About this session

Friday, 8:30 AM - 10:00 AM

Building Resilience: Sociocultural and Contextual Influences on Youth Empowerment and Critical Consciousness

Why do some young people become catalysts for change while others remain silent in the face of injustice? This symposium explores the vital role that sociocultural contexts—such as family, education, and community—play in developing critical consciousness and civic action among youth. It highlights how ethnic-racial socialization, educational frameworks, and community engagement shape youth responses to systemic inequities, offering strategies to foster more informed and active citizens.

The first paper examines the role of family ethnic-racial socialization in fostering critical action among Black and Latine youth, focusing on how cultural socialization, preparation for bias, and egalitarianism build resilience and agency. The second paper investigates how cultural socialization influences the development of critical consciousness in both BIPOC and White youth, exploring how parental messages shape awareness of social inequalities, motivation, and sociopolitical engagement. The third paper highlights how place-based environmental civic science in schools cultivates civic skills and agency, teaching youth to engage with local issues and take action. The final paper explores the impact of youth activist training programs on the development of critical consciousness, focusing on how structured civic engagement fosters reflection, agency, and action.

Together, these findings underscore the need for multi-dimensional approaches that incorporate family, education, and community contexts in fostering critical consciousness. This symposium contributes to the dialogue on youth empowerment by emphasizing the sociocultural and contextual factors that shape critical action and resistance to systemic injustice.

Paper #1
Title	Nurturing Critical Action: Family Ethnic-Racial Socialization's Role in Developing Youth Critical Consciousness
Presenting author	Nabila Jamal Orozco, University of Pittsburgh, United States

Paper #2
Title	Cultural Socialization and Critical Consciousness in BIPOC and White Youth
Presenting author	Kaila Daza, Boston College, United States of America

Paper #3
Title	Building Foundational Capacity for Critical Civic Action Through Place-based Environmental Civic Science in School Contexts
Presenting author	Alisa Pykett, University of Wisconsin-Madison, United States

Paper #4
Title	Effects of a Youth Activist Training Program on Critical Consciousness Development
Presenting author	Dr. Laura Wray-Lake, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles, United States of America

View all paper details

Session chairs
Daphne A. Henry, University of Pittsburgh, United States of America; Nabila Jamal Orozco, , United States of America

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