Hi i have found this during my searching and found it quite intriguing. The web address is below.
"(Found on a bathroom wall somewhere in the U.S.A.)You've taken over my mind. You've raped my thoughts with your image viruses then sold me fake cures for your own disease. Your words and pictures scream orders at me like angry prison wardens. When I cover my ears, your voices echo in my head. I hate you. When I see your billboards, your talk shows, your rock concerts and your factories, when I see the work of your twisted libidos, I want to kill you. I want to set fires, plant bombs, derail trains. I want to smash your buildings and tear at your bodies until the skin of my hands is worn to the bone. I am filled with a rage that burns my eyes. I don't want to feel this way. You have done this to me. These feelings are the fruits of your multi-billion dollar sowing. And I am not alone. There are others like me out here. Every suicide, every madman, every man and woman who gets a gun and just starts shooting -- these are your illegitimate children. They don't all know what they are doing. All they know is hate for the invisible walls which you have raised around them, hate for the narrow path you have tried to make them walk. And the innocent pay in blood for your negligence. Remember this: My mind is big. The more you try to push me down and make me small, the greater the pressure inside me becomes. The greater the pressure, the greater the chance of an explosion. There was once a time when I felt love, but now I feel only hate and anger, and fear at what I might do. And you can tell me to "BE HAPPY," but I know that you really mean "BE QUIET". Believe me, I want to be happy. You stand in my way. "
Here is the websites I found it on: http://www.abrupt.org/CJ/
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The effects of Multiculturalism on the Australian education system
Hi guys,
Just thought I'd post this to get some ideas on what you think. This is an essay that is due for one of my other courses this semester in education- Socio-Cultural Politics of Education. Yes, as the name suggests -YUK! It is due on Friday 5th OCt so if anyone has any comments feel free to let me know.
Education systems around the world have developed school curricula to include all knowledge’s and values that a society deems to be important to know, for the continual progress and advancement of that society. But living in a country that promotes an effective and functioning multicultural society, how are the knowledge’s and values of each group that makeup this multicultural society in Australia promoted through the education? Who decides what knowledge’s and values should be included in the curriculum and which should not? In addressing this issue of multiculturalism in the school curriculum, the Australian Capital Territory’s (ACT) new curriculum document Every Chance to Learn, will be analysed and critiqued on how it provides for different cultural groups within the territory in relation to the subject area of Physical Education and Health. It should be noted the territory has a different approach to curriculum implementation to its neighbour, New South Wales (NSW). While the NSW Board of Studies develops school curriculum, schools and classroom teachers statewide then implement it in the classroom. In opposition The ACT Department of Education and Training has developed a broad document, which encompasses Essential Learning Achievements (ELA’s). These ELA’s embrace knowledge’s and values that should be known by certain levels of schooling, but then leaves the individual school to develop their own curriculum encompassing these ELA’s. The history of multiculturalism in Australia will be considered in this critique of the document as well as current debates over the future of Australian education and curriculum.
Curriculum is a strategic plan for student learning, which defines what students need to know, understand, do and value and includes all learning planned and guided by schools and preschools (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p3). But in a society such as the ACT, that has so many diverse cultures how is it decided on what to include in the Physical Education and Health curriculum? The Australian Capital Territories new curriculum document: Every Chance to Learn proposes four educational purposes that underlie this change in curriculum development. The purpose of this new curriculum is to develop each student attending school in the ACT: as a lifelong learner; as a person who can discover and develop their capabilities and talents; as a community member who participates in the social and economic life of their community; and as a contributor to their local, national and global society (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p6). In an attempt to achieve these four educational purposes, the developers of the new curriculum in consultation with all stakeholders within the education system developed twenty-six Essential Learning Achievement’s, which they believe identifies learning that is essential for students to know, understand, value and be able to do from preschool to the end of compulsory schooling- year 10. To examine all twenty-six Essential Learning Achievements here would not allow sufficient time to appraise and scrutinize, so the ELA’s that are relevant to Physical Education and Health will be examined. The first six ELA’s are considered to be multi-disciplinary. These include the student to: use a range of strategies to think and learn; understands and applies to inquiry process; make considered decisions; acts with integrity and regard for others; contributes to group effectiveness; and uses Information and Communication Technologies effectively (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p15-42). It is expected that all curriculum areas will attempt to address these first six ELA’s in the individual frameworks.
