Social empathy: how social work educators perceive and intend to engage in social justice

Social work education is designed and devoted to the dissemination, cultivation, and promotion of social justice. Based on the social empathy model that promotes social justice and utilizing primary survey data collected online from a sample of 199 social work educators in the U.S. this study explored the associations between social empathy and attitudes toward social justice (ATSJ) and intentions to engage in social justice (IESJ). The dependent variables ATSJ and IESJ were based on two subscales from the Social Justice Scale, and the independent variable social empathy was based on the Interpersonal and Social Empathy Index. Findings suggest that social work educators with higher level of social empathy have more positive attitudes toward social justice and higher level of intentions to engage in social justice. The study concludes that social empathy is significantly associated with attitudes toward social justice and intentions to engage in social justice and supports the social empathy model that promotes social justice. This study sheds light upon future research on the construct of social justice and calls for more initiatives promoting social justice in social work education, such as curricula reforms and faculty development programs based on the social empathy framework.