Social Activism Reflective Report

My interviewee was a student that I met in a course that speaks about social justice and its different ways it can take place in society. Everyone in this class is always engaged, alert and participating and I figured that if I asked a student to be interviewed, they would be familiar or have developed an opinion about social justice and activism. The student I asked, agreed to meet with me and be interviewed, however his schedule was constantly changing through out the week, and our time arrangement was not set in stone. Coincidently, I noticed him walking in the quarry area of our campus a few days after our agreement. He seemed to be on a break from classes because he was casually walking by with no particular sense of urgency. I asked …show more content…
We were able to go through every question and the small talk in between questions helped us transition smoothly. Many of his answers, were not new to me and were similar to those responded in the online survey I conducted. From his interview I found that he did not think activism had a solid source of origin. But most interestingly, I realized that activism in itself is just as political as the politics it attempts to address. Another interesting note for me was that the answers this student provided me with, were not absolutely pro-activism. It seemed like he didn’t consider himself an activist, yet he did care about social progression and equality among all people. Additionally, a weakness I had with this interview was not being able to question his reasoning behind his answers. Had I done this, I knew I could have swayed his opinions, and caused a biased outcome for my research. Therefore, it was difficult not to ask specific questions based on answers he gave me while still maintaining a smooth interview. It was also challenging to keep a straight face through out the interview and nod my head in agreement with everything he said. On a side note, I found it useful to picture myself conducting an interview as a news reporter would.
The answers that were provided to me by my interviewee are going to help steer my research towards a direction of questioning why so many young adults are unimpressed by civil action. If I am researching what qualifies as legitimate social activism, I should research whether the difference in ages influences the types of involvement or outcomes in civil movements. Perhaps it is worthy to research if education on the topic has much to do with its effectiveness as well. For instance, if activism or transformative action were taught in school, would more people be