The following ELA’s relate to the area of Physical Education and Health. The student takes action to promote health and well-being by understanding, valuing and practising ways of developing and maintaining all these aspects of a healthy and balanced lifestyle, but this can only be achieved through the development of the skills of decision-making, planning, risk analysis, problem solving and the ability to critically analyse health information and services (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p101). The second ELA exclusive to Physical Education and Health involves the student to be physically skilled and actively acknowledges the important role of physical activity in providing opportunities for the student to grow personally, to enjoy physical activity and to provide the student with many challenges, in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and promotes the understanding that everyone has the right to participate in active lifestyles (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p107). The final ELA to be considered under the Physical Education ‘umbrella’ is, the student manages self and relationships. Through this, the student can understand and value their own personal identity and the need for positive relationships with others, which develops connectedness to their community and therefore be able to cope with changes to relationships and develop resilience when facing many of life’s challenges (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p112). The nature of the ACT education system allows for these ELA’s to be interpreted and implemented according to what the school community believes students need to know, understand, do and value (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p 3). Organisations and people need to be responsive to changes in local, national and global contexts and schools need to be part of this if they are to remain relevant and meet community needs. This is especially important in relation to the changing environment of the nation as we continue to receive migrants from cultures around the world and therefore foster relations between our nation and the cultural ‘homes’ of ‘new’ Australians (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p 5). For this reason, the flexibility enabled by school-based curriculum in the ACT helps schools to respond to the changing demographic within schools and the changing global context that the school operates in (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p 5). But how do schools determine what and whose knowledge’s and values should be included when teaching, according to the new Every Chance to Learn curriculum framework and the ELA’s? To answer this, the history of multiculturalism and its influence on education in Australia from the beginning of immigration until the present day need to be analysed to determine the direction of future curriculum.
“What is, who is, an Australian?” This question about the Australian identity was proposed by Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007, p176) and in an attempt to answer this they turned to the education system as playing a major role in developing this image. The education of citizens about our Australian nation through our history and our observance of many nationalist practices has developed this image of ‘what is an Australian’. But this image of the self has changed significantly from the image portrayed in the 1950’s and 60’s history curriculum, due to the increase in migrants who now call Australia home. Blainey (as cited in Fitzgerald, 2007) acknowledged that the history taught in the Australian education system during the post-World War Two immigration boom, ‘undervalued indigenous history and uncritically promoted Australia’s British Heritage…’ Fitzgerald (2007) supports Blainey: the ‘contributions and sufferings of women, Indigenous Australians and of non-Anglo-Celtic migrant has to often been ignored.’ Through this one-sided presentation of our history Donnelly (as cited in Fitzgerald, 2007), accepts that there is truth to the argument that education can be used …to impose a one-sided view of the world. Hooks, (1994, p37) reminds us that ‘no education is politically neutral’. The curriculum is used as a tool to promote certain ideas and ignore others, which is demonstrated by the omittance of the struggle of minority groups throughout Australia’s history and the promotion of the ‘Australian Self’. This ‘Australian Self’ is the ideal of Australia and Australians, which is advanced through our institutions, politics and the media (Wadham, Pudsey & Boyd, 2007, p171). Through this, it attempts to connect all Australians to a notion of our nation and its people, but what if an individual does not fit this imagined ‘self?’ Schools have always been places where nationalism and patriotism has been encouraged, but they are also places where ethnic conflict can be fuelled and feed and can feed off, broader cultural violence, and we usually come back to the question “What is, who is, an Australian?” as the trigger. The production of a nation is usually based upon the beliefs, values and ideals of some group of people over another. Singh’s (1997, p12) recount of growing up Asian in Australia: ‘Through their silences, through the narratives which remain untold, and through the construction of passive, inferior roles for white women, immigrants and colonised people, these stories of my schooling degraded and defiled my identity,’ supports this notion of production of an ‘ideal self’ based on those standards of a certain few.
