SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY

Transcription

1 SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY Department of Social Work Course No. SW210 Title: Social and Economic Justice I. Catalogue Description: Explores social and economic justice with connections to minority status and oppression. 3 credit hours. II. Prerequisites: SW110 or concurrent with SW110 with the permission of the instructor. III. Course Objectives: By the end of the semester students will be able to A. Articulate how the pursuit of social and economic justice is grounded in the core values and the historical mission of social work. B. Understand the basic concepts of social and economic justice including oppression, discrimination, exploitation, privilege, and power as they apply to populations-at-risk and their access to resources. C. Describe the basic dynamics of capitalism, the tendency toward exploitation, oppression and unjust resource distribution inherent in laissez faire, free markets and the impact of these factors on populations at risk. D. Appreciate the historical and ongoing struggle for equality and civil rights in regard to women, age, race, culture, family structure, disabilities and sexual orientation and the interconnections between at-risk-status, democracy and political power. E. Understand the interrelations between domestic systems and the global economy, with particular emphasis on patterns of social and economic injustice that have been emerging through international policy mechanisms. F. Analyze the dynamics of risk factors for various at-risk-populations and formulate appropriate strategies to empower these populations, including social welfare policy interventions at all levels (including global), advocacy, and community organizing.

2 IV. Expectations of Students: A. Social work students are expected to identify with the basic social work values that are central to the class, including social and economic justice and diversity. B. Students are expected to attend all classes, complete all assignment in a timely manner and actively participate in class. (Students are highly encouraged to participate in advocacy and social action through participation in a range of activities offered outside of the class, including service learning.) V. Course Content Unit A: An overview of social work values and concepts related to social and economic justice (2 hours). Unit B: Capitalism and oppression (6 hours) 1. Oppression and capitalism 2. The labor struggle in the United States 3. A comparison of Free Market values with social justice values. 4. An introduction to at risk populations, distributive justice and inequitable resource allocation related to the domestic economy of the United States 5. An overview of historical policy interventions Unit C: Democracy: the concepts and interconnections with social, civil, and economic justice (4 hours). 1. The egalitarian ideal 2. Participation and information 3. Threats to democracy a. Structures of oppression

3 b. Power and politics c. The media. Unit D: The new global economic context (9 hours) 1. The statistics and trends in the global distribution of goods and services 2. Global oppression and exploitation a. Debt b. Sweatshops c. Food and water distribution d. Indigenous cultures and consumerism 3. Interconnections with domestic social and economic justice issues a. Immigration b. Labor 4. International or global policy mechanism and strategies for intervention. 5. Global democracy, sovereignty and the interconnections with social and economic justice. Unit E: Human rights, civil rights, and the interconnections with economic justice (14 hours). 1. The universal declaration of human right, a global ideal 2. Factors contributing to at-risk status. 3. Women and children in poverty 4. Native Americans and Indigenous rights 5. Women's issues (including family structure) 6. African Americans

4 7. Latino, Latina and Hispanic issues 8. Asian issues 9. Age 10. Disabilities 11. Sexual Orientation Unit F. Strategies for intervention and empowerment (10 hours) a. Policy analysis and advocacy b. Political and social action c. Community organizing V. Textbooks: Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W., Casteneda, R., Hackman, H., Peters, M., Zuniga, X., (Eds) (2000). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York: Routledge. Mittal, A., Rosset, P., (1999) America needs human rights. Oakland Ca: Food First Books. VI. Basis for Student Evaluation each online discussions at 15 each weekly quizzes at 10 each 120 Classroom participation

5 VII. Bibliography (in progress) Anathasiou, T., (1998). Divided planet: The ecology of rich and poor. Athens, GA: University of Georgia. Bales, K., (1999), Disposable People: New Slavery in the global economy. Berkley: University of California Press. Barlow, M., Clarke, T., (2002). Blue gold: The fight to stop the corporate theft of the world's water. New York: New Press. Blau, J., (1999) Illusions of prosperity: America's working families in an age of economic insecurity. New York: Oxford University Press. Center for study of Social Policy and the Philidelphia Children's network (1994). World without work: Causes and consequences of black male joblessness. Investor Responsibility Research Center (1998). The sweatshop quandary: Corporate responsibility on the global frontier. P. Varley (Ed.). Washington, DC. Jackson, H., (1994). A century of dishonor: A sketch of the United States governments dealing with some of the Indian tribes. Norman OK: University of Oklahoma Press. Kapstein E., (1999). Sharing the wealth: Workers and the world economy. New York: Norton. Le Blanc, P., (1999) A short history of the U. S. working class: From colonial times to the 21st Century. Amherst NY: Humanity Books. Madeley, J., (1999). Big business, poor countries: The impact of transnational corporations on the world's poor. New York: Zed Books. Mander, J., & Goldsmith, E., (Eds.) (1998), The case against the global economy San Francisco, CA: Sierra Club Books. Mander, J., (1991). In the absence of the sacred: The failure of technology and the survival of the Indian nations. San Fransisco, CA: Sierra Club Books. Mishel, L., Bernstein, J., & Schmitt, J., (1999). The State of Working America Washington D. C: The Economic Policy Institute. Moussa, H., (2000, May) The interconnections of globalization

6 and migration with racism and colonialism: Tracing complicity. Paper presented at a conference entitled "The Vision and Practice of Jubilee," sponsored by the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Initiative, Toronto, Ontario.. Northcott, M., (1999). Life after debt: Christianity and global justice. London: SPCK. Palast, G., (2002). The best democracy money can buy. London: Pluto Press. Prigoff, A., (2000). Economics for social workers: Social outcomes of economic globalization with strategies for community action. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Rothenberg, P., (2001) Race, class and gender in the United States. New York: Worth Publishers. Roodman, D., (2001). Still waiting for the jubilee: Pragmatic solutions for the third world debt crisis. Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute. Smith, C., & Ward., G. (2000). Indigenous cultures in an interconnected world. Totonto: UBC Press. Tabb, W., (2001). The amoral elephant: Globalization and the struggle for social justice in the twenty first century. New York: Monthly Review Press. United Nations Development Program, (1999). Human development report 1999, Geneva. Zinn, H., (1995). A people's history of the United States. New York: Harper Collins.