Week #2

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time.  We are the ones we've been waiting for.  We are the change that we seek." --President Barack Obama

My first response after reading this quote was to immediately recall the Genovese syndrome, a social psychological phenomenon I learned about in a high school psychology class.  Genovese syndrome, or the bystander effect, refers to when individuals do not offer assistance in an emergency situation when other people are present.  One would think that if one were in an emergency situation, you would want as many witnesses as possible in order to get immediate help.  However, the Genovese syndrome demonstrates that, in fact, the amount of witnesses is proportional to the time it takes for the emergency situation to be taken care of.  This is because when people are gathered in a crowd, an individual's first instinct is not to take responsibility, but to assume that another person will take the lead.  This was evident in the case of Kitty Genovese, who was stabbed to death in New York in 1964.  Her death could have been prevented, had somebody called 911.  Neighbors took so long to pick up the phone because they just assumed somebody else had already done it.  Kitty suffered on the streets of New York and cried for help for hours before any policemen arrived.

President Barack Obama reminds us that we can't be idle citizens.  Kitty Genovese's case seems astonishing because she was physically suffering.  However, it's important to remember that our world is in crisis.  There is always something that somebody can do to help, yet we still do not offer to help.  I think that for locals to help their community, we need to create a sense of urgency.  Hopefully this sense of urgency will encourage people to take the initiative and not fall victim to the Genovese syndrome.

An example that most students have experienced is when we are assigned group projects.  Students don't tend to get a jump-start on the project because they assume somebody else will take the lead.  I have been a part of group projects in the past that get completed in a matter of two weeks, even though we had a whole semester to put the project together.  It is going to be a challenge to have people change this group-think mentality, but it can happen with second order change.

Week #1

            When I used to think of social change, I would think of famous leaders from our history:  Martin Luther King, Jr., President Barack Obama, Rosa Parks, Hillary Clinton, etc.  However, my thought process has changed.  Now, when I think of social change, I think about the group of people who brought about the change.  For example, instead of remembering how Martin Luther King, Jr. inspired our country to strive for equal rights for all, I now think about the Civil Rights March on Washington that he led.  If it weren’t for the hundreds of followers who marched with him in Washington D.C., the march most likely would have not inspired the change that we see today.  My current approach to bring about social change is to know my place in a group.  Sometimes, I may be the leader; other times, I might need to recognize that somebody else has an innovative idea and that it is my responsibility to use my own skills to support the movement this person is leading.  I now see social change as a collaborative effort, and not as a movement brought about by solely one leader. 

            College has really opened my eyes to see that social change is in fact needed in our society.  As a freshman on campus, I quickly joined organizations that share my same beliefs:  Equality, women’s rights, etc.  Small steps like this –simply becoming involved in organizations such as these on campus—have helped me realize that I need to work for social change, and that it is passionate people like myself who can make things happen.  Though there are a variety of problems in our society (environmental, social, civil rights, etc.), we can’t focus on making a difference in all of these categories.  Instead, we need to discover what we are truly passionate about because I think that passion is what drives social change.