Discussion: You Are Defining and Defined by Social Responsibility

The first observation of a social issue can be confusing for a young person. Witnessing extremes of wealth and poverty from one neighborhood to the next—or from one country to another—or hearing statistics related to literacy and school dropout rates in developed countries can be both shocking and baffling. While growing up, how did your community of family, friends, and teachers respond to social disparities? Were social issues ignored or confronted? Did you perceive a sense of helplessness or a responsibility to seek solutions?

Your own orientation toward social responsibility may have been shaped, directly or indirectly, by the cultural norms of your community. Whether you feel burdened by the myriad social concerns in the world today or called to address them, your response stems, in part, from how you see yourself in the world in relation to others.

In this Discussion, you explore the influence of personal values on your concept of social responsibility.

To prepare for this Discussion:

• Review examples of social responsibility presented in the assigned readings from the Loeb course text.
• Review “The Golden Rule” from this week’s Learning Resources to identify commonalities across quotes and to determine whether any quotes align with your own values.
• Complete the Cultural Genogram: Dimensions of Culture document located in this week’s Learning Resources to identify personal values related to social responsibility. Consider the direct or indirect influences that may have shaped your own orientation to social responsibility.
• Think of the community or communities in which you grew up. What issues of concern or needs did you see addressed directly or indirectly? What issues were not addressed? Why?
• Think about circumstances in your life that might have influenced your definition of social responsibility.
  • Did any of your family members choose careers or activities that served the community in which they lived?
• Consider the convictions you hold today that were formed early in life. Think about how they now influence the way you view social responsibility.
• Bring to mind a specific socially responsible act that you would consider influential in your life.