Few Years’ Resolution Video Series
Video Library
This is the main video library. Click a section heading for more detailed information about each collection. Click an individual title to watch the video or read the transcript.
For a list of videos especially useful for sociology/social science instructors, sorted topically, click here.
Introduction
- How Do We Create Real, Lasting Social Change?
- Step 1: We Need to Get in the Right Frame of Mind
- Step 2: We Need to Take Stock
- Step 3: We Need to Set the Right Goals
- Step 4: We Need to Take Care of Ourselves
- Step 5: We Need to Be More Strategic About Working for Change
- Step 6: We Need to Build Strong Communities
- Step 7: We Need to Deal With Our Ideological Differences
- Step 8: We Need to Act Collectively
- Step 9: We Need to Reform Our Institutions
- Step 10: We Need to Avoid Common Pitfalls
- A Plea for the Next Four Years
Step 1: We Need to Get in the Right Frame of Mind
- 1.1. Why We’re Afraid to Work for Change
- 1.2. Why Our Politics Are So Polarized
- 1.3. How the Rat Race Mentality Thwarts Progress
- 1.4. Why the Media Tries So Hard to Freak Us Out
- 1.5. How the “America-in-Decline” Narrative Messes with Our Heads
- 1.6. How We React Differently to Rapid Social Change
- 1.7. How Privilege Makes Us Lose Perspective
- 1.8. Why Ideologies Are the Biggest Obstacle to Progress
- 1.9. How to Resist Cynicism and Despair
- 1.10. How to Make Your Anger More Productive
- 1.11. Why We Can’t Ignore What’s Going On
- 1.12. Why Scapegoating Is So Common (and Seductive)
- 1.13. Why It’s So Important to Think Systemically
- 1.14. Why We Need to Be Open-Minded and Humble
- 1.15. Why We Should Always Have Hope
- 1.16. Step 1: Wrapup
Step 2: We Need to Take Stock
- 2.1. Why We Need to Scale Up Our Institutions
- 2.2. What Makes a Government a Government?
- 2.3. How Money Works
- 2.4. The Legacy of Slavery and Colonialism
- 2.5. Why We Need to Preserve Our Democracy
- 2.6. Why We Can’t Agree on Anything
- 2.7. Why Our Educational System Is Set Up to Fail
- 2.8. Why Big Corporations Almost Always Get Their Way
- 2.9. The Legacy of World War II
- 2.10. The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement
- 2.11. Neoliberalism: What It Is and Why It Matters
- 2.12. Why You Should Rethink Your Technophobia
- 2.13. Why There’s No Such Thing as “Reverse” Discrimination
- 2.14. We Can’t Keep Fighting Over Our Beliefs
- 2.15. Why We Need to Start Thinking About Global Governance
- 2.16. The Way Forward
Step 3: We Need to Set the Right Goals
- 3.1. Why Can’t We Agree on What to Do?
- 3.2. What’s the Optimal Outcome (and How Do We Know?)
- 3.3. Why We Avoid the Burden of Change
- 3.4. Real Change Requires ACTION
- 3.5. Why Inclusion Matters
- 3.6. Stubbornness Vs. Conviction
- 3.7. The Problem with “More Education”
- 3.8. Get Out of Your Head and Into the World
- 3.9. Systems of Oppression
- 3.10. Why “Double Standards” Are Fair Standards
- 3.11. Gandhi’s Greatest Idea
- 3.12. The Most Important Cause You Can Support
- 3.13. Power to the People
- 3.14. Our Great Global Crisis
- 3.15. Violence or Nonviolence?
- 3.16. A Way Out of This Mess
Step 4: We Need to Take Care of Ourselves
- 4.1. Making Peace with Your Limits
- 4.2. The Ill Effects of Competition
- 4.3. How Bad Do You Really Have It?
- 4.4. The Pursuit of Happiness
- 4.5. Why Are We So Unhealthy?