It is hard to believe that racism can evolve but according to Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007, p199) the ‘new’ racism is based on cultural difference rather than the ‘old’ racism of earlier times, of race inferiority. It “appeals to sameness as opposed to difference…but has the same effect of determining the other as different or not-the-same” (Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd, 2007, p199). In response to this racism and the emerging multiculturalism in Australia, there were three distinct phases in response to immigrants. There was an expectation that immigrants would eventually ‘fit in’ to the dominant Anglo-Australian culture, which characterised the first phase. There was then a shift to tolerance and a respect for diversity that the migrants brought to the nation, and this still continues today. But the third phase has shifted its focus from the human and cultural assets to the economic assets that have emerged from the multicultural diversity in our country (Hage, 1998, p129). But what can be done in our schools and through the use of the curriculum to increase the value of diversity and mutual understanding in our students? Lets first look at the classroom. Hooks (1994) believes that for the learning experience to be inclusive, the classroom setting needs to change and as teachers, our styles of teaching also have to be flexible to change (p35). By creating a classroom that is democratic, all students feel a responsibility to contribute, and this is a major goal of Hooks’ (1994, p39) transformative pedagogy. Through this democratic setting, a sense of community is fostered where there can be a shared commitment to learning and a ‘common good that binds’ all that are part of the classroom community (Hooks, 1994, p40). This in turn encourages recognition of all voices within the classroom. Hooks (1994) does acknowledge that this inclusive classroom may take a while to progress to this level of understanding of diversity and recognition, mainly because teachers and students alike ‘have to learn to accept different ways of knowing’ (p41), but by changing pedagogy and recognising our multicultural society, we can give our students an education they desire and deserve.
The Australian Ethnic Affairs Council (AEAC) have defined multiculturalism ‘as people’s legitimate right to preserve their ethnic and cultural identity while accepting the responsibilities of common citizenship (Jamrozik, Boland & Urquhart, 1995, p104). Multiculturalism means many things to many people, so to define it is quite hard, but to accept it and incorporate others’ beliefs, values and ideals into our society is achievable. Smolicz (as cited in Jamrozik, Boland & Urquhart, 1995, p111) believes that a multicultural society is realistic and he proposes a means to achieve it. Firstly the various cultures within the Australian society need to be identified and these various core values of each of these cultures are also identified. From these core values from all the different cultures, an umbrella of common core values is proposed. Perhaps this approach could be utilised for the Australian education systems’ various curriculum’s, where schools with high cultural demographic could employ Smolicz’s theory to develop an inclusive and culturally diverse curriculum framework. In regards to the Australian Capital Territory’s new Every Chance to Learn curriculum framework, the broad nature of the Essential Learning Achievement’s and the very nature of school-based curriculum would allow for schools to develop their own way of addressing the ELA’s while making the content delivered through the curriculum relevant to the students changing needs and the changing needs of the global context which the school operates.
History has shaped the ‘Australian Self’, sometimes at the expense of the truth and at the neglect of minority and other cultural groups. Multiculturalism brings diversity and instead of embracing what these cultures had to offer the Australian nation, people in positions of significant power have jostled to exert their opinions on how the ‘Australian image’ should be portrayed. This has usually been through the education system as it has much influence over the promotion of ideals and values. If the education system can embrace the changes that are occurring locally, nationally and globally in relation to the movement of people and goods around the globe through globalisation, and incorporate these changes into the curriculum, the only thing that can come of it is advancement of the Australian nation, not only through tolerance, but understanding and acceptance of our many differences. Only then we can embrace and celebrate the changes in our nation and truly call ourselves a multicultural country.
Reference List:
ACT Department of Education and Training. (2004) Every Chance to Learn: Curriculum Renewal Discussion Paper. Produced for the ACT Department of Education and Training by Publishing Services.
Fitzgerald, R. (2007, March 17). Dumbing Down. The Australian. Retrieved September 20, 2007, from http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
Hage, G. (1998). White multiculturalism: a manual for the proper usage of ethnics (Ch.4). In White nation: Fantasies of white supremacy in a multicultural society, (pp117-140). Annandale, NSW: Pluto Press.
Hooks, B. (1994). Embracing change: teaching in a multicultural world (Ch. 3). In Teaching to transgress: education as the practice of freedom (pp.35-44). New York: Routledge.
Jamrozik, A., Boland, C and Urquhart, R. (1995). The meanings of Multiculturalisms. In Social change and cultural transformation in Australia (pp. 103-116). Cambridge, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Singh, P. (1997). On Speaking as an “Asian” teacher. Education Links, 54, pp. 11-15.
Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007) Culture and Nation. (1st ed.) Pearson Education Australia: N.S.W
Just thought I'd post this to get some ideas on what you think. This is an essay that is due for one of my other courses this semester in education- Socio-Cultural Politics of Education. Yes, as the name suggests -YUK! It is due on Friday 5th OCt so if anyone has any comments feel free to let me know.
