90-773, Historic Perspective of the Social Sector
6 units
Prerequisites: None
Delivery Format: On-Campus
Description: This course provides a historic context for studying the current social movements underway including social innovation, entrepreneurship and enterprise, and gives students who want to lead change and innovation in the social sector an understanding of how and why current policies and practices were developed. This course provides students with an important foundational understanding of how significant social change efforts throughout modern history have emerged by examining the evolution of society's three primary sectors -- private (businesses), public (governments), and social (nonprofits/NGOs) -- and their interaction. With a perspective spanning from the mid-1800's to the present, we'll begin to see, for example, how society's needs and evolving norms -- like working conditions during the Industrial Revolution, the Great Depression, the demand for civil rights -- drove the creation of a new "classes" of organizations (e.g., public charities and foundations). Conversely, we'll better understand how governments, businesses, and social sector organizations have purposefully tried to make the world a better place, sometimes with unintended consequences. Although the starting point for our "tour through history" will often be the United States a variety of examples and situations from other parts of the world will also be considered.
Last modified on August 18, 2006
