Original Research

An Emotional Intelligence Approach:
Educational Intervention to Advocate for Social Justice & DEIB.

Ayaka Mawarida

What is Social Justice?

4 Steps of DEIB Practice

Toolkits

Abstract
要旨

This report is based on data from a quantitative and qualitative survey conducted with about 20 participants of politicians, bureaucrats, local government officers, and educators in Japan, and explains how the Emotional Intelligence (EQ) approach educational intervention can be effective in promoting understanding of social justice and the DEIB –Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging– and fostering people's sense of agency to transform society. It argues from the literature that EQ development and SEL can easily become self-righteous and complicit in the preservation of social injustice unless it has a social justice perspective, and at the same time, a sense of belonging is key to the practice of social justice and DEIB. For theoretical frameworks, it uses “intersectionality” to understand social justice and DEIB and its purpose. Surveys conducted with three groups of participants revealed that the educational intervention increased relevant vocabulary, and that the Social Justice/DEIB educational program with the EQ approach was 1.9 times more effective in promoting understanding of social justice than the video lecture. It showed that the educational intervention with the EQ approach was the most effective in promoting understanding and fostering a sense of agency, with a significant increase in the number of comments accompanied by specific verbs.

本レポートは、日本の政治家、官僚、教育者合計約20名の参加協力を得て実施した量的・質的調査のデータを元に、社会正義やDEIBの理解を促進し社会を変革するために人々の当事者性を育むためには、Emotional Intelligence (EQ)アプローチによる教育的介入が効果的であることを説明するもの。EQ開発およびSELは社会正義の観点を持たない限り独善的になりやすく、あるいは社会的不正義の温存に加担する可能性があること、同時に社会正義やDEIBの実践には居場所感がキーとなることを文献より議論する。居場所感は感情であり、ソーシャルジャスティスとDEIBは感情の観点なしには表面的なレベルで終始する場合があることを指摘する。研究参加者を3グループに分け行った調査では、教育的介入を行うことで関連語彙が増えることが明らかになったほか、ビデオ講義よりもEQアプローチによるソーシャルジャスティス/DEIB教育プログラムの方が1.9倍のソーシャルジャスティスに関する理解促進の効果があり、具体的な動詞を伴うコメントの数が増加し、EQアプローチによる教育的介入が最も理解促進と当事者意識を育む上で効果的であった。

Introduction
序論

People's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors are influenced by their external environment, such as society and the communities they belong to, unconsciously. EQ development, and as known as Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in educational settings, is essentially about discovering or rediscovering your identity while learning the science of emotions. It helps people to draw healthy boundaries between others and themselves, to become less afraid to be the way truly are and to relate to others, and to live more relaxed and engaged (Six Seconds). The process of EQ development deals with a variety of emotions as pieces of information, yet the occurrence of emotions is not always the same for each individual. Patterns exist in individuals in the generation of emotions, and the roots that give rise to these patterns are often attributed to the external environment, such as society, the company, or the school. Values such as: we should feel uncomfortable about this, or we should be praised for that; uncomfortable feelings are negative and bad, or bad feelings must be covered up---, these are often derived from the norms and culture of the environment, such as society, community, and family. Thus, if we try to utilize EQ without considering the existence of its (strong) effects, we are unintentionally leaving and preserving the flaws in the social structure that need to be improved, and contributing to the reproduction of harm---. Social Justice says no to oppression, exploitation, and hierarchical structures (Bhugra). Modern capitalist society is made up of hierarchical structures and is operated on the basis of oppression and exploitation. Who can live in psychological safety in a society of oppression and exploitation? Those who are marginalized in societies of oppression and exploitation are often deprived of substantive human rights, or in other words, "the right to have rights" (DeGooyer). Hannah Arendt described this condition as 'Rightlessness. In a society where social injustice is so rampant, no matter how much an individual acquires EQ, unless they stand up or become an activist ally, knowing the impact of society on the individual and understanding the need for change in the external environment, in a society where social injustice is so rampant, no matter how much an individual acquires EQ, unless they stand up or become an activist ally, knowing the impact of society on the individual and understanding the need for change in the external environment, not only will they not solve the fundamental problems of society, but they will be complicit in maintaining such a society, which justifies the imposition of unpleasant feelings on particular groups of society.

