Scenario submission for Grundtvig Workshop

1. Scenario submission for Grundtvig Workshop Grundtvig Workshop on “Collaborative Learning and Sharing about Politics”

2. Communitarianism Žiga Štajnbaher 24. dec. 2010 Maribor, Slovenia

3. Scenario Description Topic: Economy and politics Title: Communitarianism Objective: provokediscussionandtheexchangeofviews or learningaboutpoliticalissues Short description Communitarianism emerged in the 1980s as a response to the limits of liberal theory and practice. Its dominant themes are that individual rights need to be balanced with social responsibilities, and that autonomous selves do not exist in isolation, but are shaped by the values and culture of communities. Unless we begin to redress the balance toward the pole of community, communitarians believe, our society will continue to become norm less, self-centered, and driven by special interests and power seeking. (Civic dictionary: http://www.cpn.org/tools/dictionary/communitarian.html, 24. 12. 2010)

4. Scenario Description List of activities Activity 1: Find a video that presents a view on the debate about communitarianism and provide your comments. Activity 2: Write down the new words and concepts. Find explanations for them. Activity 3: Find to topic related interview or an article and comment the presented opinions. Activity 4: Search the additional information and present what you found about communitarianism. Activity 5: Search in image sharing web sites to find a related image (with a non commercial license) and write a few words to present your views about communitarianism. Activity6: Find the idea of communitarianism in your county. Activity 7: Make presentation summarizing what you found out about communitarianism and publish it.

5. Activity 1 Learning tasks: Find a video that presents a view on the debate about communitarianism and provide your comments. Tools/resources: YouTube or other video sharing web space. Duration: 40 min

6. Screenshot of Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPW5rC-chDU, 24. 12. 2010

7. Comments on Video This results in a decline in social capital, are described as the collective value of all social networks and the inclinations that rise from these networks to do things for each other. Social capital is a key component to building and maintaining people democracy. Central to the communitarian philosophy is the concept of positive rights, which are rights or guarantees to certain things. These may include state subsidized education, state subsidized housing, a safe and clean environment, universal health care and even the right to a job with the concomitant obligation of the government or individuals to provide one. To this end, communitarians support social security programs, public works programs, and laws limiting such things as pollution. Communitarianism cannot be classified as being wholly left or right, and many theorists claim to represent a sort of radical centre. Communitarians and conservatives generally agree on cultural issues, such as support for character education and faith-based programs, but communitarians do not support the laissez-faire capitalism.

8. Activity 2 Learning tasks: Write down new words and concepts. Find explanations for them. Tools/resources: web dictionaries Duration: depends on user or learner, his previous knowledge and experiences Note: activity 2 is optional, depends on individual user (formal learner or informal user)

9. Activity 3 Learning tasks: Find a related interview or an article in a blog, wiki or a forum and comment on the presented opinions. Tools/resources: Blogs, Wikis, Forums, Search servers Duration: 40 min

10. Screenshot of Article http://www.janda.org/b20/News%20articles/GW%2C%20the%20Communitarian.htm, 24. 12. 2010

11. Related article main idea This article of Dana Milbank talks about "Communitarianism”. She explains that the economic system we have is unjust and it’s not democratic at all. Communitarianism or civil society thinking has many interpretations, but at its center is a notion that years of celebrating individual freedom have weakened the bonds of community and that the rights of the individual must be balanced against the interests of society as a whole. Inherent in the philosophy is a return to values and morality, which, the school of thought believes, can best be fostered by community organizations. Civil society need to connect with one another. We've got to move a little more in the direction of community in the balance between community and the individual.

12. Activity 4 Learning tasks: Search the web and find some useful information about communitarianism. Tools/resources: different search servers Duration: 30 min

13. Screenshot of Web Page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communitarianism#Terminology <Include a small screenshot of the resource here>

14. Useful Information Communitarianism emphasizes the need to balance individual rights and interests with that of the community as a whole, and argues that individual people or citizens are shaped by the cultures and values of their communities.Though the term communitarianism is of 20th-century origin, it is derived from the 1840s term communitarian, which was coined by GoodwynBarmby to refer to one who was a member or advocate of a communalist society. The modern use of the term is a redefinition of the original sense. Many communitarians trace their philosophy to earlier thinkers.

15. Activity 5 Learning tasks: Search fora related picture(with a non commercial license) and write a few words to present your view about comunitarianism. Tools/resources: Flickr or other picture sharing web space Duration: 25 min

16. Picture http://www3.telus.net/awareness/commlink.htm, 24. 12. 2010 Balanced necessary conditions

17. MyPersonal View There is not an easy answer to the question whether communitarianism is the best community system or not. While the people in my country feel that there is great injustice in the economic system that we have, it is not clear whether this is due to the system itself or the people that are implementing it and set the rules and regulations of the political and market system. Modern society need a different and more fair system and we need more fair multy-party political system to implement communitarianism in the form it was intended to protect all citizens.

18. Activity 6 Learning tasks: Find the idea of communitarianism in your county and compare with particularinternational web page ideas. Tools/resources: local web pages Duration: 40 min

19. Polona KršmancŠiško presents her view and illustrates the idea of communitarianism with different examples, one of them is ferry tale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. http://delamznasmehom.blog.siol.net/tag/kolektivizem/, 24. 12. 2010

20. Activity 7 Learning tasks: Make presentation what you found out about communitarianism and publish it. Tools/resources: powerpoint , blog, forum or wiki or politics platform Duration: 40 min Note: optional, depends on individual user (formal learner or informal user)