Social Action

Strategy  •  Background  •  Next Steps  •  Available Resources

Strategy

Social action aims to change policies and is a core strategy for the “justice oriented citizen” described in “What Kind of Citizen? The Politics of Educating for Democracy” (Joel Westheimer and Joseph Kahne in the American Educational Research Journal, Summer 2004).  The other two models of good citizen — personally responsible and participatory — are mirrored in the direct service and service leadership approaches that have been a part of the Bonner Program from its beginning.  

In partnership with Scott Myers-Lipton, professor of sociology from San Jose State University, we are bringing a community engagement course model through which students learn social action by launching (or joining) a social action campaign to change a public or institutional policy and to do so during the academic semester in which the course is taught.  

As Scott writes in the forward to his book, "Change! A Student Guide to Social Action:”

This approach “has the student analyze a problem and develop a solution, but also implement it. Instead of just reading about social change, students learn about it by actually doing it. Of course, students will still use ‘book knowledge,’ but the idea is that this knowledge will be challenged by what is learned from social action, by developing a more critical and deeper understanding of public issues and community change by integrating praxis with theory, while at the same time changing social structure.  Thus, this book provides an action-oriented, solutions-based experience of social change.”

In some instances, the campaigns students take on will be inspired by conditions confronted through their direct service in the community.  It may be informed by a community-based research project they conducted with as part of a class project.  And, in the process, they will come to understand an issue by researching a PolicyOptions Issue Brief that brings together information on the scope of the problem, past policy milestones, current policies, model programs or policy options, and key organizations and individuals.

Learning how to engage in social action rounds out the skills, knowledge, and collective action goals of the Bonner Program model for student development and community engagement. 

Connection to Community Impact

Social action campaigns often address underlying policies that are the cause of social injustice.  While students often develop their own campaigns, they also join those led by community-based advocacy organizations seeking their energy, talent, and access to resources.

A few highlights from successful campaigns led by San Jose State University students include:

• In 2012, the Campus Alliance for Economic Justice (CAFÉ J) developed and helped lead the San Jose Measure D campaign, which won 60% to 40% in the November election and raised the minimum wage from $8 to $10 an hour.

• In 2015, the Society for Teaching Responsible Options in Nutrition and Growth (STRONG) worked with food vendors to win three changes to city regulations making it easier and more accessible for Fresh Carts to sell fresh fruit and vegetables.

Connection to Student Impact

Organizing a social action campaign requires skills in analysis of policies, people, and power.  These skills include:

We are working to make training in social action available on all campuses either through academic courses or workshop series.  Fortunately, social action can be incorporated into a range of academic courses.  This past fall semester it was taught in business, environmental studies, and sociology.

Connection to CAMPUS Impact

Campuses can also be the target of social action campaigns.  A few recent campaign successes by San Jose State University students include:

• In 2017, Students Against Sexual Harassment (SASH) won their demand to force the resignation of a professor who had sexually harassed a student, but after a two-week suspension and diversity training, had been allowed to return to his faculty position.

• In 2015, Students for DMH won their demand for air conditioning in Dudley Moorehead Hall.

• In 2015, College Awareness Network won their demand for the institutionalization of a college tour program for third graders that they had developed.

In Miriam Shakow's freshmen seminar on climate change at The College of New Jersey, her students' social action projects included campaigns to: 

• Start a college shuttle to nearby train stations

• Add more water bottle refill stations on campus

• Hire a campus sustainability coordinator

• More and more appealing vegetable and fruit dishes in the dining hall to encourage less meat eating

• Bee sanctuaries on campus

Background

While not new, the teaching and mobilizing of students to engage in social action is an often missing from campus civic engagement programs.   

A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy's Future (2012) “calls on educators and public leaders to advance a 21st century vision of college learning for all students—a vision with civic learning and democratic engagement an expected part of every student’s college education.” 

The report defines civic action as “The capacity and commitment to work collectively to address common problems; the practice of working to improve the quality of people’s lives and the sustainability of the planet; the ability to analyze systems to plan and engage in public action; the moral and political courage to take risks for the greater public good.”

“Social action”, as we are defining it in this initiative, “is the willingness of everyday people to band together to develop their power in order to change public policy.”

The kind of “hands-on civic problem solving” taught in social action courses and projects is a model for how campuses can train student in the skills, knowledge, values, and orientation towards collective action.

Beginning with a retreat for 27 faculty and staff at the Sequoia Retreat Center in February, 2017, the Bonner Foundation for the first time began to offer social action training into the resources and networking we provide to the Bonner network.  

In this transformative experiential learning model, students develop and launch a social action campaign of their choosing during the semester the course is taught. The student campaigns seek to change a rule, regulation, norm, or practice of an institution, whether on campus or in the community.

Since the Sequoia Retreat, we have organized a wide range of virtual and in-person course development institutes.

TRAINING & NETWORKING EVENTS

Teaching Social Action Institutes are now being held 4-7 times each year, rotating between virtual and in-person formats. The institutes introduce faculty and staff to an experiential learning approach for incorporating social action campaigns into either a semester-long course or co-curricular workshop series. Visit the Teaching Social Action website to find the dates and registration information for our next sessions.

We also host a series of monthly meet-ups and an end-of-semester Summit on College Social Action during the Fall and Spring semesters

Available Resources

CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action

This is the companion book to CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action. The book, videos, the community of practitioners, and course development grant are all designed to help develop YOUR social action class. Together, they will provide you with many ideas and hopefully serve as a guide.

There is an also a online CHANGE! Companion Guide with additional examples, short videos, and other resources for faculty and staff designing their social action course.

Teaching Social Action WEBSITE

In addition, we have the following resources to support faculty, staff, and students interested in developing a social action course or workshop series.

We invite you to join our national community of practice has grown to members who connect with one another. Click here to join.

Other Resources

• Andy Mott’s founding concept paper and analysis that launched the Community Learning Partnership:  "University Education for Community Change: A Vital Strategy for Progress on Poverty, Race and Community-Building."

• Global Nonviolent Action Database provides free access to information about hundreds of cases of nonviolent action, from all continents and most countries, for learning and for citizen action. The database is a project of Swarthmore College.

• You can also find an overview of our Policy Research approach on this website.