Parenting in the age of neoliberalism: how extrinsic values have reshaped childhood
As I dutifully re-read the Paw Patrol book thrust into my hands by my three-year-old for what felt like the hundredth time that day, I found myself skipping over the section where the cartoon canine heroes receive “brand new trucks” and uniforms before embarking on their rescue mission. The jarring consumerism embedded in a children’s […]
Breaking the ouroboros* and ushering in new possibilities
Like many folks, I’m drawn to the much-quoted phrase by author, speaker and teacher, Bayo Akomolafe: “the time is very urgent – we must slow down”. (This piece by Bayo and co-author Marta Benavides, from which the phrase originates, is so wonderful and I implore you to read it!). This phrase encompasses a quiet but […]
George Lakoff and the Arts on Trump’s inauguration day
On the day of Donald Trump’s most recent inauguration, the veteran campaign strategist and “deep frames” scholar George Lakoff published a 17-point rallying call to resist authoritarianism, co-authored with fellow framing expert Gil Duran. Lakoff is an old friend of our work, which grew from our efforts in the mid-2000s to align his understanding of […]
Values in the Media conference 2024: Recognising the media’s role in shaping society’s cultural values – a summary
Are we more likely to value a CEO’s quarterly profits or a community’s collective resilience? Do we celebrate individual wealth and prestige or collective wellbeing? How does the mainstream news media help shape which of these things society sees as important? Last month, media professionals gathered at the historic St Ethelburga’s in London to grapple […]
Generalised prejudice is a root cause of social and environmental crises
Social and environmental campaigning is fragmented across different ‘causes’ – poverty, biodiversity loss, racism or climate change, for example. Yet a single driver lies beneath multiple forms of social and environmental injustice. Unfortunately, the fragmented nature of most campaigning means that this driver – the strengthening, at a cultural level, of “extrinsic” values of wealth, […]
Bridging the values gap: reimagining journalism through human connection
Last month, a friend and colleague shared an article with me that cited a recent study conducted into ‘journalistic values from an audience perspective’ in Chile, the results of which recognised the “importance of the human touch in journalism”. The two academics; Mellado and Gajardo, uncovered a profound disconnect between how journalists perceive their professional […]
The Big Thing People Miss When Thinking About Values
January will mark five years since I started working at the Common Cause Foundation. A key reason why I wanted to join the organisation was its unique mission – shifting cultures away from competition, inequality and oppression, and towards regeneration, equity and harmony, by celebrating and elevating the intrinsic values that underpin our care for […]
Could animal freedom campaigners and LGBT+ rights campaigners work together for the benefit of all? The answer is in their shared values…
Dr Rob Udale, who leads Animal Think Tank’s Narrative research project, recently conducted research which found that orienting an audience to a social justice issue (LGBT+ rights) led to stronger expressions of support for animal freedom. This seemed to us to be a great example of bleedover between values underpinning concern for social justice and […]
Are we beginning to see a backlash in the mainstream against the excessive importance placed on extrinsic values?
This week, a group of online ‘influencers’ have come under fire for sharing glowing videos of a paid trip to a factory in China owned by controversial fast fashion retailer, Shein. The company has previously been accused of abusing workers and breaching rules around working hours. The public reaction to what has been called “propaganda” […]
Might mainstream news reporting contribute to the ‘values perception gap’ and why might it matter?
In the UK we have almost become accustomed to seeing headlines in (mostly) right wing and conservative media about refugees and people seeking asylum that have famously included ‘The Swarm in Our Streets’ and more recently focussed on government plans to ‘stop the boats’. But do these messages, and the values that underpin them, truly […]