SOC&101: Introduction to Sociology-Social Organization/Movement Exploration.

Assignment: (Option to work in pairs or individually)

Social Organization/Movement Exploration. Please note there are four parts for this assignment to answer.

Instructions:

Consider this quote from Uruguayan journalist, writer, and human rights activist Eduardo Galeano:

“I don’t believe in charity. I believe in solidarity. Charity is so vertical. It goes from the top to the bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other person. I have a lot to learn from other people.”  

Please answer the following prompts, citing several specific examples from the course material and your research on an organization/social movement to support your answers to each one:

Part 1: Application of Galeano’s quote to a social problem: Discuss what Galeano’s quote means to you and how you think this philosophy could be applied to a social problem of your choice.

Part 2: Discussion of a social organization/movement working on the social problem you identified in part one that operates from the solidarity philosophy. Discuss the work of an organization or social movement working to address the social problem you selected for the previous prompt that you think operates with the solidarity rather than charity philosophy.  Please obtain this information from a credible source such as an academic journal article on this movement or the official website of the movement itself so you are getting just the facts about this movement (you want to avoid citing things like Wikipedia or someone’s blog based on opinions as your references).  You may also obtain this information from any of the films or case studies provided for you as part of your course material from the document entitled, “List of Films and Native Case Studies for Reference in Your Assignments.”  Please state the precise source of the information you found.  If you cannot find an organization or social movement that you think is doing sufficient work in this regard, describe what you think the ideal organization/movement would be for doing so.

Part 3: Description of how the social organization/movement you discussed in part two applies to the three cultural humility principles: Using specific examples, describe how this organization/social movement addresses or would address each of the three principles of cultural humility described in your syllabus and as exemplified in Dr. Juliana Mosley’s TED talk on cultural humility (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww_ml21L7Ns). The three principles again are: 1) promoting life-long learning; 2) challenging power imbalances (such as among roles/positions in an organization; among genders, races, etc), and 3) promoting institutional accountability (striving to change unfair laws, policies, etc).

Part 4: Application of a sociological theory from your textbook to the work of the organization you discussed in part two.  Select the one sociological theory from your textbook that you think is best exemplified by the work of the organization/social movement you chose.  What you want here is a sociological theory actually described as that in your book- for example, functionalist theory, conflict theory, etc- not just a concept). Define and describe the theory as it is explained in your textbook and discuss why you think it bests fit the work of the organization/social movement you chose for this assignment.

Please include a reference list according to the “General Guidelines for Assignments” provided in this syllabus.