How could we use EQ, which is supposed to enrich us as individuals, for social change? How could we more effectively advocate for social justice and DEIB? This report argues that EQ and Social Justice are complementary pieces to each other, and explains that the EQ approach educational intervention is effective in advocating for Social Justice and DEIB. To understand the structure of social justice and DEIB, the framework of intersectionality explains the hierarchy of oppression and exploitation in an easy-to-understand context. This report also points out that without a social justice perspective, EQ development and SEL can become "color-blind," which means that it might be based solely on the values of privileged positions, and rather contribute to the preservation of social injustice (Gregory et al). Noting that understanding of social justice and DEIB could end up at a superficial level without an emotional perspective, I propose an educational intervention with an EQ approach that fosters people's sense of agency in order to promote understanding of social justice and DEIB and transform society.

The original study was conducted with the collaboration of DAIJOUBU, a Japanese EQ and Equity learning community, of which I am the founder and CEO, with participation cooperation from a total of 24 politicians, bureaucrats, local government officers, and educators living in Japan, and finally with effective participation from 16. The surveys, conducted in three groups, revealed that the Social Justice/DEIB educational program with the EQ approach was 1.9 times more effective in promoting understanding and clearly more effective in fostering a sense of agency than the video lectures.

人々の感情思考行動は、社会や所属するコミュニティといった外部環境の影響を本人が無自覚のうちに受けている。EQ開発、および教育現場ではSocial Emotional Learning (以下、SEL)は本来、感情の科学を学びながら自分らしさを発見あるいは再発見し、他者と自分の間の健康的な境界線を引き、自分らしくあることも他者と関わることも怖くなくなる、よりリラックスして生きていけるようになるのをサポートするものだ (Six Seconds)。EQ開発のプロセスは、様々な感情を情報として取り扱うが、感情の発生には個人にパターンがあり、そのパターンを生んでいる根源が社会や会社、学校といった外部環境に起因している場合が往々にしてある。これについては不快な感情を抱くべきだ、あるいはこれについては称賛されるべきだ、不快な感情をネガティブで悪いものと見なしたり、悪い感情は蓋をしなければならない、といった価値観で、社会やコミュニティ、家庭といった環境の規範やカルチャーから来ている場合が多い。そして、その（強い）影響の存在を考慮せずにEQを活用しようとした場合、図らずも社会構造が持つ改善されるべき欠陥を放置し温存し、被害の再生産に貢献することになる―――。ソーシャルジャスティスは「抑圧」「搾取」「階層構造」にノーを言う(Bhugra)。現代の資本主義社会は階層構造で出来ており、抑圧・搾取によって運営されている。抑圧・搾取の中で、誰が心理的安全に生きられるだろうか。抑圧と搾取の社会で疎外されている人々は、しばしば実質的な人権、他の言葉で言うと、”権利を持つ権利”を奪われている (DeGooyer)。ハンナ・アレントはその状態を、’Rightlessness’と表現した。社会不正義の蔓延する社会においては、どれだけ個人がEQを身に着けても、社会が個人に与える影響を知り、外部環境に変革の必要があることを理解し、立ち上がる、あるいは活動家のアライにならない限り、社会の根本的な問題解決につながらないどころか、この社会の特定のグループに不快な感情を押し付けることを正当化している社会の維持に加担することとなる。

どうしたら私たち個人を豊かにするEQを、社会の変革のために使えるようになるのだろう？どうしたら私たちはソーシャルジャスティスをもっと効果的にadvocateできるのだろう？このレポートは、EQとソーシャルジャスティスが相互に必要なピースを補い合う関係であると主張し、ソーシャルジャスティスとDEIBのアドボケイトにはEQアプローチが効果的であることを説明する。ソーシャルジャスティスとDEIBの構造を理解するには、抑圧と搾取の階層構造を分かりやすく説明するインターセクショナリティというフレームワークが分かりやすい。また、このレポートは、EQ開発およびSELは社会正義の観点を持たない限り”color-blind”（白人：つまり特権的立場の価値観のみによる視点）になりやすく、むしろ社会的不正義の温存に加担する可能性があること(Gregory)、同時に社会正義やDEIBの理解は感情の観点なしには表面的なレベルで終始する場合があることを指摘し、社会正義やDEIBの理解を促進して社会を変革するために人々の当事者性を育むEQアプローチによる教育的介入を提案します。

本オリジナル研究は、私が創設者・CEOを務めるDAIJOUBUというEQとEquityを学べる日本のコミュニティの協力を得て、日本に暮らす政治家、官僚、教育者合計24名からの参加協力、最終的に16名からの有効参加によって実施された。3グループに分けて実施した調査はビデオ講義よりもEQアプローチによるソーシャルジャスティス/DEIB教育プログラムの方が1.9倍理解促進を促し、当事者性を育むのにも明らかに効果的であることが明らかになりました。

Literature Review

At the time I was learning EQ at an EQ organization in the U.S. and working to spread EQ in Japanese through Japan, an interesting situation occurred. During the meeting, I myself thought I had proposed the best idea for the purpose and situation. However, I was told by a group member, "If you are really using EQ, you wouldn't talk like that, you would do better." EQ is a skill that builds a bridge between now and the goal you are looking to achieve (Six Seconds). EQ development and SEL is a learning process that cultivates that skill. If that were the case, one interpretation might be that the consideration and arrangements were necessary to get them to say yes. Another micro step to build the bridge to get to the actual goal. However, I was feeling a little uncomfortable with the way the EQ was used.

