Topics in Social Justice

Catalog description

This course is designed to help students understand the meaning of social justice and community building, within the context of social work practice. Based on social work's historical mission of intervention in high-risk communities while advocating for social reform, this course is aimed at teaching students the history, theory and practice realities of community building locally and globally through discussion, research, and exploration. The norms and values that support the characteristics of a just society will be stressed. Students will learn to compare and contrast current social and economic conditions with the values and norms underlying a just society as a structure for critically analyzing situations. Students will gain knowledge of models and procedures for community organizing for social justice. Learning will take place as we focus on groups experiencing social and economic injustices based on racial, ethnic, socio-cultural, gender, and other characteristics.