Dr. Stephen Baldridge introduces us to the social sciences–broadly: psychology, sociology, economic, and political science–and examines how these disciplines explore the complexity of human experiences.
For this week, keep in mind the following types of questions:
- What are the Social Sciences?
- What counts as evidence in the Social Sciences? Must the evidence always be quantifiable?
- How might insights from research in the social sciences challenge the status quo?
http://vimeo.com/97722393
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Spotlight Resources
The Heart Broken In Half
BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Stephen Baldridge is an assistant professor of Social Work and the director of Bachelor of Science in Social Work (BSSW) program.
2 responses to “Exploring the Social Sciences”
Dr. Stephen Baldridge starts off talking about 2 children who have disabilities that separate them from normally interacting with other children in school. He works with a little boy named Joe who has a problem hitting. As time goes on he works with Joe and joes behavior begins to decline. As valentines day approaches Joe becomes very excited and cannot wait for the valentines day party. On the day of the valentines day party joes teacher tells Joe that he can participate in the valentines day party if he goes all day without hitting someone. He does end up hitting someone and gets told that he is now unable to participate. He becomes very remorseful for the first time. That night Dr. Baldridge ate dinner with his family and began to get very upset thinking about Joe. The next day he brought cupcakes and cookies and supplied Joe with his very own valentines day party. The moral to this is that every person is different. Everyone on planet earth has his or her own flaws and characteristics that makes us who we are. “Humans should not be labeled by a graph,” he said. We are all human and unique and that’s what makes each one of us special, good, bad, or indifferent.
This week’s spotlight made me super emotional! If you looked down to where I was sitting you probably would have saw me trying to secretly wipe away a few tears. We are barely starting to understand the concept of Grace and are just now beginning to use it in our everyday lives. We have to fight for each other, regardless of what someone has done to you or someone else. We are all Children of God. He is our Father and we owe it to him to keep on fighting on. What does it really look like when we fight for one another? It looks like Grace. It is not necessarily about putting ourselves into someones shoes, but comparing the fit. Dr. Baldridge talked about a woman he met named Tanya and explained that at first he didn’t understand why she was poor, all she did was smoke weed and sit on her couch. She was a lazy mother who didn’t want to really do much to care for her kids. As time went on he began to realize that this is what she knew and understood. This is where she grew up and where her children would grow up to probably continue the cycle. He now knows that he had to care for her. That what she needed at the time was his Grace and understanding to make sure her children got what they needed to survive. He spent numerous hours at work and overtime working with Joe and Lynn so they can make friends and have an equal playing field. Social Science is fighting for us, to tell little girls that can be anything regardless of their genders. Overall, it is defending people who can not stand up for themselves. Be kind to the whales, but save the humans.