Discussion: You Are Defining and Defined by Social Responsibility

The first observation of a social issue can be confusing for a young person. Witnessing extremes of wealth and poverty from one neighborhood to the next—or from one country to another—or hearing statistics related to literacy and school dropout rates in developed countries can be both shocking and baffling. While growing up, how did your community of family, friends, and teachers respond to social disparities? Were social issues ignored or confronted? Did you perceive a sense of helplessness or a responsibility to seek solutions?

Your own orientation toward social responsibility may have been shaped, directly or indirectly, by the cultural norms of your community. Whether you feel burdened by the myriad social concerns in the world today or called to address them, your response stems, in part, from how you see yourself in the world in relation to others.

In this Discussion, you explore the influence of personal values on your concept of social responsibility.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review examples of social responsibility presented in the assigned readings from the Loeb course text.
• Review “The Golden Rule” from this week’s Learning Resources to identify commonalities across quotes and to determine whether any quotes align with your own values.
• Complete the Cultural Genogram: Dimensions of Culture document located in this week’s Learning Resources to identify personal values related to social responsibility. Consider the direct or indirect influences that may have shaped your own orientation to social responsibility.
• Think of the community or communities in which you grew up. What issues of concern or needs did you see addressed directly or indirectly? What issues were not addressed? Why?
• Think about circumstances in your life that might have influenced your definition of social responsibility.

  Did any of your family members choose careers or activities that served the community in which they lived?

• Consider the convictions you hold today that were formed early in life. Think about how they now influence the way you view social responsibility.
• Bring to mind a specific socially responsible act that you would consider influential in your life.

SOCI 4080C: Social Responsibility

Cultural Genogram: Dimensions of Culture

For each of the Identity Factors below, enter three characteristics that symbolize or define that Identity Factor from your perspective based on cultural norms. Then consider how these values influence your thoughts on social responsibility.

{Enter your name here}

Culturally Defined Characteristics
(

Culturally Defined Characteristics
(

© 2016 Laureate Education, Inc.
Page 1 of 1

CHAPTER1: MAKING OUR LIVES COUNT

[Discussion tip: The next few chapters explore how ordinary and seemingly

powerless individuals can create powerful social change. That’s a hard
concept for many students to grasp, because it cuts against the grain of our

culture. They may even distance themselves from the people whose stories I
present by saying they could never do anything comparable. It helps,

therefore, to focus on the humble beginnings of the individuals I profile, and
stress that they started out just as apprehensive as–and perhaps more

powerless than–the students now reading their stories.]

“When we shrink from the world, our souls shrink, too,” writes Loeb. Do you

agree with this quote? Explain. Are there times when you have stayed silent
over a public issue? Do you think it’s always better to speak out?

“America’s prevailing culture,” Loeb writes, “insists that nothing we do can
matter. It teaches us not to get involved in shaping the world we’ll pass on

to our children.” Do you agree with Loeb’s characterization of our culture as

teaching resignation and withdrawal? Do you recognize his description in
people you know or in yourself?

Discuss the following quote: “We become human only in the company of
other human beings.” What’s your reaction?

Why does Loeb tell the story of Virginia Ramirez? Why does her husband tell
her, “That’s not your role”? Have you ever been told that you shouldn’t do

something because it’s not your role or place? Did it surprise you that
someone who started in a situation so seemingly powerless could help create

so much change? Why do you think she said she was more intimidated
talking to her neighbors the first time than to a group of U.S. Senators?

Was Derrick Bell foolish to resign his tenured position at Harvard Law
School? Were the results worth the cost?

Did it surprise you that a born-again evangelical like Rich Cizik is so involved
in climate change? Did it challenge any of your stereotypes about

evangelicals or climate change activists? Cizik says the climate change issue

“shook my theology to its core.” Have you ever felt shaken to the core by
something you’ve learned or a project to which you’ve committed yourself?

Could you imagine approaching a community of which you’re part to engage
them in this profoundly challenging issue?

Ask your parents or older people in your community whether they’ve noticed
impacts on the local habitat/ecosystem from climate change, like if they’re

hunters or fishermen or spend lots of outdoors. Do plants bloom at different

times? Do wild animals have different patterns? Is there less snow or more
or less rain? What do they notice? See this link to some terrific regional

maps from the National Climate Assessment report. And follow this link to see

how hot your city is projected to be by 2100 if we continue on our current

course.
What did Martin Luther King mean by saying, about social
involvement, “Take the first step in faith? You don’t have to see the whole

staircase, just take the first step”? What would it take for you to “take the

first step?”

CHAPTER 2: WE DON’T HAVE TO BE SAINTS

We “wait our entire lives to find the ideal moment” to get involved, Loeb

writes. What do you think? Has the “perfect standard” discouraged you from
getting involved in your community? If so how? Did it surprise you that

Gandhi was literally tongue-tied when he first started out and that Martin
Luther King was initially reluctant to act? Why do you think Loeb included

these details?

Consider this quote: “Contrary to expectation, we’re most effective when we

realize that there is no perfect time to get involved in social causes, no ideal

circumstances for voicing our convictions. What each of us faces instead is a
lifelong series of imperfect moments in which we must decide what to stand

for.” What argument is Loeb making here? Do you agree? Explain. Are we
ever too busy to get involved? What do you think the key difference is

between those who find time in busy lives to get involved in their
communities and those who have no more free time but do not?

Loeb states that “change is the product of deliberate, incremental action
whereby we join together to try to shape a better world.” Have you ever

considered yourself to be a social activist? Have you ever taken a stand on
an issue or been involved in some sort of social action? Explain. If you

answered no to these questions, what do you think stops you from becoming
more involved? (Be sure and include the reasons Loeb gives for why people

are often reluctant to get engaged in their communities or larger issues.)