A 2017 report by Gregory et al. analyzing cases in the U.S. that incorporated SEL practices to reduce disciplinary disparities noted that the prevailing understanding of SEL at the time was "color blind" and did not take into account power, privilege, or culture (Gregory et al. 118). This was a characteristic resulting from a respect for treating each person as an individual before considering social identity, in line with new forms of racial ideology that emerged after the civil rights era (117). SEL interprets the individual equally and enriches the individual, but that "individual" is already unknowingly subject to specific influences in school from the adults involved, such as teachers, from the structures that inhabit casual processes, etc., and from society and the environment itself. The impact is also evident in the sanctions administered in schools, with black students receiving harsher sanctions than their white counterparts for misbehavior of the same severity (119). It is not only the implicit or explicit racial bias of the sanctioning adults that contributes to inequality, but also environmental factors such as the presence of prejudice-laden beliefs and inappropriate processes in the school structure (120). In other words, addressing SEL while ignoring structural dynamics continues to view the problems that surface as individual responsibility (129). It can be described as being complicit in the reproduction of inequalities or social injustices.

Bringing it back to my own experience, I thought I was saying the right thing as an idea to connect the current situation with the goal of the project we were discussing. However, for the member, there was something more important than the goal of the project itself--it was his own position and feelings, probably. The member was an older man, older than my father. Japan is one of the countries with the largest gender gap in the Global Gender Gap Index ranking, 125th out of 146 countries in 2023, in particular the lowest group in terms of wage gap and political participation (Global Economic Forum 17, 18). Many people hold the view and attitude that there is no such thing as listening to young women because of the patriarchal and seniority-based society. However, this view is in conflict with the original goal of EQ and SEL. When the supposed leading EQ practitioner in Japan said, "If you are really using EQ, you wouldn't talk like that, you would do better," this was the best example of EQ or SEL's "color blindness" referred to by Gregory et al. that "does not take into account power, privilege, and culture" (Gregory et al. 118).

Gregory et al.'s point had a profound impact on SEL in the SEL community, which until then had been unquestionably believed to be a good thing; two years later, in 2019, after the George Floyd incident, CASEL, the leading SEL academic organization in the U.S., issued a report " Transformative Social and Emotional Learning (SEL): Toward SEL in the Service of Educational Equity and Excellence." It is critical of its own traditional SEL model and proposes a social justice-oriented SEL that implies resistance to oppressive situations and relationships (Jagers et al. 165).

The report explains that there are three forms of SEL: personally responsible SEL, participatory SEL, and justice-oriented SEL. Personally responsible SEL and participatory SEL are not inconsistent with neoliberal democracy, in a way they encourage and respect models (norms) of the common good (165) and uses the concept of membership in the so-called nation-state system (Gundogdu11), while flatly marginalizing groups that do not fall under it. This clearly does not respect human rights and is not a social justice approach. Justice oriented SEL, rooted in the concept of social justice, is officially called transformative SEL and points out the importance of: (1) understanding multidimensional, multifaceted, and intersectional identy, and (2) acknowledging of apparent lack of resources and tools that would allow the privileged side to turn the arrow to themselves and engage in reflection (Jagers et al. 178).

Both Gundogdu et al. and Jagers et al. argue the importance of social justice and SEL ideas being centered in racism (Gregory et al. 118, Jagers et al. 163). However, when framed in terms of privileged or vulnerable positions, justice oriented SEL, or transformative SEL, can be applied to any intersectional category, such as gender, seniority, citizenship status. and so on. Hannah Arendt criticizes that it is extremely difficult to claim and exercise the rights granted by birth as a human being, that is, the human rights that everyone should have from the beginning without having to do anything, when one is deprived of social and political attributes and can be interpreted as being nothing more than a human being ( Gundogdu 3). She uses the term "rightlessness" to point out that the equality and fairness that human rights are supposed to bring have not been realized for the most people, and that the problem of rightlessness has followed people through their lives and into their daily lives (4). Arendt writes in The Origin of Totalitarianism after World War II:

"The calamity of the rightless is not that they are deprived of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, or of equality before the law and freedom of opinion–formulas which were designed to solve problems within given communities–but that they no longer belong to any community whatsoever" (Arendt, Totalitarianism 295).