Education systems around the world have developed school curricula to include all knowledge’s and values that a society deems to be important to know, for the continual progress and advancement of that society. But living in a country that promotes an effective and functioning multicultural society, how are the knowledge’s and values of each group that makeup this multicultural society in Australia promoted through the education? Who decides what knowledge’s and values should be included in the curriculum and which should not? In addressing this issue of multiculturalism in the school curriculum, the Australian Capital Territory’s (ACT) new curriculum document Every Chance to Learn, will be analysed and critiqued on how it provides for different cultural groups within the territory in relation to the subject area of Physical Education and Health. It should be noted the territory has a different approach to curriculum implementation to its neighbour, New South Wales (NSW). While the NSW Board of Studies develops school curriculum, schools and classroom teachers statewide then implement it in the classroom. In opposition The ACT Department of Education and Training has developed a broad document, which encompasses Essential Learning Achievements (ELA’s). These ELA’s embrace knowledge’s and values that should be known by certain levels of schooling, but then leaves the individual school to develop their own curriculum encompassing these ELA’s. The history of multiculturalism in Australia will be considered in this critique of the document as well as current debates over the future of Australian education and curriculum.
Curriculum is a strategic plan for student learning, which defines what students need to know, understand, do and value and includes all learning planned and guided by schools and preschools (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p3). But in a society such as the ACT, that has so many diverse cultures how is it decided on what to include in the Physical Education and Health curriculum? The Australian Capital Territories new curriculum document: Every Chance to Learn proposes four educational purposes that underlie this change in curriculum development. The purpose of this new curriculum is to develop each student attending school in the ACT: as a lifelong learner; as a person who can discover and develop their capabilities and talents; as a community member who participates in the social and economic life of their community; and as a contributor to their local, national and global society (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p6). In an attempt to achieve these four educational purposes, the developers of the new curriculum in consultation with all stakeholders within the education system developed twenty-six Essential Learning Achievement’s, which they believe identifies learning that is essential for students to know, understand, value and be able to do from preschool to the end of compulsory schooling- year 10. To examine all twenty-six Essential Learning Achievements here would not allow sufficient time to appraise and scrutinize, so the ELA’s that are relevant to Physical Education and Health will be examined. The first six ELA’s are considered to be multi-disciplinary. These include the student to: use a range of strategies to think and learn; understands and applies to inquiry process; make considered decisions; acts with integrity and regard for others; contributes to group effectiveness; and uses Information and Communication Technologies effectively (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p15-42). It is expected that all curriculum areas will attempt to address these first six ELA’s in the individual frameworks.
The following ELA’s relate to the area of Physical Education and Health. The student takes action to promote health and well-being by understanding, valuing and practising ways of developing and maintaining all these aspects of a healthy and balanced lifestyle, but this can only be achieved through the development of the skills of decision-making, planning, risk analysis, problem solving and the ability to critically analyse health information and services (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p101). The second ELA exclusive to Physical Education and Health involves the student to be physically skilled and actively acknowledges the important role of physical activity in providing opportunities for the student to grow personally, to enjoy physical activity and to provide the student with many challenges, in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and promotes the understanding that everyone has the right to participate in active lifestyles (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p107). The final ELA to be considered under the Physical Education ‘umbrella’ is, the student manages self and relationships. Through this, the student can understand and value their own personal identity and the need for positive relationships with others, which develops connectedness to their community and therefore be able to cope with changes to relationships and develop resilience when facing many of life’s challenges (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p112). The nature of the ACT education system allows for these ELA’s to be interpreted and implemented according to what the school community believes students need to know, understand, do and value (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p 3). Organisations and people need to be responsive to changes in local, national and global contexts and schools need to be part of this if they are to remain relevant and meet community needs. This is especially important in relation to the changing environment of the nation as we continue to receive migrants from cultures around the world and therefore foster relations between our nation and the cultural ‘homes’ of ‘new’ Australians (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p 5). For this reason, the flexibility enabled by school-based curriculum in the ACT helps schools to respond to the changing demographic within schools and the changing global context that the school operates in (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p 5). But how do schools determine what and whose knowledge’s and values should be included when teaching, according to the new Every Chance to Learn curriculum framework and the ELA’s? To answer this, the history of multiculturalism and its influence on education in Australia from the beginning of immigration until the present day need to be analysed to determine the direction of future curriculum.
