A Communitarian Perspective on Leading Toward Social Justice in Schools Within Developing Traditional Societies

In light of communitarianism, a philosophical approach that dominated discourse in the social sciences during the 1990s – emphasizing the central place of tradition, community, and family – the chapter presents a distinctive conceptual framework for explaining leadership for social justice, in general, and forms of leading toward social justice among principals and teachers in traditional and developing societies, in particular. The conceptual framework is composed of four possible determinants of leading for social justice in these kinds of societies. Among these determinants are values of collectiveness, high power distance, respect, and relationship orientation that characterize traditional societies. The paper shows the ways in which these determinants might influence the type and nature of social justice strategies and interventions local teachers and principals in developing countries or in traditional societies may adopt. Examples from studies about leadership for social justice are provided to support my argument, and empirical implications are suggested.