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How can we use the things we share in common to address some of the most challenging problems facing the world? This course examines issues such as poverty, the environment, technology, health care, gender, education, and activism in order to better understand how to initiate positive change.
Syllabus :
1. What are Social Goods? From the Commons to Moral Revolutions
- Introduction: Social Good and Tragedy of the Commons
- Genealogy of the Idea of Social Good
- Reciprocity and Giving Back to the Commons
- From Legitimate Communal Regulation to Pressures for Exploitation
- Fisheries Forests and Sustainable Productivity
- Cultures of Trust and Reinforcing the Commons by Practicing Cooperation
- From Copyright to Communities of Cooperative Practice
2. Poverty and Development
- Extreme Poverty – Introduction
- Varieties of Poverty and Development
- Listening to the Poor to Find Out What Works
- Multi-Pronged Effort: Private Enterprise, Government and Inclusive Growth
- Systematic Efforts to Find Out What Works Best
- Breaking out of Cycles of Suffering
- Inclusive Economic Growth and a Global Movement to End Poverty
3. Climate Change and Sustainability
- Global Challenges and Local Responses
- Making a Difference and Varied Challenges
- Grassroots Politics and Climate Change
- Politics and the Disruption of Ecosystems
- Conversation with a Climate Economist on Risk Management
- Risk, Assessment and Reducing Likelihood of Disaster
- Conversation on Energy, Sustainability and Solution Science
- Solution Science and What We Can Do
4. Disease and Global Health Care
- Disease and Global Health – Introduction
- Democracy, Health and Engagement
- Major Health Challenges and Responses
- Testing our Work to Make it Most Effective
- Care, Organization and Making a Real Difference
- Motivating Change and Holistic Responses to Poverty
5. Women, Education and Social Change
- Introduction and Quiet Violence Against Girls and Women
- Social Entrepreneurship and Gender Lens Investing
- Education and Risk Taking
- Education and Building Human Capacity
- Malala and the Courage of Education
- You Can Have Impact: Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
- How We Can Change the World: Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
6. Looking Back, Looking Foward
- Wesleyan Students Share Their Thoughts about Change
- Listening to the Local and Practical Idealism