“What is, who is, an Australian?” This question about the Australian identity was proposed by Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007, p176) and in an attempt to answer this they turned to the education system as playing a major role in developing this image. The education of citizens about our Australian nation through our history and our observance of many nationalist practices has developed this image of ‘what is an Australian’. But this image of the self has changed significantly from the image portrayed in the 1950’s and 60’s history curriculum, due to the increase in migrants who now call Australia home. Blainey (as cited in Fitzgerald, 2007) acknowledged that the history taught in the Australian education system during the post-World War Two immigration boom, ‘undervalued indigenous history and uncritically promoted Australia’s British Heritage…’ Fitzgerald (2007) supports Blainey: the ‘contributions and sufferings of women, Indigenous Australians and of non-Anglo-Celtic migrant has to often been ignored.’ Through this one-sided presentation of our history Donnelly (as cited in Fitzgerald, 2007), accepts that there is truth to the argument that education can be used …to impose a one-sided view of the world. Hooks, (1994, p37) reminds us that ‘no education is politically neutral’. The curriculum is used as a tool to promote certain ideas and ignore others, which is demonstrated by the omittance of the struggle of minority groups throughout Australia’s history and the promotion of the ‘Australian Self’. This ‘Australian Self’ is the ideal of Australia and Australians, which is advanced through our institutions, politics and the media (Wadham, Pudsey & Boyd, 2007, p171). Through this, it attempts to connect all Australians to a notion of our nation and its people, but what if an individual does not fit this imagined ‘self?’ Schools have always been places where nationalism and patriotism has been encouraged, but they are also places where ethnic conflict can be fuelled and feed and can feed off, broader cultural violence, and we usually come back to the question “What is, who is, an Australian?” as the trigger. The production of a nation is usually based upon the beliefs, values and ideals of some group of people over another. Singh’s (1997, p12) recount of growing up Asian in Australia: ‘Through their silences, through the narratives which remain untold, and through the construction of passive, inferior roles for white women, immigrants and colonised people, these stories of my schooling degraded and defiled my identity,’ supports this notion of production of an ‘ideal self’ based on those standards of a certain few.
It is hard to believe that racism can evolve but according to Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007, p199) the ‘new’ racism is based on cultural difference rather than the ‘old’ racism of earlier times, of race inferiority. It “appeals to sameness as opposed to difference…but has the same effect of determining the other as different or not-the-same” (Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd, 2007, p199). In response to this racism and the emerging multiculturalism in Australia, there were three distinct phases in response to immigrants. There was an expectation that immigrants would eventually ‘fit in’ to the dominant Anglo-Australian culture, which characterised the first phase. There was then a shift to tolerance and a respect for diversity that the migrants brought to the nation, and this still continues today. But the third phase has shifted its focus from the human and cultural assets to the economic assets that have emerged from the multicultural diversity in our country (Hage, 1998, p129). But what can be done in our schools and through the use of the curriculum to increase the value of diversity and mutual understanding in our students? Lets first look at the classroom. Hooks (1994) believes that for the learning experience to be inclusive, the classroom setting needs to change and as teachers, our styles of teaching also have to be flexible to change (p35). By creating a classroom that is democratic, all students feel a responsibility to contribute, and this is a major goal of Hooks’ (1994, p39) transformative pedagogy. Through this democratic setting, a sense of community is fostered where there can be a shared commitment to learning and a ‘common good that binds’ all that are part of the classroom community (Hooks, 1994, p40). This in turn encourages recognition of all voices within the classroom. Hooks (1994) does acknowledge that this inclusive classroom may take a while to progress to this level of understanding of diversity and recognition, mainly because teachers and students alike ‘have to learn to accept different ways of knowing’ (p41), but by changing pedagogy and recognising our multicultural society, we can give our students an education they desire and deserve.
The Australian Ethnic Affairs Council (AEAC) have defined multiculturalism ‘as people’s legitimate right to preserve their ethnic and cultural identity while accepting the responsibilities of common citizenship (Jamrozik, Boland & Urquhart, 1995, p104). Multiculturalism means many things to many people, so to define it is quite hard, but to accept it and incorporate others’ beliefs, values and ideals into our society is achievable. Smolicz (as cited in Jamrozik, Boland & Urquhart, 1995, p111) believes that a multicultural society is realistic and he proposes a means to achieve it. Firstly the various cultures within the Australian society need to be identified and these various core values of each of these cultures are also identified. From these core values from all the different cultures, an umbrella of common core values is proposed. Perhaps this approach could be utilised for the Australian education systems’ various curriculum’s, where schools with high cultural demographic could employ Smolicz’s theory to develop an inclusive and culturally diverse curriculum framework. In regards to the Australian Capital Territory’s new Every Chance to Learn curriculum framework, the broad nature of the Essential Learning Achievement’s and the very nature of school-based curriculum would allow for schools to develop their own way of addressing the ELA’s while making the content delivered through the curriculum relevant to the students changing needs and the changing needs of the global context which the school operates.
