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Looking Again at SPSSI : History, Activism, and Advocacy
Author(s) -
Mednick Martha T
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.618
H-Index - 122
eISSN - 1540-4560
pISSN - 0022-4537
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-4560.2010.01679.x
Subject(s) - scrutiny , context (archaeology) , political science , presidential system , sociology , public relations , presidential address , media studies , history , public administration , law , politics , archaeology
SPSSI has a well‐established history of self‐scrutiny. Central to any self‐evaluation effort is the presence of an archival record that documents the aspirations and struggles of an organization and its members, perspectives that may never make it into the “official” published record. In this reflection, I describe my efforts in the 1980s, on the occasion of my presidential address, to use the archival record of SPSSI to examine how the organization had dealt with advocacy in the then‐46+ years of its existence. I then mention a contemporary archival project for Psychologists for Social Responsibility, and comment on changes in the institutional landscape that have created a new context for SPSSI 's historic role as an activist organization.