The Importance of Civic Intelligence for Social Change

(Not sure where this thought fits in but I think its important to consider)

Civic intelligence exemplifies the importance of groups of people thinking collectively. Social movements in the past have eluded to a sort of "us against them" dynamic which means, of course, there are those who we are with and those we are not. Despite seeming successful, all the good steps towards social justice these movements have accomplished are being chipped away at in a very (or not so very) underhand way. For example the Feminist Movement gave women much more towards being equal with men and many people may even think they are. However when looking at the facts women still get paid less then men in most jobs, despite having the same education and the same experience. Looking a little deeper we see "pink collar" jobs, which are female dominated jobs that are paid at a much lower rate, then male dominated jobs. For example, a "pink collar" job would be one in the care taking industry like child care or geriatric care or even elementary education. These are low-wage jobs that are dominated by female workers. Where as jobs that take less education but are mainly male dominated such as construction jobs are paid much higher wages.

Why would the oppressor want to meet on common ground with the oppressed? In order for social change to really occur and not transgress backwards, which has appeared to happen with many different social movements of this past century, we need to find ways in which both oppressors and the oppressed can find ways to communicate to meet both their needs. When making decisions on social change that will effect everyone, people from all sides of the spectrum need to be the ones solving the issues together.