Christopher Conrad Sonn (born 1967) is an Australian

social psychologist Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field of ...

whose work in the area of

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

and

liberation psychology Liberation psychology or liberation social psychology is an approach to psychology that aims to actively understand the psychology of oppressed and impoverished communities by conceptually and practically addressing the oppressive sociopolitical st ...

focuses on

intergroup relations Intergroup relations refers to interactions between individuals in different social groups, and to interactions taking place between the groups themselves collectively. It has long been a subject of research in social psychology, political psycho ...

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

White privilege White privilege, or white skin privilege, is the Social privilege, societal privilege that benefits white people over Person of color, non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or ...

, and non-dominant group responses to oppression. Sonn is Professor of Psychology at the College of Health and Biomedicine of the

Victoria University, Melbourne Victoria University (VU or Vic Uni) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It is a dual-sector university, providing courses in both higher education and technical and further education (TAFE) ...

(VU). Sonn is a lead researcher in the VU Community Identity and Displacement Research Network, which studies issues related to

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

, racism,

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

social inclusion Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

transnationalism Transnationalism is a research field and social phenomenon grown out of the heightened interconnectivity between people and the receding economic and social significance of boundaries among nation states. Overview The term "trans-national" was ...

and

xenophobia Xenophobia (from (), 'strange, foreign, or alien', and (), 'fear') is the fear or dislike of anything that is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression that is based on the perception that a conflict exists between an in-gr ...

. Sonn is the co-author of the textbook ''Social Psychology of Everyday Life'' and co-editor of the volumes ''Psychology of Liberation: Theory and Applications,'' and ''Psychological Sense of Community: Research, Applications, and Implications''.

Biography

Sonn attended the

Chisholm Institute of Technology Monash University, Caulfield campus is a campus of Monash University located in Caulfield East, Victoria, Caulfield East, which is a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, in the state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The campus comprises 13,400 stu ...

, where he received his

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

. He later obtained a Graduate Diploma of Education from Victoria College and a Graduate Diploma of Applied Psychology from the

Victoria University of Technology Victoria University (VU or Vic Uni) is an Australian public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It is a dual-sector university, providing courses in both higher education and technical and further education (TAFE). The university h ...

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

. Sonn completed his PhD in Psychology at Victoria University of Technology in 1995. His dissertation titled "The role of psychological sense of community in the adjustment of 'coloured' South African immigrants" was conducted under the guidance of Adrian Fisher, Professor Emeritus at Victoria University. He is a lead researcher on the international Apartheid Archive Project.

Research

Sonn's research uses

qualitative methods Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...

to understand and elevate the voices of individuals and groups who are

marginalized Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

through forms of racism and sexism. Sonn and his colleagues' work has explored the idea of

community resilience Community resilience is the sustained ability of a community to use available resources (energy, communication, transportation, food, etc.) to respond to, withstand, and recover from adverse situations (e.g. economic collapse to global catastrophi ...

and how different communities or people of varying in race and/or gender respond to conditions of adversity and cope with stress and other issues. The researchers argued that oppressed, minority communities are often represented as lacking in resilience and competence, which makes it easy for people in these groups to be underemphasized and misunderstood in society. Sonn's research team uses the concept of whiteness and its associated privileges as a context for thinking about

race relations Race relations is a sociological concept that emerged in Chicago in connection with the work of sociologist Robert E. Park and the Chicago race riot of 1919. Race relations designates a paradigm or field in sociology and a legal concept in th ...

and developing effective forms of

anti-racist Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and delibera ...

action.

Representative publications

* Ali, L., & Sonn, C. C. (2010). Constructing identity as a second-generation Cypriot Turkish in Australia: The multi-hyphenated other. ''Culture & Psychology'', ''16''(3), 416-436. *Green, M. J., Sonn, C. C., & Matsebula, J. (2007). Reviewing whiteness: Theory, research, and possibilities. ''South African Journal of Psychology'', ''37''(3), 389-419. * Sonn, C. C., & Fisher, A. T. (1996). Psychological sense of community in a politically constructed group. ''Journal of Community Psychology'', ''24''(4), 417-430. *Sonn, C. C., & Fisher, A. T. (1998). Sense of community: Community resilient responses to oppression and change. ''Journal of Community Psychology'', ''26''(5), 457-472. * Stevens, G., Duncan, N., & Sonn, C. C. (2013). Memory, narrative and voice as liberatory praxis in the apartheid archive. In ''Race, Memory and the Apartheid Archive'' (pp. 25–44). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

References

External links

Faculty Homepage at Victoria University, Melbourne
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonn, Christopher Australian psychologists Social psychologists Living people 1967 births Academic staff of the Victoria University, Melbourne Victoria University, Melbourne alumni