Social justice and psychology: what is, and what should be

This article proposes that all psychologists—and all psychologies—are innately concerned with justice, and yet there is no consensually defined discipline of psychology, and no consensual understanding of social justice. Adopting an intergroup and identity-based model of what is and what should be, we will describe the mechanisms whereby identities and perceptions of justice are formed, contested, and changed over time. We will argue that psychological research and practice have implications for social justice even where—and perhaps especially when—these are not made explicit. Psychology is considered as the product of diverse groups with distinct and evolving identities, and with differential access to resources and power, which dynamically contest different normative perceptions of justice.