"The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind."
- Maya Angelou, writer, actor (1928- )
The need for change seems to be on the minds of many people these days.
We need change in the ways we deal with our environment, with the way we use so much fossil fuels and contribute so much to the accumulation of greenhouse gases.
We need changes to our political system so that corruption is not possible. Or we need more honest politicians.
We need changes in the way nations communicate with each other so that solutions to problems may be found before two sides that are deaf (or invisible) to each other face off in war.
We need changes to the process of globalization so that multinational corporations don't set up fiefdoms in poor countries and use their cheap labour while polluting their water, their air, their bodies and tossing them away when they become disabled as a result of lax safety.
We need changes to our attitudes, to our ways of shopping, to the form of faith to which we adhere.
Or not. No one can be completely certain that any of these changes are an absolute necessity.
But if they are, why can they not come to pass? Never mind global warming as an evil, we are polluting our air so that we can't breathe properly, our children get asthma, elderly people die because they can't get enough oxygen into their lungs, and everyone is subject to illness that would not be necessary if we had cleaner air to breathe.
Pick up a magazine or newspaper or listen to radio or television any day and you will hear all manner of arguments about why we should clean up our air. Why is it not happening?
The reason is that those who provide the science behind any of these proposed changes know nothing about sociology. Sociology is known as a "soft science" because the supporters of the "hard sciences" aren't sure that sociology is worth anything to anyone.
Allow me to provide some examples of those who know their sociology and use it with magnificent success. Advertising agencies. Supporters of war (though it's usually those at or near the top who actually manipulate the minds of the war mongers lower down the scale). Leaders of fundamentalist religious sects (remember Jim Jones and the suicide bombers). Leaders of charismatic religious groups.
Maybe even your mother. If your mother or father had a great influence on the values you hold dear today, then they practised the principles of sociology even if they were not aware of them through studies.
How to change people's minds is one objective of sociology. The people who know it and use it make things happen, often without the people they influence knowing anything about it.
The second reason why perfectly valid and important arguments for critically needed change fall flat is that no one has a good plan to bring change about. That is, major social change requires the approval of a vast majority of the population. A plan that is devised to obtain that approval from the outset is critical for change to come about.
How many people do you think want governments and corporations to continue polluting our waterways and our air? Surely the answer would be near zero. That's the kind of grass roots level question that needs to be asked of voters, such as in a referendum. On the basis of the results, legislation could be crafted that makes the results into law.
Learn the principles of sociology and get a plan that will garner wide approval from voters and the change you want will happen. OK, so you will have to tell others about your plans. But if your plan includes a change for cleaner air that would reduce health care costly tremendously, people will listen.
Next time you read or hear someone explaining how we must act now to improve our environment, see if they offer a plan. If not, you can be certain that they may be more interested in study grants than in social change.
Bill Allin
Turning It Around: Causes and Cures for Today's Epidemic Social Problems, striving to bring the issues, the proposed solutions and the plan to every voter.
Learn more at http://billallin.com
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Comments: 11
Changing peoples minds should not ever be the goal- but getting them to understand the evident and entertain the thoughts of various solutions should be.
I said in another response that I like being made to think. I don't always HAVE to be right (shh...don't tell my husband that!) but when I am wrong I want to learn and grow from it.
It's all very basic but in a world where every human has to have center stage to be considered an "important" part, I am certain many simply choose not to participate rather than be run over by the "spotlight" hogs.
Simplicity is one thing most of the world could never handle again.
Voters (everyone) simply believe the old adage that you can't fight City Hall. You can't fight anyone if you don't have a plan and if you don't have supporter for your plan (others need to know about it).
At present, no one is surveying voters to see if they support air and water pollution or if they want legislation to ban it. There are other factors involved, but that is the core of it.
As to popular support, Toyota will soon be the world's biggest auto maker, while the former Big Three of North America are dropping like stones (every one is struggling for survival) because they still make vehicles that won't last. Car buyers are given the opportunity to buy cars that will last longer. They don't have that option with air or water pollution. These must be handled differently.
Separating recyclables from trash is law in most places where it's done. It's not an option. Those laws (bylaws) were passed out of desperation because landfills (dumps) were filling and replacements are extremely costly.
Angie, I agree with everything you said except your last sentence. We are taught to believe that we can't go back to a simpler way of life. We are taught that by manufactureres who need to sell more product each year or their stock prices will fall. So they beat on us with advertising to make sure we believe that we continually need more.
The rest of your comment deals with education, which can be managed easily in elementary schools. As DQ said, people are willing to recycle now. This is because the need for recycling has been taught in many schools and the kids have taught the parents this "new" value. Young adults today have grown up with the concept of recycling. It's the old ones who hate it and find it an inconvenience--their simpler time was when you could throw everything into a dump, forgetting about the consequences.
Times and circumstances change as well, technologies often, making an old idea, with some revisions "good" again. The key is to keep on trying, and keep an open mind.
Thanks.
My problem is that I see an easy way to make changes, but I need to persuade enough people to hear me out (or read my book) so that we can all make the change together. It's not hard, expensive or will it create divisiveness. The hardest part is getting the message out.
Until then, everyone is wrong in the sense that we all make excuses for how we act and we have no mechanisms in place to make the future different for our descendants.