“No longer belong to any community” (Arendt 295) put people into the state of rightlessness.

"Belonging" is the key---.

CASEL, in its explanation of transformative SEL, proposes four factorial competencies apart from the five in the CASEL model: Identity, Agency, Belonging, and Engagement (Jagers et al. 163).

Theoretical Frameworks

This section describes intersectionality and rightlessness as theoretical frameworks to help understand the need for transformative SEL, or justice oriented EQ, and to practice social justice and DEIB rooted in the essence.

The CASEL's four competencies of transformative SEL: Identity, Agency, Belonging, and Engagement (163), Belonging and Engagement are emotions, and Agency is a state of consistency of your thoughts and actions using empathy and emotional literacy. Blonging, Engagement, and Agency can be addressed centrally in the Emotional Intelligence activities. To reflect and work on Identity, intersectionality is a simple and powerful tool to learn.

Jump to Theoretical Frameworks

Methodology

The study participants consisted of about 20 Japanese politicians, bureaucrats, local government officers, and educators. The reasons for choosing Japan as the target of the study were: Japan has the lowest EQ score in the world (Six Seconds), Japan is one of the largest gender inequality in the world (Global Economic Forum 11) and has other serious social issues, and the concepts of social justice and DEIB are still not widely understood. The objective is to show the potential for replication in other countries and cultures by leveraging these aspects and approaching the study as a least-likely case study. In addition, the attributes of the target population are mainly politicians, bureaucrats/local government officers, and educators because, as I am trying to demonstrate in this study, I hope to explore peaceful and long-term methods of social activism through educational intervention, even though it may require patience.

A mixed research method was conducted to explore effective educational interventions to advocate for social justice and DEIB, using a quantitative survey to measure a simple EQ score and understanding of social justice, and a qualitative survey using a descriptive questionnaire. The surveys were taken before and after the intervention to measure change. The two definitions of effective were: in the quantitative survey, basic understanding of Social Justice and DEIB increased after the intervention; and in the qualitative survey, the intervention was successful in fostering a sense of agency through an increase in concrete vocabulary and vocabulary expressing proactive verbs.

The educational intervention is a 20-minute video lecture on Social Justice and DEIB with a focus on Intersectionality, and a 2-hour online class with the same content in an EQ approach. Participants were divided into three groups: [A] no intervention, [B] video lecture intervention, and [C] EQ approach class. Although 24 participating collaborators were gathered, the final number of valid responses was 16. The study was conducted in Japanese. Attributes were educators, bureaucrats, local government officers, and politicians, with a gender ratio of 6 females and 10 males.

The majority of participants were not so familiar with EQ, Social Justice, or DEIB.

Requests for cooperation for this study were made through members of DAIJOUBU, a non-profit organization in Japan. Given that the percentage of female politicians is only 9.7% in the Diet and 16.8% in local governments (Japan Gender Equality), it was not possible to have the cooperation of female politicians. Japan's gender gap in political and economic indexes are one of the highest in the world while education shows little difference (World Economic Forum).

Japan, gender, and patriarchal society are discussed in "Sex Trafficking of Minor Girls in Tokyo: Consequences of Gender Based Violence Built Upon a Long Patriarchal History," one of the writings listed in the portfolio. I would like to continue to pay attention to these themes even after graduation.

The quantitative survey questionnaire with a 5-point scale consists of 28 questions: 17 questions for a simple EQ score and 11 questions for understanding social justice. The descriptive qualitative survey questionnaire consisted of 5 questions measuring social evaluation and sense of agency.

Hypothesis

people with higher EQ scores are more likely to understand social justice and DEIB,
educational interventions using the EQ approach will enhance understanding of social justice and DEIB, and
educational interventions using the EQ approach will foster a sense of agency regarding social justice and DEIB.

｜

Examination

whether there is a correlation between the pre- and post-intervention rates of change in EQ scores and social justice comprehension scores;
a comparison of the rate of change in social justice comprehension scores across interventions; and
which educational intervention fosters a sense of agency the most from the amount and type of words used in the descriptive questionnaires.

Case Analysis

Higher EQ = Higher understanding of Social Justice & DEIB.

The quantitative survey showed an overall trend that individuals with higher EQ scores had a smoother understanding of Social Justice and DEIB. The graph shows a correlation chart plotting the mean of the individual's first and second EQ scores and the change rate in the Social Justice & DEIB comprehension score between the first and second surveys. A 45% correlation coefficient was found.

