In this module, you will consider the tools you can use to change the world around you. We will examine ideas that will help you advocate for social change, think about how you can use your relationships to make a difference.
In this module, we will fulfill the following objectives:
- Analyze the topic of changing the world through various viewpoints.
- Synthesize writing of different authors as we pursue answers to this question.
- Research the topic and explore the avenues most interesting to us.
- Write an essay at the end of our module in which you combine research and analysis to make an argument about your ability to make a difference in the world.
Read Assignment from the Text
Read and respond to the prompt below based on Anne Helen Petersen's "I Don't Feel Like Buying Stuff Anymore" on pages 263-273.
View These Videos
First spend 7 minutes with this The School of Life video on consumerism and be sure to comment on it in today's post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFfHGGhCxCM
Writing Assignment
Respond, react, analyze, and speculate about the text and videos, bringing up anything that seems relevant, interesting, relatable, or noteworthy.
In your post, answer them in numerical order and respond in detail to the questions below, citing the essay in quotes when referencing. Make sure you are quoting the text, not summarizing the reading in your response entirely for support when answering the questions.
- Reread Petersen's essay and identify passages where she discusses the relationship between consumerism and U.S. identity. How did this relationship start? What makes it so persistent, despite economic fluctuations? What are some of the consequences of this ideology?
- How has the pandemic created opportunity for change, in individuals and in society as a whole? As you reread Petersen's essay, pay particular attention to the potentials for change by COVID-19. What makes these possible? How likely is it that individuals and society will take advantage of these opportunities?
Provide a personal reaction/impression of the work overall and your individual response, explaining why you react the way you do and asking questions for your group about the text. Answer the prompt questions completely, citing the text as evidence when you do this. Reference the video or videos I post, discussing what you learned or how it may have influenced your thinking. Accurately cite using a Works Cited Page of the text and video. For work cited page, textbook information: Emerging: Contemporary Readings for Writers 5th edition from Barrios.