History has shaped the ‘Australian Self’, sometimes at the expense of the truth and at the neglect of minority and other cultural groups. Multiculturalism brings diversity and instead of embracing what these cultures had to offer the Australian nation, people in positions of significant power have jostled to exert their opinions on how the ‘Australian image’ should be portrayed. This has usually been through the education system as it has much influence over the promotion of ideals and values. If the education system can embrace the changes that are occurring locally, nationally and globally in relation to the movement of people and goods around the globe through globalisation, and incorporate these changes into the curriculum, the only thing that can come of it is advancement of the Australian nation, not only through tolerance, but understanding and acceptance of our many differences. Only then we can embrace and celebrate the changes in our nation and truly call ourselves a multicultural country.
Reference List:
ACT Department of Education and Training. (2004) Every Chance to Learn: Curriculum Renewal Discussion Paper. Produced for the ACT Department of Education and Training by Publishing Services.
Fitzgerald, R. (2007, March 17). Dumbing Down. The Australian. Retrieved September 20, 2007, from http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/
Hage, G. (1998). White multiculturalism: a manual for the proper usage of ethnics (Ch.4). In White nation: Fantasies of white supremacy in a multicultural society, (pp117-140). Annandale, NSW: Pluto Press.
Hooks, B. (1994). Embracing change: teaching in a multicultural world (Ch. 3). In Teaching to transgress: education as the practice of freedom (pp.35-44). New York: Routledge.
Jamrozik, A., Boland, C and Urquhart, R. (1995). The meanings of Multiculturalisms. In Social change and cultural transformation in Australia (pp. 103-116). Cambridge, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Singh, P. (1997). On Speaking as an “Asian” teacher. Education Links, 54, pp. 11-15.
Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007) Culture and Nation. (1st ed.) Pearson Education Australia: N.S.W
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
So what is "culture jamming"? This is the topic I have chosen for Blog 2. Finally, although I have only briefly read through some internet articles, I have a word for the type of anti-propagnada or anti-big corporation advertising- culture jamming. Here is a few examples of what I mean.
I have also included a funny little ditty, it is correspondence between a Nike customer and the corporation in relation to an 'ID' he wanted added to below the Nike "tick", as the corporation was running a promotion where customers could order their personal ID to be added to below the tick on their shoes. Here is the link: http://www.cleanclothes.org/companies/nike01-02-16.htm
Monday, September 3, 2007
Attitude Change Essay
Can people change another individual’s attitude on any issue? What then determines success of attitude change of a person? Here, the formation of attitudes will be examined, along with the concept of cognitive dissonance. It will progress to look at models of persuasion and how attitude change occurs, through consideration of theory and how it is applied to a recent social change program- Driver Road Safety and the use of fear-appeals. By examining recent social change programs we can try to determine the success of these campaigns through the amount of attitude change that occurs within a community.
Before answering questions about attitude change and how it can be achieved, we need to define what are beliefs, and attitudes. A belief involves pieces of information or facts about something- what one knows to be true, where an attitude is an evaluation that individuals give to something (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p226). Attitudes help in decision-making, and also have the function of helping people to adjust to new situations. But what happens when we having duelling attitudes about something? When one has different evaluations of something, in varying situations the individual will express different attitudes. In social situations an individual will express a controlled and conscious evaluative response, their explicit attitude (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p226) in an attempt to, as Festinger proposed in 1954 (as cited in Baron & Byrne, 1997), compare ourselves to others to determine if our view of social reality is correct or not (p117; Asch, 1955, p194). In view of this, individuals change their attitudes to hold an attitude closer to those of others. Festinger called this proposal social comparison. Maio, Esses and Bell, (1994, as cited in Baron& Byrne, 1997) suggested research findings supporting this, indicating that when “hearing other state negative views, (this) might actually influence you to adopt similar attitudes”(p117). This explicit attitude then contradicts the automatic and non-conscious evaluation of implicit attitudes.
