Empowering Global Citizens

Activity 6.5.1

What Is Civil Society?

Students turn back to their identity maps. The teacher instructs them to
look for the roles they play as members of organizations. They may find
that they are members of community sports leagues, churches, or volunteer
groups. Once they have made note of all of their membership roles, the
teacher leads the class in a discussion of those organizations. He or she asks,
for example, about what organizations they belong to, the purposes of those
organizations, why those organizations exist, and why the students belong
to them.

The teacher then explains that these types of organizations help to form
civil societies. The teacher asks the students if they can define “civil society,”
given the discussion they’ve had. Ideally, the students will decide that a civil
society brings people together to do things that individuals alone cannot do
and that the government does not do.

ACEiVlty 6.5.2

Student Projects

In small groups students research one organization in a civil society, its his—
tory, and its major accomplishments and examine in particular how it is or—
ganized and governed, how membership is recruited, and the patterns in the
growth of its membership. These projects are then presented to the class as a
PowerPoint or through the use of other media, and they lead to a discussion

on the collective role of civil society in a democracy.

Activity 6.5.3

What Is Social Capital?

The teacher presents the class with a dilemma that demonstrates how
much social capital each student has. The teacher should say the following:
“Imagine that you are alone on the corner of Fourteenth Street and Second

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