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Social Action Spring 2002 | St. Martin’s College
SOC 395 Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 11:00 – 11:50 AM
Office, Old Main Room 309, Phone: (360) 438-4295
Office Hours Monday, Wednesday, Friday 1:30-2:30 PM (and by appointment)
dprice@stmartin.edu
Social Action examines theories and methods employed by individuals and groups desiring to bring about planned social change. The course begins with an assessment of theories of social action and change and then examines instances and case studies in which change was effected by working either within or outside of “the system”. Various themes of social justice are also examined in the readings and lectures.
To some degree this class was designed as a reply to the question, “why do we just study social theory, and learn nothing about social action and activism?”—a perennial question from the best students in my SOC 350 Social Theory class. As one alert student once sarcastically wrote on an overly cerebral SOC350 midterm examination: “too much theory and not enough action makes Jack a dull boy.” This course is designed to go beyond the study of theory to study action and to this end it identifies and explores the principles of past and present successful campaigns to bring about specific changes in society. It also examines the consequences suffered-by, and rewarded-to individuals who brought about these changes.
Social Action examines the premise that as scholars and citizens our task is not just to understand the world, but to also change it. As long as I’ve been a student or instructor I’ve always liked this sentiment because it suggests there could be a worthwhile outcome behind all the mechanical and laborious components of the educational process. This class is designed as an effort to expand students’ awareness of the range of social problems we face, the history of these problems, as well as the history of various solutions and attempted solutions. As a group the class will methodically examine how others in the past and present have approached these problems.
The general flow of the week will be as follows: Mondays will generally be lectures relating to class readings. Wednesdays will be a mixture of seminar discussions, guest speakers, lectures, and workshops. On many Friday’s we will either seminar or watch videos dealing with different aspects of social action—many of these videos last longer than the 50 minute class period so students are encouraged to bring their lunch and stay for the remainder of the film during the noon lunch period (I understand that not everyone can do this, so its fine with me if you leave, but I encourage you to watch the ends of these films on your own).
All students are required to write response papers to the videos and fieldtrips, as well as complete the four specified writing assignments (two of which are directly tied to course readings, while the other two consist of working on techniques of letter writing and op ed composition). Each student will write a seven page final paper reporting on a specific past or present social action campaign of their choosing. Students are free to choose any social action campaign to evaluate, and they are free to adopt any political framework of analysis for the projects, discussions and assignments of this class, but students must tie their work into the relevant scholarly literature discussed and read in this class.
Our class will go on some observational fieldtrips including attending a variety of public meetings (e.g. city council, county commissioners, or school board meeting), public rallies etc. Each fieldtrip will have a linked writing assignment requiring that student-ethnographers observe and evaluate some theoretical principle discussed in class readings and lectures.
Social Action will use three texts (Alinsky; Brecher et al.; Freire) to critically examine a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches to bringing about social change. We will then read two texts (McNeal; Murolo et al.) as case studies that both compliment and contradict the views and information put forth in the three works of theoretical principles.
Sol Alinsky’s Rules For Radicals provides a look at a radical framework for working to bring about change both within and outside-of existing power structures. Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello and Brendan Smith’s Globalization From Below examines the formation of the recent anti-globalization movement. Palo Freire’s classic Pedagogy of the Oppressed critically examines the ways that education is used to maintain the status quo, and provides a framework for grassroots social change movements.
Patricia McNeal’s Harder Than War: Catholic Peacemaking in Twentieth-Century America contains a series of biographical cases studies of individuals who struggled for peace during the wars of the past century. Priscilla Murolo, A.B. Chitty and Joe Sacco’s From the Folks Who Brought you The Weekend is an excellent overview of the various techniques used by the labor movement in the United States from the colonial period to the present. The case histories found in these two books (McNeal & Murolo et al.) will be used to examine the motives, methods, successes and failures contrasted with the principles discussed in Alinsky, Brecher et. al. and Freire.
My policy concerning the acceptance of late work is as follows: I will accept late work from students for reduced credit. Please be warned that past trends indicate that work not turned in when due can easily be set aside and lost by me. I reserve the right to lose any and all work turned in late. Regions of my office are an abyss; please turn assignments in on time so that they won’t wander unaccompanied into the abyss.
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, if you have medical and/or safety concerns to share with me, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible. I will be happy to work out whatever accommodations are needed.
Required Texts:
Alinsky, Sol
1989 Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals. Vintage Books.
Brecher, Jeremy, Tim Costello & Brendan Smith
2000 Globalization From Below. Boston: South End Press.
Freire, Paulo
2000 Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Continuum.
McNeal, Patricia
1992 Harder Than War: Catholic Peacemaking in Twentieth-Century America. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Murolo, Priscilla & A. B. Chitty
2001 From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend: A Short Illustrated History of Labor in the United States. New York: The New Press.
Week One: (Jan. 16, 18) Theories of Social Action and Social Change
Alinsky xiii-62
Week Two: (Jan. 23, 25) Moving Beyond Theory to Action
Alinsky 63-124
Friday Film: Erin Brockovich
Week Three: (Jan. 28, 30, Feb. 1) Resistance to Change: Change is the Enemy
Alinsky 125-196
Freire 1-40
Friday Film: Norma Rae
Week Four: (Feb. 4, 6, 8) Working Within the System
Freire 43-86
Week Five: (Feb. 11, 13, 15) Working Outside of the System: Rewards & Punishments
Freire 87-183
Friday Film: Brazil
Week Six: (Feb. 20, 22) Talking ‘Bout Revolution, Pt 1: Armed and Dangerous
Brecher, Costello & Smith ix-46
Friday Film: Reds
Week Seven: (Feb. 25, 27, M. 1) Talking ‘Bout Revolution, Pt 2: Unarmed and Dangerous
Brecher, Costello & Smith 47-90
Friday Film: Ghandi
Week Eight: (March 4, 6, 8) Getting Organized
Brecher, Costello & Smith 91-126
Week Nine: (March 11, 13, 15) Quelling Change: State Monopolies on Violence
Murolo & Chitty xi-84
Friday Film: This is What Democracy Looks Like
Week Ten: Spring Break As Fieldwork
Week Eleven: (March 25, 27th) Censorship, Thought Control and Social Action
Murolo & Chitty 85-191
Friday Film: Cradle Will Rock
Week Twelve: (April 3, 5) Turning the Personal into the Global
Murolo & Chitty 192-275
Friday Film: Born on the Fourth of July
Week Thirteen: Catholic Peacemaking, Social Justice & Taking Risks
(April 8, 10, 12)
Murolo & Chitty 276-332
Read: The Rule of Saint Benedict
McNeal 1-48
Third Writing Assignment Due
Week Fourteen: (April 15, 17, 19) Religion as Opiate v. Religion at the Vanguard of Social Justice
McNeal 49-130
Friday Film: Malcolm X
Week Fifteen: (April 22, 24, 26) Presentations
McNeal 131-258
Week Sixteen: (April 29, May 1) Presentations
Week Seventeen: Final Project’s due May 7th
I slowed down to read your - #36. The listed movies gave me indigestion, back in the day, when I didn't really
have time or training to know why. Big Lefty Hollywood hates America - while making so much money off their propaganda flicks, in a free country. Go figure.
Those in the class should be required to take a truth shower
at the end of the course.