Joyner defines applied sociology and its role in the development of the discipline, discusses various ways that applied research can be used to work for social justice, and highlights the potential of applied research for revitalizing the discipline and the academy and ultimately contributing to social justice. The article delineates the boundaries between basic, applied, and clinical sociological work and the role of applied research in the development of the discipline. Joyner argues that the call for social science research to be "value-free" is untenable and that a legitimate role for the sociologist involves using one's disciplinary perspective and research to inform program and policy development in an attempt to improve the quality of life for marginalized groups. Drawing from her own research experiences, she makes the case that the distinction between basic and applied research is frequently overdrawn and that attempts to support an objective and detached research identity within the context of community-based projects may undermine the success of interventions and weaken understanding of social life and processes. The challenges of integrating applied work into an academic career are acknowledged given prevailing academic norms related to faculty responsibilities. The promising role of service learning and applied sociological research in developing socially conscious students, engaging faculty in the community, and contributing to incremental change geared toward social justice are discussed. Last, strategies for altering the faculty recognition and reward structures to support and encourage applied work directed toward social change are highlighted.

 Key words: social movements, applied research, justice, change, community and academy

Weinstein offers a historical examination of the theoretical and practical relationship between applied sociology and democracy. He argues that from the beginning of the discipline, the development of sociology and the related social sciences was driven by an attempt to apply scientific knowledge to improve human relations. Following a provocative and insightful review of applied sociological thinking from Sir Patrick Geddes through W.E.B. DuBois and the Students for a Democratic Society, Weinstein concludes that the concept of participatory democracy lies behind the many different terms used by applied sociologists when referring to the best informed and most effective system for articulating and managing group interests.

 Key words: applied sociology, participatory democracy, W.E.B. DuBois, Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Garvin and Gravois Lee critically examine the increasing pressures to make scholarly research "policy relevant." The essay adds a cautionary note to optimism about developments in the field of applied research. The authors focus on the increasing demand to illustrate the policy-relevance of research. Important questions raised include: "What are some of the potential dangers of the policy-relevant turn and how it may subtly change how investigators approach their work?" As researchers committed to applied social research, the authors reflect critically on the potential of such policy-relevant pressure to influence each stage of the research enterprise -- from conceptualizing the problem, to collecting and analyzing data, as well as communicating findings. Besides acknowledging the importance of policy-relevant work, the authors also consider how such an orientation can result in narrowing our research focus and parameters in ways that limit our understanding of social phenomena under study and undermine the creation of well-informed policies or programs geared toward social justice.

 Key words: applied research, policy-relevance of research, data collection and analysis

Writing from the perspective of an indigenous Hawaiian educator and researcher, the author uses hermeneutics, "the art and science of interpretation," to challenge the sort of empiricism that characterizes much of Anglo-American approaches to knowledge, research, and education. She uses the example of "knowing what type of limu, seaweed, washes on Håmåkua shores during winter swells" to illustrate the epistemological assertions that "place educates, beauty develops our thinking, and time is not simply linear." With regard to established notions of what constitute "objective" research practices, Mayer insists, "We are not 'dumbing down' methodology when we wish to sit and listen -- for years." She questions the academy's assumptions about proper etiquette for maintaining the anonymity of her dissertation research informants: "It was absolutely vital that people knew who was talking. That matters because in our community, knowledge that endures happens when you know where it came from." Meyer challenges the emphasis in current educational policies on standardized tests by insisting that we look at "the larger triangulation of meaning -- Body, Mind, Spirit." "The languaging of Anglo-American intelligence," she observes, "comes with specific vocabulary, a speedy disposition, and with very prescribed ways of seeing the world." Meyer's optimism stems from what she sees as the efforts of indigenous Hawaiian researchers to "articulate a new/ancient consciousness" and to redefine "the things of value with regard to knowledge and how we wish to live out our lives."

 Key words: Hawaii, hermeneutics, indigenous epistemology, standardized testing

The author proposes the development of multicultural service learning pedagogy and community-based research curricula to better train future service providers who work in multicultural and disenfranchised communities. She highlights the potential of community-university partnerships in transforming both the academy and the community. Specifically, she focuses on the potential of multicultural service-learning and community-based research to develop a sense of "critical consciousness" among future human service practitioners, while meeting identified community needs. Such instructional and research approaches are aimed at preparing professionals to meet the needs of a growing multicultural population while promoting social justice and systemic change in educational institutions and communities. Examples of how one might incorporate these curricula-based, active-learning and research strategies into specific courses to enhance learning and empower disenfranchised communities are provided. The essay concludes with recommendations designed to inform the work of others interested in using such instructional approaches to promote cultural competence among students while promoting social justice within diverse communities.

