We will do a reflection in class to relate Whistleblowers to service-learning--so unless something is shouting at you about your SL, use this reflection to try to unpack some of the ideas presented in the reading. I have pasted in the reading points to help you focus, as there are many complex ideas presented in this reading!
What is Alford’s stated goal (6) in writing this book on this subject? What is his methodology? (Also see pages 32-33, 35)
What the scapegoat knows. Why is this metaphor significant in helping to understand the role of the whistleblower in our society? Why is this “knowledge like a mortal illness” for the whistleblower (5)? What other whistleblower characteristics does Alford delineate? Make sure that you outline the different related points for yourself.
Consequences and Costs: Power, Politics, and Who Pays? Or What Happens When Ethical Discourse Becomes Impossible” (36). Who benefits when ethics is separated from politics? What is Alford’s point? You should be happy to see that you already have some foundation here as you have just read Arendt (10-13). Connect these ideas to Alford’s point at the end of Chap. 2.
Chap. 2
How does Alford define whistleblowing? Note difference between “theory” and “practice” (18).
How/Why Organizations “Sacrifice” Whistleblowers: “The best way to disrupt moral behavior is not to discuss it and not to discuss not discussing it” (21). Make sure that you understand what Alford means by this (pay close attention to other crucial sentence s on page 22) and notice how he illustrates through whistleblower stories. You may want to reread after you read the themes section.
Themes in Whistleblower Stories (31-32): Alford lays these out for you. Make sure that grapple with these points.—you may want to reread the stories. (These are brief glimpses, he will go deeper in the next chapter)
Workplace Values: “Organizations are not just undemocratic. Organizations are the enemy of individual morality” (35).
Chap. 3.
The Significance of Narrative (shared vs. shattered meaning): What is Alford telling us about the way that we usually make sense of our own lives and those of others? Why is this cohesion lacking from the whistleblowers story (and reality)? Look for multiple points about this throughout chapter. These observations are important and fascinating on many levels, not just in relation the whistleblower.
Narrative Themes in Whistleblower Stories: Choiceless choice, stuck in static time, paranoid themes, “living in the position of the dead” (39). Throughout this chapter, Alford illustrates these themes. Make sure that you find a few crucial quotes in each section that help you to understand Alford’s characterizations.
The Failure of Common Narrative or The Story that Can’t Be Heard and How the Organization “Disciplines” the Ethical Individual: Alford will go into more detail on these points in future chapters. Anything here that you can relate to something in your own experience or in relationship to your service-learning?
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