5. Social Inquiry: Instructional Manual to Accompany 'Mark'

Authors

Matthew Lipman, Montclair State University
Ann Margaret Sharp, Montclair State University

Files

ISBN

0·916834•15-8

Target Grades

Secondary School (esp. ages 16-18)

Publication Date

1980

Publisher

Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children

Number of Pages

410

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Summary

The task of social studies as a discipline is to focus students’ already developed thinking skills upon the conceptual foundation of the social sciences. Students will think about these underlying concepts if they can talk about them, and they will talk about what they perceive as controversial or problematic. This, then, is what Mark and Social Inquiry aim to do: to identify selected root issues in the social sciences and expose to students the conflicting concepts at the heart of each issue.

Excerpt

EXERCISE: Windows on society

Suppose you were a being in outer space monitoring our planet. Through telecommunications, you can obtain limited Information about our society. Your superiors have asked you to make a report on life here based on what you have been able to learn about it. Select one aspect of American life from the list below, analyze it using the information source(s) given in the bulleted list below each, and list three things that can be inferred about American society from the way this item is handled.

Treatment of the disabled

• videotape of person in wheelchair shopping
• television commercial urging employers to hire the disabled
• news clipping about the Special Olympics

Treatment of minorities

• selection of greeting cards
• photographs of armed guards escorting Black children to a white high school in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1958
• unemployment statistics for Black males between 15 and 25

Role of crime in society

• movie on juvenile offenders in a youth home
• film clips of Watergate trials
• poster showing the Ten Commandments

Civil rights

• copy of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights
• film clips of American Nazi party marching in Skokie, Illinois in 1978
• photographs of Klu Klux Klan rallies and cross burnings

Fair treatment before the law

• reruns of the Perry Mason series
• statistics on the percentage of inmates in American prisons who are minorities
• transcript of the trial of Patty Hearst

Influence of propaganda

• selection of commercials from American television
• film clips from campaign speeches of presidential candidates
• cross-section of American history textbooks used in junior high schools

Translations

• Chinese translation (PRC): Lipman, Matthew and Ann Margaret Sharp (1997) 社会探究:《马克》的教师辅导用书. Translated by 陈本益 (Benyi Chen). 太原: 山西教育出版社 [Tai yuan: Shan xi jiao yu chu ban she].
• French translation (Belgium): Lipman, Matthew and Ann Margaret Sharp (2009) Mark: Recherche sociale. Translated by Nicole Decostre. Brussels, Belgium: Peter Lang. ISBN:9789052015446. Available for purchase here.
• Italian translation (Italy): Lipman, Matthew and Ann Margaret Sharp (2004) Mark. Manuale. L'indagine sociale. [Need translator.] Naples, Italy: Liguori Editore. ISBN 9788820736590. Available for purchase here.
• Lithuanian translation (Lithuania): Lipman, Matthew (1999) Markas: visuomenės tyrimas [Mark: a study of society]. Translated by Rasa Aškinytė. Vilnius, Lithuania: Kronta.
• Spanish translation (Spain): Lipman, Matthew and Ann Margaret Sharp (1990) Investigación Social. Manual del profesor para acompañar a Mark. Translated and adapted by Félix García Moriyón and Magdalena González García. Madrid, Spain: Ediciones de la Torre. ISBN 9788486587840. Available for purchase here.

Keywords

anarchy, constitutions, democracy, freedom, human nature, justice, law, propaganda, rights, sex discrimination, social change, social policy, social studies, society, socioeconomic class, victims, voting

Disciplines

Civil Rights and Discrimination | Constitutional Law | Courts | Criminal Law | Ethics and Political Philosophy | Philosophy | Secondary Education | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Published Reviews and Research

• Coppens, Sven (1998) Some Ideological Biases of the Philosophy for Children Curriculum: an Analysis of Mark and Social Inquiry. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 14(3): 25-32.
• Lee, Karen J. (1986) Doing "Mark" in a Juvenile Correctional Facility. Thinking: The Journal of Philosophy for Children 6(3): 9-16.
• Reed, T.M. (1982) Review of Suki, Mark, Writing: How and Why, and Social Inquiry by Matthew Lipman and Ann Margaret Sharp. Teaching Philosophy 5(3): 237-238.

Recommended Citation

Lipman, Matthew and Ann Margaret Sharp (1980) Social Inquiry: Instructional Manual to Accompany 'Mark'. Montclair, NJ: Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children.