Attitudes, counter attitudinal behaviour and duelling attitudes are first formed through exposure and learning as most social psychologists will agree. Bornstein, in 1989 (as cited in Baumeister & Bushman, 2008) proposed the Mere Exposure Effect (p229), where through the examination of over two hundred studies he disproved the cliché: “Familiarity breeds contempt”. Through exposure it was found that, new stimuli was liked more after an individual had been repeatedly exposed to it, so the old cliché was replaced with “Familiarity breeds liking”(Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p229). This theory of Bornstein’s is applied to attitude formation-the more an individual is exposed to a positive reward the more the attitude will be reinforced. Zajonc, supported this: “…mere repeated exposure of the individual to a stimulus is sufficient condition for the enhancement of his attitude towards it” (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p229). Reinforcement is one key element to learning theories and in particular to the learning of attitudes. Just like the learning of behaviours occurs through classical conditioning, operant conditioning or through observational learning, so to can attitude formations occur through learning.
Jones and others (1995) believed that “classical conditioning helps to explain the development of prejudice against social groups that are frequently associated with negative information in the media (as cited in Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p230). Operant conditioning uses reinforcement and reward, and when people are rewarded for exhibiting socially acceptable attitudes, the more the attitudes are reinforced, making the individual’s attitude stronger. Finally humans can form attitudes through social or observational learning. Fiske (2004) provided the example of teenagers learning which attitudes are acceptable and which aren’t through the observing of whether their peers are either rewarded or punished for endorsing certain music, clothing styles, hairstyles and convictions (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p230).
Returning to his theory of social comparison, Festinger (1957) also proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance (as cited in Breckler, Olson & Wiggins, 2006, p252). Dissonance is a state of feeling conflicted about one’s own behaviour. If a person is feeling confused about a behaviour which isn’t consistent with their attitudes, they use rationalisation in an attempt to reduce dissonance. This is because people have a preference for consistency (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008, p232). When there are discrepancies between the attitudes a person holds and the actual behaviours they display, Baumeister and Bushman (2008) acknowledged that the most successful way to reduce dissonance is for the person change their attitudes in accordance with the concept of is through operant conditioning- rewards to reinforce the “new” attitude (p233). This need for attitude/behaviour consistency has led to social psychologists hypothesizing to the question: Is the drive for consistency rooted in nature or in culture? Baumeister and Bushman (2008) believe the need for consistency is learnt, but they also recognize the societal pressures of an individual’s culture that influences and strengthens the internal drive for consistency (p237). In these instances, the individual will change their attitude to be sure that it is consistent with the behaviour they exhibit.
Persuasion through the use of threat or fear-appeals (here fear-appeals will be used) is one ways in which other people try to persuade individuals to change an attitude. Persuasive communications attempt to convince the intended recipient to embrace and accept an advocated position (Breckler, Olson & Wiggins, 2006, p268). When one attempts to change attitudes through persuasion, they usually use one of two persuasion theories: either the cognitive response theory or the protection-motivation theory. Fear-appeals falls into the later of the two. To understand the motivation behind fear-appeals and the protection-motivation theory one must first briefly examine the cognitive response theory. Thoughts evoked by a message will determine the message’s effectiveness in causing attitude change (Breckler, Olson & Wiggins, 2006, p268). The cognitive response theory relies on the strength of the arguments to evoke thought and consideration, which then determines the strength of attitude change (Breckler, Olson & Wiggins, 2006, p269).
Lewis and others (2007) in studying fear-appeals used to improve driver safety, acknowledge that mass media advertising plays an important role in reducing illegal high-risk behaviours (p3). To do this researchers found that by firstly increasing the “perceived risk of apprehension” and through education and persuasion of road users to adopt safer road use behaviours, attitude change could occur (Lewis et al., 2007, p3). One technique to persuade road users was through the use of shock tactics- the aim is to evoke strong fear responses in individuals (Tay& Watson, 2002; Tay, 1999, as cited in Lewis et al., 2007, p3). There is little doubt from research evidence collected that “the arousal of fear generally increases the impact of the messages on attitudes and behavioural intentions (Cho & Witte, 2004; Das, de Wit & Stroebe, 2003; Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Perloff, 2003; as cited in Breckler, Olson & Wiggins, 2006, p287). If the “persuader” presents an individual with negative outcomes of which they could experience from engaging in unsafe behaviours, it is believed that the individual will be motivated to change their attitudes, to be more aligned with the recommendations (Lewis et al., 2006, p3). This then describes protection-motivation. This theory relies on four key elements for success: 1) How severe the problem is perceived by the audience; 2) How susceptible the audience believes itself to be to the problem; 3) If the audience believes the recommendations are truly effective; and 4) If the audience believes they are capable of change and performing the recommended behaviours (Breckler, Olson & Wiggins, 2006, p288; Lewis et al., 2007, p7). If the four beliefs of the protection-motivation theory are successful, fear-appeals will be effective, according to Breckler, Olson and Wiggins (2006, p288). Witte and Allen (2000) have shown however, that whilst the protection-motivation model effectively explains how and why fear-appeals are successful, it has been criticised for not showing why and how they fail (as cited in Lewis et al., 2007, p7). Many researchers acknowledge that there are many variables affecting the fear-appeals model of persuasion, and the key is to understand these effects so that the use of fear-appeals in attempting to persuade individuals is done so effectively.
