Susan Opotow is Professor Emerita, having taught in the Graduate Programs in Dispute Resolution from 1997 -2007.

She is a social and organizational psychologist and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association. Her work examines the intersections of conflict, justice, and identity as they give rise to moral exclusion – seeing others as outside the scope of justice and as eligible targets of discrimination, exploitation, or violence. She studies moral exclusion in deadly and milder conflicts concerning schooling, the environmental, and public policy disputes. Her current work examines moral inclusion in post-conflict societal reconstruction. She co-edited Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature (MIT Press, 2003), is Associate Editor of Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology¸ and is on the editorial board for Human Ecology Review. She serves as an elected member of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) Council and is its liaison to the United Nations and International Issues Committee. Susan currently teaches in the Sociology Department at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in the City University of New York.

Research Interests:

• antecedents, processes, and outcomes of moral exclusion
• social reconstruction and peace building after deadly conflict
• aggression, violence, and hate
• student attachment and disengagement in urban public schools
• environmental conflict and conservation

Recent Publications:

Opotow, S. Aggression and violence. (2006). In M. Deutsch, P. Coleman, & E. Marcus (eds.), Handbook of Conflict Resolution: Theory and Practice (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey Bass.

Opotow, S., Gerson, J., & Woodside, S. (2005). From moral exclusion to moral inclusion: Theory for teaching peace. Theory Into Practice, 44(4).

Opotow, S. (2005). Hate, conflict, and moral exclusion. In R.J. Sternberg (Ed). The psychology of hate. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Opotow, S. Conflict and morals. (2004). In T.A. Thorkildsen & H.J. Walberg (Eds.), Nurturing morality. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers.

Opotow, S. (2003). What makes people care? Moral inclusion and conservation psychology. Human Ecology Review, 10(3), 166-167.

Clayton, S., & Opotow, S. (2003). Justice and identity: Changing perspectives on what is fair. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7(4), 298-310.

Clayton, S., & Opotow, S. (2003). Introduction: Identity and the natural environment. In S. Clayton & S. Opotow (Eds.), Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Opotow, S., & Brook, A. (2003). A. Identity and exclusion in rangeland conflict. In S. Clayton & S. Opotow (Eds.), Identity and the natural environment: The psychological significance of nature. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Fallis, R.K., & Opotow, S. (2003). Are students failing school or are schools failing students? Class cutting in high school. Journal of Social Issues, 59(1), 103-119.

Recent Presentations:

Hating: Psychological Perspectives on Hate Crime, at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Conference "Off the Witness Stand: Using Psychology in the Practice of Justice" New York City, Fevruary 2007.

Justice in the aftermath of conflict: Moral exclusion and moral inclusion. European Association of Experimental Social Psychologists Small Group Meeting on Social Justice and Intergroup Conflict, Lisbon, September 2005.

Nature, justice, and diversity: Expanding the scope of justice for environmental issues. Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Biennial Meeting, Washington DC, June 2004.

Brown Plus 50: Participatory Research with Youth on Persistent Inequity …and spots of hope (discussant). Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Biennial Meeting, Washington DC, June 2004.

Struggles for Social Justice: Efforts to Extend the Moral Community 50 Years After Brown. Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Biennial Meeting, Washington DC, June 2004.

Deadly conflict and the challenge of social reconciliation. American Bar Association Section on Dispute Resolution, New York, April 2004.

Changing paradigms of nature: Influencing policy. Third Annual Nature, Ecology and Society Colloquium, Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York, March 2004.

Education, family, and community: Framing the issues. Invitational Conference on Interrupting Oppression and Sustaining Justice, Teachers College Columbia University, February 2004.

Forced migration and social justice. United Nations Department of Public Information 56th Annual DPI/NGO Conference, United Nations, New York, September 2003.

Connections to nature---The significance of nature for identity. American Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, August 2003.

When empathy promotes peace---Adding emotion to White's "Realistic Empathy,” American Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, August 2003.