SOC 205 Civic Engagement

5 credits

Civic engagement is the active participation of individuals and communities in processes, structures, and policies aimed at promoting the greater social good. Students will use a variety of qualitative research methods to explore the multiple avenues of civic engagement processes. Major topics will include human and civil rights, citizen impact on public policy, and media literacy as a foundational aspect of a democracy. Students will be engaged in a service learning project at a community organization throughout the quarter as part of a cumulative project they design to address a social problem of their choice.

Prerequisites: ENGL& 101  

Course Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• Describe historical, economic, and political components of key civic issues
• Examine institutional challenges to civic engagement and equitable public policy implementation such as inequality and disproportionate representation of corporate interests in the political system
• Utilize media literacy tools to identify misinformation and under reporting of important civic topics, as well as to find credible sources of accurate information on such topics.
• Identify their own skill sets, interests, and aptitudes and assess how those personal attributes can be used in civic engagement service for addressing social and community problems
• Utilize a variety of qualitative research methods to collect data about civic engagement issues
• Engage in fieldwork (service learning) on a social issue in the community
• Develop, organize, and present a term project on a proposed solution to a community problem