- 4.6. Mental Health and Addictions
- 4.7. The “Victim Mentality”
- 4.8. Getting Help for Your Mental Health
- 4.9. Stressed Out by Design
- 4.10. “Hard Work” and “Smart Choices”
- 4.11. Why We Complain So Much
- 4.12. Defend Yourself
- 4.13. Dealing with Discomfort
- 4.14. Awareness and Balance
- 4.15. Why Self-Care Is So Important
- 4.16. Don’t Use Self-Improvement as an Excuse
Step 5: We Need to Be More Strategic About Working for Change
- 5.1. Better Conflict Resolution
- 5.2. Progress Isn’t in the Past
- 5.3. The Problem with “Changing Hearts and Minds”
- 5.4. Preaching to the Choir
- 5.5. Same Goals, Different Strategies
- 5.6. The Bogus Debate over “Values”
- 5.7. What Is “False Equivalence?”
- 5.8. Stop Seeing Enemies Everywhere
- 5.9. Act Locally…and Act Globally Too
- 5.10. Stop Getting in Each Other’s Way
- 5.11. How Our Egos Get in the Way of Social Change
- 5.12. Good Enough? Or Push for More?
- 5.13. What Makes a Movement Successful?
- 5.14. Lessons from Recent Movements
- 5.15. Democracy Deadlocked by Design
- 5.16. We Need a Plan!
Step 6: We Need to Build Strong Communities
- 6.1. Communities in Crisis?
- 6.2. Declining Institutions, Declining Communities
- 6.3. Imagined Communities
- 6.4. The Lesson of the Coming-Out Movement
- 6.5. “Othering”
- 6.6. Adapting to Inequalities
- 6.7. Boundary Maintenance
- 6.8. Communities Are All About Emotions
- 6.9. Authenticity in Communities
- 6.10. The Secret to Strong Communities
- 6.11. How Threats Unravel Communities
- 6.12. Intergenerational Conflict
- 6.13. Building a Global Community
- 6.14. Online Communities
- 6.15. Just Down the Street, in a Different World
- 6.16. A Revival of Community
Step 7: We Need to Deal With Our Ideological Differences
- 7.1. It Wasn’t Always Like This
- 7.2. There Are No “Irreconcilable Differences”
- 7.3. Just Admit We Don’t Know!
- 7.4. Reclaiming Human Inquiry
- 7.5. It’s a Both-And World
- 7.6. Why the Truth Can Never Be Proven
- 7.7. Depends on Your Perspective
- 7.8. Who Benefits?
- 7.9. What Science Can and Can’t Do
- 7.10. What Religion Can and Can’t Do
- 7.11. The Current Status of Liberalism
- 7.12. The Current Status of Conservatism
- 7.13. Why Saving Face Is Such a Big Deal
- 7.14. Change How You Believe, Not What You Believe
- 7.15. Don’t Let the Diehards Push You Out!
- 7.16. When Our Ideologies Try to Win, Our Society Loses
Step 8: We Need to Act Collectively
- 8.1. The More People Can Participate, the More People Will Participate
- 8.2. Social Movements and the Tragedy of the Commons
- 8.3. We Are Not Our Institutional Roles
- 8.4. Squandering Our Greatest Strength
- 8.8. Self-Interests and Collective Action
- 8.9. We Don’t Have to Start from Scratch!
- 8.10. Following Is More Important Than Leading
- 8.11. Don’t Jump the Gun!
- 8.12. Direct Confrontation Isn’t Always Best
- 8.13. Media Coverage of Social Movements
- 8.14. The Iron Law of Oligarchy
- 8.15. Criticisms and Protests: Where’s the Line?
- 8.16. The Most Important Rule of Social Change
Step 9: We Need to Reform Our Institutions
- 9.1. Institutions Are Hard to Get Right
- 9.2. Demystifying Institutions
- 9.3. How to Tell If an Institution Is Broken
- 9.4. What Caused Our Current Crisis?
- 9.5. Fixing Education
- 9.6. Fixing the Media
- 9.7. Fixing Religion
- 9.8. Our Crisis of Information
- 9.9. What Governments Can and Can’t Do
- 9.10. Government for the People
- 9.11. What Capitalism Can and Can’t Do
- 9.12. How to *Really* Solve Our Economic Woes
- 9.13. Major Reform #1: Torch the Two-Party System
- 9.14. Major Reform #2: Making Our Elections Fairer
- 9.15. Major Reform #3: Global Accountability
For a list of videos especially useful for sociology/social science instructors, sorted topically, click here.