Week 1 - Understanding Social Justice through Transformative Pedagogy

Question 1

How conservative ideology views about the sources and consequences of inequalities

Answer 1

• extols great wealth as a condition brought about entirely through a person’s merits
• suggests that inequalities between rich and poor are caused entirely by personal choices
• sees poverty as a matter of choice (if individual people are lazy or refuse not to work at all, they will be poor)
• justifies huge inequalities as a fair outcome of conditions deemed to be based on either wonderful private achievements or dismal personal failures
• well-being hinges entirely upon individual efforts, assumes everyone has free choice therefore everyone has to take the consequences of the choices they make

Question 2

Define: meritocracy

Answer 2

-a society that rewards different talents, hard work, and a willingness to take risks

Question 3

Define: privilege

Answer 3

• benefits that are received by one group at the expense of another group due to the way in which power is organized in society
• people who reap handsome benefits from injustice usually work hard to protect, enlarge, and entrench their well-established privilege, they also try to ridicule, marginalize, intimidate, and silence individuals, networks, and organizations that expose this unfair privilege

Question 4

Define: systemic inequalities

Answer 4

imbalances in advantages vs. barriers that exist because of the ways in which institutions, laws, policies and other societal structures creates opportunities for some people and not for others

Question 5

Who are societal elites? underprivileged?

Answer 5

• societal elites tend to be rich, White, heterosexual, able-bodied males
• underprivileged tend to be Aboriginals, Afro-Americans, Hispanics, unemployed or underemployed young adults, sexual minorities, with a disproportionate number of them being women or people with disabilities

Question 6

Define/explain: colonial privilege

Answer 6

• for hundreds of years England, France, Spain, Portugal, and other European nations used a combination of force, gunboat diplomacy, and trade to exploit the people, lands, and natural resources, of other continents, frequently accompanied by blood-soaked legacies of slavery and genocide
• we benefit from infrastructure of institutions located in towns and cities and on land that is only available due to the displacement of the original inhabitants

Question 7

Define: Sixties Scoop

Answer 7

widespread practice during 1960s of social workers forcibly removing Aboriginal children from their families, many children lost their Aboriginal identities

Question 8

3 Categories of Racism:

Answer 8

• 1. Individual; attitudes and behaviour based on beliefs about the superiority of the person’s own racial group, and inferiority of other groups, usually intentional
• 2. Institutional-Systemic; an institution’s policies, practices and procedures that create and advantage/privilege for certain racialized people, does not have to be intentional
     
     3. Cultural; overarching cultural symbols that reinforce both individual and systemic forms of racism

Question 9

Define: hegemony

Answer 9

-when we acquiesce to the power of dominant groups in society because their power is accepted as natural

Question 10

Define: anti-corporate globalization movement

Answer 10

• 1990s-now, large coalitions of social justice organizations
• it is because of the growing privilege and power of the rich that so many other segments of the Canadian population face deteriorating oppressive conditions

Question 11

Define: class privilege

Answer 11

-something is terribly wrong when government policies result in substantial benefits for the rich and privileged few, but cause a great many other to lose the benefits of a variety of public services

Question 12

Define: social transformation

Answer 12

• working for social justice is a continual, unending process, call for the dismantling of all oppressions and undue privileges, also about constructing equitable personal/political/economic/social realities based on values such as caring/fairness/democracy
• social services help people, they also reproduce/perpetuate a variety of systemic privileges/oppressions

Question 13

Define: anti-oppressive approach to social service delivery

Answer 13

-addressing the root causes of the exploitation and oppressive conditions that permeate out society, goal is to dismantle all sources of oppression

Question 14

Forms of privilege?

Answer 14

• Heterosexist
• Colonial
• Ableist
• Racial
• Class
• Ageist

Question 15

Define: heterosexism

Answer 15

-normative assumptions that make heterosexuality the norm and marginalize certain experiences of sexuality

Question 16

Define: homophobia

Answer 16

-dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people

Question 17

Define: patriarchy

Answer 17

-favors the experiences of males, can be overt or invisible, male hegemony is taken for granted

Question 18

Define: sexism

Answer 18

discrimination against one sex

Question 19

Define/explain: globalization

Answer 19

• the increasing interconnectedness and interdependence of the world
• made easier by technology
• includes the movement of ideas, capital, workers, people
• the ideals of globalization have achieved hegemonic power because we expect it, accept globalization and its effects as status quo

Question 20

Dimensions of Globalization:

Answer 20

• Culture: cultures are more homogenous, less distinguishable, and more ‘Americanized
• Trade/Economics: when one country’s economic suffers, it can bring other countries’ economies down with it, free trade agreements
• Political: ex. United Nations ensures global stability, human rights, one country can influence another politically
• Immigration: immigrants shape host countries, debates over open/closed door policies, acculturation strategies (assimilation or multiculturalism), hybrid societies, interconnection due to technology

Question 21

Define: hybrid societies

Answer 21

where old and new cultures shape each other in one place

Question 22

Define: interconnection

Answer 22

• it is easier than ever for new immigrants to maintain ties with their old country/culture
• ex. they can stay involved in current events in their old country and even provide support to causes through fundraising

Question 23

Why do some critique the idea of a ‘Global Culture’?

Answer 23

• they say what is really happening is cultural imperialism; where North American dominant culture is taking over, western centrism is at play
• ex. North America benefits more economically because their cultural goods are at the higher demand globally

Question 24

Negative effects of globalism?

Answer 24

• race to the bottom; because of increased economic competition, countries race to lower wages, decrease social spending to attract corporations and jobs
• corporations have more power to influence politically/economically/socially by threatening to remove jobs/spending, aka global capital
• spreading a culture of poverty to the North, greater income inequalities are accepted as normal because they are found all over the world
• as technology advances more skills are becoming obsolete, less work for low-skill workers in this industrial-internet age, yet US and Canada governments are cutting funding for education needed to prep people for the job market, skilled work is knowledge work, people can work via satellite work
• people feel like they lack control over their own lives because governments are controlled by corporations and protect the interests of the few super rich over the mass poor and middle-class
• pollution, global warming, other environmental impacts
• powerful nation-states dominate globally, have unequal amount of influence in NATO/UN, ex. veto powers in UN held by US, Russia, Israel
• poverty is no longer a 3rd world problem, the increased gap between the rich and poor, homelessness, child poverty etc.
• corporations are pitting workers against each other on a global scale, race to the bottom means workers are accepting lower standards (wages, safety etc.) and blame other workers instead of heads of MNCs

Question 25

Positive aspects of globalization?

Answer 25

• global connections, ex. virtual communities, becoming aware of human rights violations across the ocean, and forming solidarity
• new, innovative ideas, technology and incorporating them into our society
• the increase in ability for workers to make demands for their rights, ex. better work-life balance, working from home, continual learning supported by employer
• spread of North American ideals includes new middle-class in some countries, ex. Latin America

Question 26

How is the global economy affecting lives of people across the globe?

Answer 26

• the benefits we receive in the first world come at the expense of people in the 3rd world, ex. fast fashion: we buy cheap clothing in the Global North that was made in sweatshops in the Global South
• corporations can move operations more easily between different countries
• structural adjustment programs; when 3rd world countries are in debt to the World Bank, the WB imposes conditions in exchange for debt relief, has helped the spread of neoliberal ideals, ex. forcing them to farm certain products for Global North, makes the 3rd world more dependent on global economies and vulnerable to highs and lows of global economy
• pressure for all countries to decrease national debt to compete globally

Question 27

What is active citizenship? Why is it important?

Answer 27

• active citizenship; to be informed, involved, taking action and have collective responsibility in a local or global community, active involvement in the betterment of community politics social/economic policies, and lawmaking
• ex. by voting, volunteering, resisting injustice, grassroots movements, coalitions between groups with different interests
• active citizenship is important for fighting corporations, demanding accountability from political leaders

Question 28

5 Compenents of Neoliberalism

Answer 28

1. The Rule of the Market- capitalism, competition takes precedence
2. Cutting Public Expenditure for Social Services- Government funds for basic services are often redirected to ‘cover’ tax breaks for large international corporations, this means less funding for social services like education, healthcare, and other provisions that often provide a ‘safety net for the poor.
3. Deregulation- Government intervention weakened in any area that may impact the ability to increase profit. This could be anything from weak legislation against foreign interests to a removal of safety regulations for workers.
4. Privatization- Many state-owned enterprises, goods and services are available to be privatized or bought by companies, services (everything from hospitals to education and fresh water) are no longer a guaranteed ‘right’ to be provided by the government, but become provided by a business who has an interest in accumulating profit, often results in significantly increased fees for such services, making them largely inaccessible to many
5. Elimination of the Concept of the Community- With such changes the idea of a community (“We are all in this together”) becomes replaced by rampant individualism (“What’s in it for me?”), includes ‘blaming’ individuals for their economic situationrather than understanding the larger social context, results in a massive challenge to informal communal social supports which have traditionally been very important for working-class and poor communities