Economic inequality has devastating effects on the lives of so many students, teachers, and schools; the field of psychology is playing an increasingly important role in our understanding of the effects of scarcity on outcomes, especially when considering the intersection of class with other characteristics (e.g., race, gender).
In response to this need to understand socioeconomic status (SES), The Psychology of Social Class Organization set a goal of establishing a new APA division focused on SES. In September of 2022, an APA Division Formation Steering Committee was convened and tasked with exploring the potential of starting a new APA division. We are calling this new division: The APA Division of Economic Justice, Poverty, and Social Class Issues. Information about this division as well as our goals can be found here
Initially, the steering committee was asked to provide APA division leadership with evidence of the need for a new division as well as a plan for division structure if established. We are happy to report that as of March 2023, we were notified that we were successful in our efforts and have been approved by the APA to move forward to next steps. This is notable given that a new division has not been created since 2006.
The next stage involves gathering petition signatures from APA members in support of the creation of the new division. This is quite a task, as we must gather signatures from 1% of all APA members (roughly around 750 people in total) in order to move forward. We made considerable strides on this at the 2023 APA convention gaining just under 20% of the signatures needed.
We are reaching out to ask you to support this new division by signing the petition through the APA Website. We are also asking people to please share this email with others who would be willing to support this cause.
Signing the Petition
In order to sign the petition, click the link on the right side of the webpage that says “APA members and fellows are invited to support the formation of this new division. You will need to login to your MyAPA account to view the form & indicate your support”. Once there, you will be asked to provide:
- Your Name
- APA Membership Number
By signing the petition, you agree that you will have a continuing interest in the division, will accept membership in the division if it is established, and agree to pay division dues (if dues are required) once the division has been established. Currently membership has been set to $40 per year which is relatively low-cost compared to many divisions. To be clear, you will NOT be charged to sign the petition at this time. It is simply a promise that if the division is established, you will join for the first year. This is in place in order to make sure APA members who sign the petition are serious in their belief that the division should be established.
We hope you consider signing the petition to establish this very important new APA division.
Thank you so much. If you would like to join The Psychology of Social Class Organization (POSCO), sign up here.