Informed Agency, Advocacy, and Activism
Corporate Dresscodes Disguise verses Informed Agency
Changing the Dress Code
Used to be:
1930’s The executive secretary position was the CEO in training.
The Executive – did not wear jeans to the office.
1960s Jeans originally made for gold miners and worn by farmers make it into the counter culture.
1970’s “Dress For Success” meant suiting, heels, ties, jackets skirts, blouses, heels all a work place uniform of the white collar executive.
1990s Silly Valley West Coast hoodie culture changes to “Dress Down” everydays
2000 East coast Casual Fridays allows dark blue dress jeans
2019s East coast dark blue jeans allowed everyday and have become appropriate “executive” wear.
“White coller Executives” wear dark blue tailored jeans which helps to disguise class, status, and power in the corporate structure.
Today it’s jeans for all every day for everybody. There is no Dress for Success requirements to help disguise power inside corporations.
Corporate in their subtle way has disguised the line of power. They have created the illusion that “you are one of us, and we are one of you.”
The unions fought for the 8 hour work day and that weekend off. Turns out we all work on Maggies Farm. The work day is now 24/7/365 because we are all at their beck and cell phone text work call.
When they look like one of us – but aren’t – and they have all the power.
And robbing your ability to sue them for injustices and forcing you to work on projects without agency.
Working without the right to be in a union is under the control of corporate.
Suing to have the right to unionize is a political act.
“When they substitute their knowledge for ours, we grow angry because they have robbed us of our agency.”
Privacy is Political.
- Choosing not to work on projects that destroy privacy is a political act.
- Suing for the right of agency to know what the project will be used for is a political act.
National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
Social studies is learning, doing, being, growing, and acting.
Social studies is learning, doing, being, growing, and acting.
The questions we pose, the inquiries we pursue lead us: to a deeper understanding of ourselves and others, to appreciate the complexity of the world in which we live, to grapple with difficult topics, and to speak out against systemic injustices.
The study of social studies enables us to not only have a voice, but to actively engage in our local, national, and international communities as informed, educated, and compassionate citizens. Our collective civic engagement is not simply about advocacy or action, but also about listening, questioning, respectful dialogue, and seeking common ground around shared democratic values.
Social studies teaches us that knowledge is not neutral; it is socially constructed. Thus, the real value of knowledge is what one can do with that knowledge in pursuit of inquiry. Examining how we communicate and act upon our knowledge compels us to realize the importance of critical inquiry. In fact, critical inquiry is at the heart of social studies and in practice is informed action through agency, advocacy, and activism.