Can you think of an issue that you believe you should be speaking out on?

What is one small thing you would be willing to do to participate, like writing

a letter to a legislator, to the campus or community paper, going to a
meeting of an active student group, or joining a related Facebook group? Try

to do that one small action, and then write about what it felt like. Feel free
to do it together with someone else in or outside of the class.

https://www.vox.com/2014/5/6/5686770/nine-maps-that-show-how-climate-change-is-already-affecting-the-us

https://www.vox.com/2014/5/6/5686770/nine-maps-that-show-how-climate-change-is-already-affecting-the-us

https://insideclimatenews.org/carbon-copy/20140710/global-warming-interactive-how-hot-will-your-city-get

Former Emory student Sonya Tinsley created a powerful project to bring

people together across racial lines through music. How much do people from
different racial backgrounds mix much at the cultural events that you

attend? Could you imagine yourself creating a similar effort to Sonya’s to
make this happen more?

According to Loeb, does social change come about by the single act of a
great person? If not, how? Please elaborate and give examples. How could

ordinary citizens work on the problems you’ve seen in your experience with
community involvement?

Do you have “a willingness to live with ambiguity”? What might this mean?
How important is it to be consistent as a citizen? How much are you deterred

from involving yourself in important issues because of the ambiguities?

WorldScripture

World Scripture – The Golden Rule Page 1 of 3

THE GOLDEN RULE

The Golden Rule or the ethic of reciprocity is found in the scriptures of nearly every religion. It is often

regarded as the most concise and general principle of ethics. It is a condensation in one principle of all longer

lists of ordinances such as the Decalogue. See also texts on Loving Kindness, pp. 967-73.

Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

1. Judaism and Christianity. Bible, Leviticus 19.18

Therefore whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.

2. Christianity. Bible, Matthew 7.12

Not one of you is a believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.

3. Islam. Forty Hadith of an-Nawawi 13

A man should wander about treating all creatures as he himself would be treated.

4. Jainism. Sutrakritanga 1.11.33

Try your best to treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself, and you will find that this is the shortest

way to benevolence.

5. Confucianism. Mencius VII.A.4

One should not behave towards others in a way which is disagreeable to oneself. This is the essence of morality.

All other activities are due to selfish desire.

6. Hinduism. Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva 113.8

Tsekung asked, “Is there one word that can serve as a principle of conduct for life?” Confucius replied, “It is the

word shu–reciprocity: Do not do to others what you do not want them to do to you.”

7. Confucianism. Analects 15.23

Leviticus 19.18: Quoted by Jesus in Matthew 22.36-40 (below). Mencius VII.A.4 and Analects

15.23: Cf. Analects 6.28.2, p. 975

Wilson, Andrew. World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts. St. Paul: Paragon House. 1998.

World Scripture – The Golden Rule Page 2 of 3

Comparing oneself to others in such terms as “Just as I am so are they, just as they are so am I,” he should

neither kill nor cause others to kill.

8. Buddhism. Sutta Nipata 705

One going to take a pointed stick to pinch a baby bird should first try it on himself to feel how it hurts.

9. African Traditional Religions. Yoruba Proverb (Nigeria)

One who you think should be hit is none else but you. One who you think should be governed is none else but

you. One who you think should be tortured is none else but you. One who you think should be enslaved is none

else but you. One who you think should be killed is none else but you. A sage is ingenuous and leads his life

after comprehending the parity of the killed and the killer. Therefore, neither does he cause violence to others

nor does he make others do so.

10. Jainism. Acarangasutra 5.101-2

The Ariyan disciple thus reflects, Here am I, fond of my life, not wanting to die, fond of pleasure and averse

from pain. Suppose someone should rob me of my life… it would not be a thing pleasing and delightful to me. If

I, in my turn, should rob of his life one fond of his life, not wanting to die, one fond of pleasure and averse from

pain, it would not be a thing pleasing or delightful to him. For a state that is not pleasant or delightful to me

must also be to him also; and a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon

another? As a result of such reflection he himself abstains from taking the life of creatures and he encourages

others so to abstain, and speaks in praise of so abstaining.

11. Buddhism. Samyutta Nikaya v.353

A certain heathen came to Shammai and said to him, “Make me a proselyte, on condition that you teach me the

whole Torah while I stand on one foot.” Thereupon he repulsed him with the rod which was in his hand. When

he went to Hillel, he said to him, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor: that is the whole Torah;

all the rest of it is commentary; go and learn.”

12. Judaism. Talmud, Shabbat 31a

Sutta Nipata 705: Cf. Dhammapada 129-130, p. 478. Acarangasutra 5.101-2: Cf. Dhammapada

129-130, p. 478. Samyutta Nikaya v.353: The passage gives a similar reflection about abstaining from other

types of immoral behavior: theft, adultery, etc. To identify oneself with others is also a corollary to the

Mahayana insight that all reality is interdependent and mutually related; cf. Guide to a Bodhisattva’s Way of

Life 8.112-16, p. 181; Majjhima Nikaya i.415, p. 465.

Wilson, Andrew. World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts. St. Paul: Paragon House. 1998.

World Scripture – The Golden Rule Page 2 of 3

“Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God

with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the

second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law

and the prophets.”

13. Christianity. Bible, Matthew 22.36-40

Matthew 22.36-40: Cf. Deuteronomy 6.4-9, p. 55; Leviticus 19.18, p. 173; Luke 10.25-37, p. 971;

Galatians 6.2, p. 974; Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 5.2.2, p. 972; Sun Myung Moon, 9-30-79, p. 150.

Wilson, Andrew. World Scripture: A Comparative Anthology of Sacred Texts. St. Paul: Paragon House. 1998.