Am J Community Psychol. 2017 Dec;60(3):424-429. doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12175. Epub 2017 Sep 18.

We didn't say that: Challenges in the Public Dissemination of a Research Finding with Controversial Implications.

American journal of community psychology

Zachary P Neal, Jennifer Watling Neal

PMID: 28921584 DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12175

Abstract

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.

© Society for Community Research and Action 2017.

Keywords: Diversity; Ethics; Media; Nationalism; Sense of community

MeSH terms

• Blogging
• Cultural Diversity*
• Humans
• Information Dissemination*
• Psychology*
• Racism*
• Research

Publication Types

• Journal Article