ERIC Number: EJ1104732
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Jul
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0092-055X
EISSN: N/A
What Should Activist Scholars Teach in the Social Problems Classroom? Social Problems Literacy for Civic Engagement
Lowry, Deborah
Teaching Sociology, v44 n3 p177-187 Jul 2016
What should activist-scholars teach in the social problems classroom? In this conversation, I challenge the assertion that advancing a sociology of social problems is an overly academic enterprise of little use to students and other publics. I introduce the potential of a pedagogical framework for promoting social problems literacy: a set of skills that promotes critical, sociological understandings of social problems toward aims of supporting civic engagement and activism. Though some readers might argue that scholar-activism demands instruction on "what" to think and do about the causes and consequences of troublesome societal conditions, I suggest that activist-scholars might instead prepare students to evaluate social problems information critically and with a sociological eye, begin forming their own commitments, and publicly share these ideas in compelling, civic-minded ways. In proposing the merits of this framework, I hope to question the sometimes rigid line drawn between what is "activist" and "academic."
Descriptors: Activism, Scholarship, Social Problems, Citizen Participation, Sociology, Teaching Methods, Evaluative Thinking, Constructivism (Learning), Citizenship Education, Educational Strategies, Student Educational Objectives, Formative Evaluation, Assignments
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive; Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Teachers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A