The Meaning and Metrics of Social and Political Transformation

Social and political transformation is defined and five components of transformative processes and outcomes are presented. The five components are used to integrate and raise questions about the social movements that appear in the current issue of Peace and Conflict. Questions include: Are the transformative movements systemic, sustainable, scalable, have subaltern involvement, and metrics that document change? The discussion presents some innovative metrics and then engages in a critical analysis of tensions that emerge between Global North and Global South scholar activists around the issue of top-down versus bottom-up transformation processes. A case is made for both privileged and marginalized psychologists to work together and invent new psychosocial concepts that bear on constructive transformations while engaging in the kind of activism that extends the scope of human wellbeing.