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
• 8.5. Personal Hangups and Collective Action
• 8.6. Misinformation and Collective Action
• 8.7. Ideologies and Collective Action
• 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