The Journal of Social Change was launched recently in conjunction with the 2006 Walden University Conference on Social Change held Oct. 20–21 in Baltimore.

The conference, titled “Uncommon Vision for the Common Good,” supported Walden’s mission to provide a diverse community of career professionals with the opportunity to transform themselves as scholar-practitioners so that they may transform society.

The Journal of Social Change seeks to disseminate social change research that is both theoretically and empirically sound, but also provides practical guidance to social change practitioners. The online, refereed journal, sponsored by Walden, will be published semiannually and is devoted to theoretical advancement and applied research on social change that improves the human condition and progresses people, groups, organizations, cultures and society toward a more positive future.

Submissions, which are invited from scholars, practitioners, and advanced graduate students who are working in the area of social change, are welcomed from any discipline or conceptual perspective and may focus on any aspect of theory or research that relates to ideas and efforts to engender positive social change and that focuses on real-world applications of those ideas and efforts.

In the journal’s inaugural issue—under the title “Why Social Change, and Why Now?”—editor Jim Goes, Ph.D., addresses the need for one more journal in a world already overwhelmed with information:

“In spite of the many benefits brought to us by a wealth of new technologies and information sharing, we still live in a world full of social problems. Poverty, war, racism, repression—these are just a few of the long-standing and intractable problems facing our national and global society that still defy resolution. We not only need credible, quality scholarship and science about these pressing social problems. We also need research that translates into practice, ideas that translate into solutions, and knowledge that translates into action.”

Five more notable presentations appear in the journal:

• “Globalization: Opportunities for Positive Social Change”
• “Taking the Lead: A Case Study of Corporate Social Responsibility in Thailand”
• “A Descriptive Case Study of the Organization-Based Self-Esteem, Institutional Belongingness, and Career Development Opportunities of Adjunct Faculty at a Small Northeastern College"
• “Educating the Midlife Change Agent”
• “A Path to Intrinsic Motivation: The Effective Use of Instructional Software With Students at Risk of Failure”

Read the Journal of Social Change

November Ponder front page