Glossary of Sociological Terms

Lived experiences: Personal knowledge about the world gained through direct, first-hand involvement in everyday events rather than representations constructed by other people.

Marginalization: The process that occurs when members of a dominant group relegate a particular group to the edges of society by not allowing them an active voice, identity, or place to maintain power**.

Justice: The process required to move us from an unfair, unequal, or inequitable state to one which is fair, equal, or equitable, depending on the specific content. Justice is a transformative practice that relies on the entire community to respond to past and current harm in society. Through justice, we seek proactive enforcement of policies, procedures and attitudes that produce equitable access, opportunities, treatment and outcomes for all regardless of the various identities that one holds**.

Intersectionality: Coined by Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, this term describes how race, class, gender, and other aspects of our identity “intersect,” overlap and interact with one another, informing how individuals simultaneously experience oppression and privilege in their daily lives interpersonally and systemically. Intersectionality promotes the idea that aspects of our identity do not work in a silo. Intersectionality provides a basis for understanding how these individual identity markers work with one another**.

Food Sovereignty: The ability of communities to determne the quantity and quality of the food they consume by controlling how their food is produced and distributed.

Reconciliation: Not simply the cessation of hostilities or the willingness to coexist, but the cultivation of friendship and the creation of a community that bears witness to life beyond estrangement; to lives of embrace, yielding to the work on the reform and repair of institutional wrongs. – Gregory Thompson and Duke L. Keon, Reparations.

Sustainability: Enough – for all – forever! – African Delegate to Johannesburg (Rio+10)

Equity: The effort to provide different levels of support based on an individual’s or group’s needs to achieve fairness in outcomes. Achieving equity acknowledges unequal starting places and the need to correct the imbalance**.

Inclusion: A state of belonging, when persons of different backgrounds and identities are valued, integrated, and welcomed equitably as decision-makers and collaborators. Inclusion involves people being allowed to grow and feel and know they belong. Diversity efforts alone do not create inclusive environments. Inclusion consists of a sense of coming as you are and being accepted, rather than feeling the need to assimilate.

Collaboration: The act of working together, especially on a goal or shared project.

Collaborative: Being collaborative means “getting outside of yourself” — not just listening to others’ ideas, but really hearing them

** CSSP (2019). “Key Equity Terms and Concepts: A Glossary for Shared Understanding.” Washington, DC: Center for the Study of Social Policy. Available at: https:// cssp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Key-EquityTerms-and-Concepts-vol1.pdf