Social Justice

Overview
There is not one definitive definition of social justice. Social justice is engaging with and advocating for “economically, socially, politically, and/or culturally under-resourced” people.[12] It challenges norms, practices, relations and structures that underwrite inquality and injustice.[12] Social justice in regards to technical communication is a theoretical framework to look into the oppression of “under-resourced” people in technical communication research and pedagogy.[7] It can also be defined as the continual practice of verifying equality across various technical communication situations. [9] Scholars call for a "recontextualization” of technical communication with the idea of social justice.[9] Social justice is mostly talked about by academics in technical communication. However, social justice can be seen in design related fields.

Research and Pedagogy
Natasha Jones gives a few example approaches to incorporating social justice into technical communication research and pedagogy used by other scholars in the field: a decolonial approach, a feminist approach, and a participatory approach.[1] This is not a conclusive list.

Decolonial Approaches
A decolonial approach or framework involves acknowledging the influence of colonialism.[3] Decolonial approaches can be used to counter traditional knowledge and beliefs.[1] Decolonial approaches can be seen in research (decolonial methodologies) and academia (pedagogies).[6] Haas claims “Decolonial methodologies and pedagogies serve to (a) redress colonial influences on perceptions of people, literacy, language, culture, and community and the relationship therein and (b) support the coexistence of cultures, languages, literacies, memories, histories, places, and space-- and encourage respectful and reciprocal dialogue between and across them.” [6] Godwin Y. Agboka argues the lack of addressing “social justice challenges in post-colonial, developing and unenfranchised/disenfranchised cultural sites” in methodological approaches in intercultural technical communication research.[3] Examples of decolonial approaches:
 * Historical and archival research
 * Critical race theory[1]

Feminist Approaches
Feminism does not have one set definition or interpretation, but includes different approaches. Generally, feminism focuses on equality and justice among all genders. [1] [2] Many strands of feminism emphasize on the intersections of class, gender, race, nationality, etc.[1] In technical communication, “feminist research can provide technical communicators with a way of interrogating and investigating the human experience from the point of view of those oppressed.” [1] Technical communication scholars' feminist approaches:
 * Feminism in the field of technical communication
 * Feminism and technology
 * Feminism and pedagogy
 * Feminism and mentoring[1]

Participatory Approaches
Participatory approaches, broadly defined, are “perspectives” that “encourage full collaboration between researchers and participants in research studies, scholarly inquiry and pedagogy.”[1] These approaches can be based in academia or the community. [1] Examples of participatory approaches:
 * Participatory action research
 * Community-based research
 * Service-learning[1]

Human-centered Design
Human-centered design (HCD) is a process of “designing for the people.” [13] HCD uses human perspective to develop solutions to problems. [13] HCD can be seen as “an ongoing search for what can be done to support and strengthen the dignity of human beings as they act out their lives in varied social, economic, political, and cultural circumstances.” [14] Because of the focus on human experience, HCD can engage social justice issues. [2] HCD is at the intersection of many disciplines including technical communication, design and engineering, human factors, and user experience. [2]

UX Design
UX design or user centered design is a human-centered approach to design where “humans should be the focus of design and decision making when creating technology and information products.” [11] There has been recent questioning of social justice in regards to UX design among blogs. Mark Wilson’s article “The Biggest UX Challenges in 2017” addresses problems regarding social justice ideals in UX design during 2016.[9] Social justice and UX design has been discussed at conferences such SigDoc[11] and UXCampDC.[10]

Call to Action
Scholars call for the field to become more aware of under-resourced people and human rights violations in relation to professional communication practices.[9] Research in social justice strives to revise, recontextualize or reimagine institutional contexts.[9] Hegemonic practices and texts in technical communication can reinforce racial, discrimination, subordinate and objectify.[1] Scholars argue technical and professional communicators question norms, habits, and symbols that promote oppression, marginalization, disenfranchisement, and disempowerment.[1]