and dangers. On the one hand, we now possess the resources to address difficulties that can only be solved b y investment in our c o m m o n social future. On the other hand, g r o w i n g eco- n o m i c inequalities threaten our v e r y social c o h e s i o n (Ka- plan, 1996; Kaplan, P a m u k , L y n c h , Cohen, & Balfour, 1996; Wallace, 1996; Wilkinson, 1996; Wolff, 1995) and have presented the public with apparently senseless crimes where children kill children, where police kill the mentally ill, and where m a n y die from preventable illness because they were the last to get health care. At the same meeting where the Reverend Jackson spoke, Strickland (2000), in her Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Pub- lic Interest Award address, issued a summons for psycholo- gists to rise to the challenge issued at an APA meeting over 30 years ago by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., (1968) and renewed by Jackson (2000). I f p s y c h o l o g y is to show society the path to greater equality a m o n g its m e m b e r s , p s y c h o l o g i s t s m u s t d e m o n s t r a t e that p s y c h o l o g y ' s m e t h - ods and p r o c e d u r e s can e m b r a c e diversity. Whereas King worried primarily about gaps in equality between races, Jackson (2000) and Strickland (2000) p r e s e n t e d a b r o a d e r agenda in which they i m p l o r e d social scientists to under- stand that the behaviors they seek to study, modify, and eliminate are related to gaps resulting from poverty, inequal- ity, and inequity (Kawachi, Wilkinson, & Kennedy, 1999; Mays & Cochran, 1994, 1998; Mays, Coleman, & Jackson, 1996; Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997). These behaviors are inextricably linked to wealth, economics, education, gov- ernmental policies, and even the professional policies of psychology. P s y c h o l o g y m u s t not focus i t s e l f solely on the m e n - tal health o f individuals w h e n the nation is trying to understand the senseless torture and death o f p e o p l e hated because o f their gender, race, religious beliefs, or sexual orientation. P s y c h o l o g i s t s must not l o o k m e r e l y to individual b e h a v i o r to grasp w h y a 12-year-old girl b e c o m e s pregnant intentionally, an l l - y e a r - o l d shoots another child, or police sodomize a man in custody, or to understand ethnic cleansings. Strickland (2000) observed that the future o f psychology requires psychologists to be willing to articulate, teach, and develop a body o f science informed b y social justice. Psychologists must not be afraid to teach, engage in clinical practice, and develop public policy Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Vickie M. Mays, University of California, 1283 Franz Hall, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Box 951563, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1563. Electronic mail may be sent to mays@ucla.edu. 326 March 2000 • American Psychologist Copyright 2000 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0003-066X/00/$5.00 Vol. 55, No. 3.32(~327 DOI: 10 1037//0003-066X.55.3.326 Vickie M. Mays a n d r e s e a r c h a b o u t r a c i s m , s e x i s m , c l a s s i s m , h o m o p h o b i a , a n d o t h e r d i v i s i v e p e r s p e c t i v e s t h a t e n a b l e p e o p l e t o t r e a t t h o s e w h o a r e d i f f e r e n t f r o m t h e m s e l v e s f a i r l y a n d c o m p e - t e n t l y . O u r p r o g r e s s as a d i s c i p l i n e , as a n a t i o n , a n d a s g l o b a l c i t i z e n s d e p e n d s o n o u r a b i l i t y t o i n c l u d e e v e r y o n e i n t h e f u t u r e - - t o b e f a i r t o all, n o t j u s t t o s o m e . REFERENCES Albee, G. W. (1998a). 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