Tay and Watson (2002) found an underpinning assumption that more fear equated to more persuasion (as cited in Lewis et al., 2007, pp9-10). However evidence suggests a “wear-out effect” and intended audiences of driver road safety campaigns are growing ‘tired’ of these campaigns, because that are loosing their appeal (Lewis et al., 2007, p15). Lewis and others continue with: “the most consistent and definitive conclusions” appear to lie with the importance of relevance (i.e. susceptibility), “and the provision of coping strategies and recommendations (i.e. efficacy) that an individual can effectively enact to avoid or prevent a threat from occurring, and not in fear-arousal” (Lewis et al., 2007, p21).When attempting to persuade through fear-appeals, the relevance of the message to the intended audience and the level of usefulness and vulnerability need to be sufficient to elicit attitude change (Lewis et al., 2007, p22).
One’s attitudes consist of all the evaluative responses on things or issues relevant to the individual. However attitudes are susceptible to change from persuasion by another person or group. When attempting to elicit change one needs to consider the method which they will present the information and the environment in which to do so to enable careful consideration of the arguments or not. Through cognitive or emotive response attitude change can occur. Fear-appeals work best when trying to produce an emotive, fear-reducing response, however many variables need to be considered and much research conducted to determine the most successful way in which to change long held attitudes.
References:Asch, S. E. (1955) Opinions and Social Pressure. Scientific American. 193, pp31-35.
Baron, R. A. & Byrne, D. (1997) Social Psychology (8th ed.) Allyn & Bacon, USA.
Baumeister, R. F. & Bushman, B. J. (2007) Social Psychology and Human Nature. (1st ed.) Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Breckler, S. J., Olson, J. M.& Wiggins, E. C. (2006) Social Psychology Alive. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Lewis, I. M., Watson, Barry & Tay, Richard & White, Katherine. M. (2007) The Role of Fear-appeals in Improving Driver Safety: A review of the effectiveness of fear-arousing (threat) appeals in road safety advertising. International Journal of Behavioural and Consultation Therapy. 3 (2): pp 203-222.
Link to Concept Map:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNzWrL48Uc17guwzgtqqM_Zq9XpHEPX7RFl1VXpAyBCPbaesIjA6XZyB-DiGy_aoSFbMm7zqGZGbcW52SfWkmSrj1OEnGTyfvz8qP2kSj90pzMFMS4i17x8hpnTaHUUetkQ-aaM_zQI2M/s1600-h/Attitude_Change.JPG
Friday, August 31, 2007
Attitude Change Concept Map
After some difficulty I finally uploaded my concept map. I hope I have done this right.
A bit more on how beauty is perceived in our culture.
I wanted to add a bit more to my post about the stereotypes society places on who is and what is beautiful, and the show that Oprah did relating to it. I am currently working parttime in a local Cnaberra school, and everytime I walk into a classroom or down a hall way, I am confronted by students who are trying to fit in to a certain image. Okay, not all students do and many express their individuality, but so many are trying to find where they fit in, in this school community environment. On top of that they are bomarded by what "society" believes is beautiful and desirable- from magazines, television, other students, advertisments at the local shopping centre, the almost pornographic music video clips (a pet hate of mine), I could go on. Most days they come into class and they are happy but every now and then I hear comments as I pass through the room/hall/quad or I notice glances between the "cool" kids and the no so. It saddens me that this notion of what is "beautiful" and "cool" is stopping students from talking and interacting with each other. Very rarely, (especially in one of my classes where this is almost jumping out and hitting me in the face, it is so obvious) do they attempt to break down this wall and talk to one another in class. What can teachers do when they students aren't willing to do so?
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