Premium
We didn't say that: Challenges in the Public Dissemination of a Research Finding with Controversial Implications
Author(s) -
Neal Zachary P.,
Neal Jennifer Watling
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1002/ajcp.12175
Subject(s) - diversity (politics) , nationalism , narrative , health psychology , white (mutation) , community psychology , mainstream , sociology , social psychology , sense of community , psychology , media studies , social science , public health , law , political science , anthropology , politics , medicine , linguistics , philosophy , biochemistry , chemistry , nursing , gene
In the March 2014 issue of American Journal of Community Psychology , we published an article that examined the tension between two core values in the field of community psychology: promoting contextual conditions that foster respect for diversity and promoting contextual conditions that foster sense of community. We concluded that processes of social network formation could help explain why diversity and sense of community are seemingly incompatible goals. The study's findings initially disseminated through the usual academic channels, and later through mainstream media outlets. However, they also eventually appeared on blogs and discussion forums devoted to white nationalism. The findings were viewed there as having demonstrated the evils of diversity, and thus having vindicated the white nationalist agenda. As a result, we were forced to consider whether and how to set the record straight. In this first‐person narrative, we describe our study's journey from AJCP to white nationalist blogs, discussing how we ultimately responded to the situation, and concluding with some lessons learned.