Preserve Democracy by Teaching Social Action

Authors

• Cheyenne C. Luzynski, West Virginia UniversityFollow

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0147-9546

Document Type

Conference Paper

Publication Date

2026

Abstract

This presentation introduces social action pedagogy aimed to empower students to lead campaigns on pressing social issues and strengthen their participation in democracy. Teaching social action has enhanced the knowledge, practice, and skills of leadership and civic engagement. America’s Promise Alliance conducted a research study on the state of young people in 2024 and found that young people have low trust in American institutions and adults and feel negatively affected by the current social and political climate (Flanagan et al., 2025). The report also found that young people want access to civic education and engagement opportunities to correct inequalities and heal division. Students engaging in a semester long social action project report greater confidence and ability to work with others to affect change. Students gain practical experience in budgeting, proposal writing, media relations, power mapping, and campaign management among other skills. Furthermore, the community of educators teaching social action is increasing and social action projects extend across academic disciplines from art, sociology, social work, environmental sciences, criminology, and more. Projects at WVU have been shared across the country in a social action summit where all students present their experiences. This presentation aims to encourage other WVU faculty to consider ways in which we can teach social action to prepare students to be engaged citizens and preserve democracy.

Recommended Citation

Luzynski, C. C. (2026). Preserve Democracy by Teaching Social Action. In Proceedings of the 2026 Scholarly Teaching Conference at West Virginia University (pp. 1-4).