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<p>An interesting read. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>But I take personal issue with this comment: “Those who succeed in
politics are, by definition, people who prioritise extrinsic values. Their
ambition must supplant peace of mind, family life, friendship - even brotherly
love.” But then again, I’m not a politician…yet. I am
counting on all of you to stop me if I start prioritizing extrinsic values! 8-)<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Susan K<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Progressive causes are failing: here’s how they could be turned around<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 12th October 2010<o:p></o:p></p>
<p>So here we are, forming an orderly queue at the slaughterhouse gate. The
punishment of the poor for the errors of the rich, the abandonment of
universalism, the dismantling of the shelter the state provides: apart from a
few small protests, none of this has yet brought us out fighting. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The acceptance of policies which counteract our interests is the pervasive
mystery of the 21st Century. In the United States, blue-collar workers angrily
demand that they be left without healthcare, and insist that millionaires
should pay less tax. In the UK we appear ready to abandon the social progress
for which our ancestors risked their lives with barely a mutter of protest.
What has happened to us? <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>The answer, I think, is provided by the most interesting report I have read
this year. Common Cause, written by Tom Crompton of the environment group WWF,
examines a series of fascinating recent advances in the field of psychology(<a
href="http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/common_cause_report.pdf">1</a>). It
offers, I believe, a remedy to the blight which now afflicts every good cause
from welfare to climate change. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Progressives, he shows, have been suckers for a myth of human cognition he
labels the Enlightenment model. This holds that people make rational decisions
by assessing facts. All that has to be done to persuade people is to lay out
the data: they will then use it to decide which options best support their
interests and desires. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>A host of psychological experiments demonstrates that it doesn’t work
like this. Instead of performing a rational cost-benefit analysis, we accept
information which confirms our identity and values, and reject information that
conflicts with them. We mould our thinking around our social identity,
protecting it from serious challenge. Confronting people with inconvenient
facts is likely only to harden their resistance to change. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Our social identity is shaped by values which psychologists classify as
either extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic values concern status and
self-advancement. People with a strong set of extrinsic values fixate on how
others see them. They cherish financial success, image and fame. Intrinsic
values concern relationships with friends, family and community, and
self-acceptance. Those who have a strong set of intrinsic values are not
dependent on praise or rewards from other people. They have beliefs which transcend
their self-interest. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Few people are all-extrinsic or all-intrinsic. Our social identity is formed
by a mixture of values. But psychological tests in nearly 70 countries show
that values cluster together in remarkably consistent patterns. Those who strongly
value financial success, for example, have less empathy, stronger manipulative
tendencies, a stronger attraction to hierarchy and inequality, stronger
prejudices towards strangers and less concern about human rights and the
environment. Those who have a strong sense of self-acceptance have more empathy
and a greater concern about human rights, social justice and the environment.
These values suppress each other: the stronger someone’s extrinsic
aspirations, the weaker his or her intrinsic goals. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>We are not born with our values. They are shaped by the social environment.
By changing our perception of what is normal and acceptable, politics alters
our minds as much as our circumstances. Free, universal health provision, for
example, tends to reinforce intrinsic values. Shutting the poor out of
healthcare normalises inequality, reinforcing extrinsic values. The sharp
rightward shift which began with Margaret Thatcher and persisted under Blair
and Brown, all of whose governments emphasised the virtues of competition, the
market and financial success, has changed our values. The British Social
Attitudes survey, for example, shows a sharp fall over this period in public
support for policies which redistribute wealth and opportunity(2). <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>This shift has been reinforced by advertising and the media. The
media’s fascination with power politics, its rich lists, its catalogues
of the 100 most powerful, influential, intelligent or beautiful people, its
obsessive promotion of celebrity, fashion, fast cars, expensive holidays: all
these inculcate extrinsic values. By generating feelings of insecurity and
inadequacy - which means reducing self-acceptance - they also suppress
intrinsic goals. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Advertisers, who employ large numbers of psychologists, are well aware of
this. Crompton quotes Guy Murphy, global planning director for the marketing
company JWT. Marketers, Murphy says, “should see themselves as trying to
manipulate culture; being social engineers, not brand managers; manipulating
cultural forces, not brand impressions”(3). The more they foster
extrinsic values, the easier it is to sell their products. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Rightwing politicians have also, instinctively, understood the importance of
values in changing the political map. Margaret Thatcher famously remarked that
“economics are the method; the object is to change the heart and
soul.”(4) Conservatives in the United States generally avoid debating
facts and figures. Instead they frame issues in ways that both appeal to and
reinforce extrinsic values. Every year, through mechanisms that are rarely
visible and seldom discussed, the space in which progressive ideas can flourish
shrinks a little more. The progressive response to this trend has been
disastrous. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Instead of confronting the shift in values, we have sought to adapt to it.
Once-progressive political parties have tried to appease altered public
attitudes: think of all those New Labour appeals to Middle England, which was
often just a code for self-interest. In doing so they endorse and legitimise
extrinsic values. Many greens and social justice campaigners have also tried to
reach people by appealing to self-interest: explaining how, for example,
relieving poverty in the developing world will build a market for British
products, or suggesting that, by buying a hybrid car, you can impress your
friends and enhance your social status. This tactic also strengthens extrinsic
values, making future campaigns even less likely to succeed. Green consumerism
has been a catastrophic mistake. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Common Cause proposes a simple remedy: that we stop seeking to bury our
values and instead explain and champion them. Progressive campaigners, it
suggests, should help to foster an understanding of the psychology which
informs political change and show how it has been manipulated. They should also
come together to challenge forces – particularly the advertising industry
– which make us insecure and selfish. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>Ed Miliband appears to understands this need. He told the Labour conference
that he “wants to change our society so that it values community and
family, not just work” and “wants to change our foreign policy so
that it’s always based on values, not just alliances … We must shed
old thinking and stand up for those who believe there is more to life than the
bottom line.”(<a
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/sep/28/ed-miliband-labour-conference-speech">5</a>)
But there’s a paradox here, which means that we cannot rely on
politicians to drive these changes. Those who succeed in politics are, by
definition, people who prioritise extrinsic values. Their ambition must
supplant peace of mind, family life, friendship - even brotherly love. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>So we must lead this shift ourselves. People with strong intrinsic values
must cease to be embarrassed by them. We should argue for the policies we want not
on the grounds of expediency but on the grounds that they are empathetic and
kind; and against others on the grounds that they are selfish and cruel. In
asserting our values we become the change we want to see. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>www.monbiot.com<o:p></o:p></p>
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src="cid:image003.jpg@01CB6B1F.4E726870" align=left hspace=12 alt=pareto
v:shapes="Picture_x0020_1"><![endif]><b><span style='color:#FF3300'>2080: The
Return of Pareto<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#FF3300'>by Susan Koswan<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#336600'>Treehuggers.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#336600'>The
80/20 Rule. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Georgia","serif";color:#336600'>One
long weekend... <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='color:#1D3A00'><a
href="http://www.volumesdirect.com"><span style='color:#1D3A00'>www.volumesdirect.com</span></a>
or <a href="mailto:dandelion@gto.net"><span style='color:#1D3A00'>dandelion@gto.net</span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='color:#1D3A00'>Now on Kindle! <a
href="http://www.amazon.com"><span style='color:#1D3A00'>www.amazon.com</span></a></span></i><span
style='color:#1D3A00'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1D3A00'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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