 Key words: service providers, pedagogy, multicultural service learning, community-based research curricula, community-university partnerships, cultural competence

Author Haluza-DeLay provides an account of the process of a community-initiated research project on racism in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Randolph Haluza-DeLay offers a case study of a community-initiated research project on racism in Thunder Bay, Ontario, a city in which aboriginal peoples make up roughly 12% of the population. His assessment is that the project was successful in that the public release of the research study, which documented racial incidents and racializing social practices in the community, contributed to "effectively promoting social change." Yet Haluza-DeLay also describes some thorny issues involved in projects, including practical issues in the research process regarding research questions and methods, the intersection of theory with practical knowledge, research as disguised activism, research criticized as divisive to the community, and research as knowledge production. He warns that academic research aimed at promoting social justice must be creative in communicating with marginalized community groups that have seen the ivory tower well-gated and academia often serving to reproduce conditions of marginality.

 Key words: racism, aboriginal peoples, academic-community relations, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Authors Charles Tolbert, Forrest Deseran, and Troy Blanchard recount their efforts, on behalf of the Clinton Justice Department, to conduct research and serve as expert witnesses in litigation (Hays v. Louisiana) over congressional redistricting. The case centered on an attempt to create a majority African American electoral district in Louisiana. The authors cite the late federal judge, A. Leon Higginbotham, to explain why they believe that the creation of "majority-minority" electoral districts is fundamental to the promotion of social justice: "In the context of American history and contemporary reality, minority-majority districting is often the only way of fully achieving the pluralist aspirations of American politics and remedying the longstanding exclusion of African Americans from full participation in government." Their article focuses on their analytical approach and the statistical results of their social demographic research on the fourth congressional district in Louisiana, as well their interactions with the Department of Justice legal team and their experiences in depositions in federal court.

 Key words: congressional redistricting, Hays v. Louisiana, African American exclusion, social demographic research, statistics, Clinton administration

Gwendolyn Mink describes the efforts of a group of feminist social policy scholars to intervene in the national debate about "welfare reform" through lobbying, call-in campaigns, ad placements, the development of teach-in materials, and the drafting of alternative legislation. The primary message was that caregiving is work, even when performed for one's own children and other dependents. The group worked to bring the caregiving issue to the welfare debate, and so to expose the race- and class-based double standard behind efforts to strip poor mothers of economic security through stringent welfare requirements such as mandatory work outside the home and time limits. After Mink's introduction, the volume reproduces three primary documents to illustrate the results of their efforts: (1) the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund's summary of HR 3113 (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Reauthorization Bill), the late Congresswoman Pasty Mink's attempt to offer "a progressive, feminist legislative intervention" in the debates to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF); (2) excerpts of HR 3113, including its main findings; and (3) the "No Promotion of Marriage in TANF!" position paper authored by Martha Fineman, Gwendolyn Mink, and Anna Marie Smith, which states their opposition to the inclusion of "marriage promotion" language in welfare legislation, "because it violates women's right to shape their own intimate lives, diverts valuable resources, and does nothing to address poverty."

 Key words: welfare reform, welfare legislation, activism, poor mothers, economic security, TANF, marriage promotion

Burnett makes an appeal, based on the author's personal experiences, to define the academic role as one that integrates activism and research in response to one's passion. The essay highlights the "academic profession as vocation" and illustrates how activism can shape and strengthen one's research agenda. Burnett considers multiple roles when conceptualizing the relationship between research and social action, including academic, volunteer, activist, and applied researcher. She uses her own experiences "to disentangle these roles and illustrate how the academic role can integrate activism and research as a response to one's passion." Her extensive involvement with a group dedicated to abolishing the death penalty provides the context within which she describes her shift from volunteer to social activist. Further, she highlights how her own social justice research agenda emerged from her service commitments and activism over time. Burnett then explains how her applied research is informing the ongoing debate over capital punishment through its incorporation in legal briefs and post-conviction appeals. The author highlights tensions resulting from the lack of structural support for activist work within the academy. She concludes by arguing that academic-activists be intentional about the dynamics between teaching, research, and service in order to live meaningfully at the intersection of passion and vocation.

 Key words: death penalty, activist research, social activism, volunteers