ABSTRACT
Social justice is a moral, ethical, and political task that challenges traditional notions of universal truth, scientific neutrality, and researcher dispassion. One of the underlying themes is that the world is capable of being changed; that change can come from any direction, and especially from the bottom up. A social justice paradigm literally changes the way one thinks and views the world. Such a paradigm means that we are all capable of—and therefore responsible for—changing the world. With this goal in mind, this introduction explains how using a social justice paradigm orients qualitative inquiry as a socially relevant, socially responsible, multidisciplinary, globally sensitive endeavor.
