ABSTRACT
When we pursue social justice, we need to acknowledge uncertainty. Too often social justice activists believe their knowledge about the social world has more support than it actually does. A lot of social justice activism, for example, draws mainly from only one type of sociological theory, conflict theory, and from a particular form of conflict theory known as critical theory. Sociology is a fragmented field, though, and there’s no justification for using only one approach to inform one’s social justice efforts. In doing so activists are treating contested and provisional ideas like settled science, and they’re ignoring many possibilities for effective reform. Conflict theory orients activists toward fighting oppression, but other theoretical approaches point to other possible strategies for improving the world, such as promoting understanding, making people better, incentivizing good behavior, creating opportunities for virtue, and strengthening solidarity.