EQ approach class is 1.9 times more effective than video lecture.

The first quantitative survey was taken in Week 1, the video intervention and class intervention were conducted in Week 3, and the second survey was completed in Week 5 to 6. After the survey, the classes without intervention remained almost unchanged, and the highest rate of change in understanding of Social Justice and DEIB was in the EQ Approach class, 1.9 times higher than in the video lecture.

EQ approach class increases participants' specific vocabularies the most.

Based on a survey of descriptive responses to the question, "What do you personally think you can do to create a society that is more comfortable for everyone to live in?" a significant increase in vocabulary was noticeable in the two groups that participated in the intervention. The two groups also had more specific nouns related to Social Justice and DEIB themes, and participants in the EQ Approach class had the most significant increase in vocabulary and articulation of vocabulary, with more expressions describing specific action plans and ideas for transformations than any of the other groups.

The average number of letters of feedback from participants after the class intervention was 1.5 times larger for class participants.

Comments from Video Lecture participants

It was good to know about DEIB. I knew about diversity and inclusion one by one, but I did not know the term DEIB, so I wanted to know more about it.
After listening to the video, I would like to thank you first of all for your theoretical and easy-to-understand summary. I think the resolution of the four steps could have been enhanced if you could talk about them in the context of more specific cases, but I was able to get a clearer picture by referring to my own experience. I could have used my own experience to help me visualize the steps.

Comments from EQ Approach Class participants

Listening to the opinions of the group members in the pyramid work, I not only gained new perspectives, but also became aware of values that I had unconsciously held within myself. I also found something like a prejudice within myself.
When I worked on the drawing tree activity, I had never consciously expressed the part of the soil (what society prioritized in the situation), so it was new and inspiring to me. I felt that the leaves (feelings) would depend on the soil. I would like to hear more what the roots (values that I cherish) are.
Thinking about social justice feels distant from me, but it made me feel familiar and so real when I reflect on my own anger and sense of belonging with activities.
The fact that the pyramid structure of capitalism has become a democracy as it is in the first place has deep roots when one considers the historical background of merchants gaining power, but that is why there may be a need for a certain number of beings who can act with "justice" and not just profit and loss.
It was very inspiring and made me think a lot about what I should value in raising my children.

Discussion and Implication

This intervention, a 20-minutes video lecture and a 2-hours EQ approach class, was not equal in time. The difference in effectiveness could be interpreted as an effect of the duration of the intervention. A comparative study by creating an hour-long video lecture and an EQ class would be suggested for the future. The study participants were not only narrowed down to the following attributes: educators, bureaucrats, local government officers, and politicians but also gathered through members of the EQ and Equity learning platform. Thus, the attributes could not be a microcosm of Japan as a whole, but rather people with an initially open view of education and society. However, the majority's prior knowledge of social justice and DEIB, even EQ, could be higher.

Conclusion

Although it was an original study conducted on people in Japan while the author was in the U.S., and a quantitative and qualitative study was conducted in limited time and in different ways, it was found that:

There is a correlation between the EQ score and the change rate of understanding social justice,
Both the video lecture and EQ approach class interventions were highly effective, perhaps because Social Justice and DEIB are not yet well known, and
Advocacy through the EQ approach class is significantly effective.

In particular, the 45% correlation coefficient rate and the EQ Approach class intervention contributed 1.9 times more to the rate of change in understanding social justice and DEIB than the video lecture, which exceeded expectations. In addition, word clouds created from the qualitative study showed that EQ Approach class participants' post-intervention language increased the most, with an increase in Social Justice and DEIB-related nouns and verbs indicating specific actions. The educational intervention of the EQ approach is a natural extension of social justice and DEIB recognizes that they are part of it. It also encourages opportunities to ruminate and concretely verbalize what they can do, using the first person. The EQ approach is not "teaching" or "persuading" but a step-by-step stance of "exploring together." This equal stance of the EQ approach, which embodies social justice and DEIB, may make advocates more persuasive and influential.

In this study, the video lecture lasted 20 minutes; on the other hand, the EQ approach class lasted two hours. In the comments after the survey, many participants in the video lecture said that 20 minutes was appropriate; however, many participants in the EQ approach class said it went by so quickly. The challenge will be getting people to participate in an EQ class approach that takes 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. The cooperation of educational, political, and corporate leaders and personnel will be needed to realize this. After graduation, the author will continue to develop more Social Justice and DEIB Advocate programs with the EQ approach and work as a professional in implementing essential DEIB reforms.