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Norms and values
In the latest edition of Filosofie Magazine (a Dutch magazine) a PhD student, Rutger Claassen (he leaves no traces on the internet) wrote an article about the norms and values debate in The Netherlands. This debate is about e.g. whether it is allowed for muslim-girls to wear headdresses at school, respectlesness to authority, problems with youngsters owning weapons and taking them into school (which recently led to the shooting of a teacher who died). I'd like to quote a few passages from the article (I translated it into English).
- "Established authorities (church, school, state) have got to compete hard with new values that bombard people through advertising, the internet and television. Sources of values can be found everywhere in these days, in the culture as a whole.(...) A conservative reveille, with emphasis on authority and upbringing doesn't get down to the root of the problem. The vicar can preach obedience in church, but if that church is surrounded by bill boards that seduce to defiance and wilfulness, his sermon is not effective. The teacher can try to be authorative, but when the school becomes submitted to hit parades that pretends to measure the achievements of schools, his authority wouldn't stand a chance. The minister can cry out against calculating and fraudulent civilians and companies, but if in the meanwhile his civil servants play along whith the game of corruption and leave topmanagers to their own devices, it wouldn't lead to a change in the behaviour of civilians. In short, if the culture is one of cynical self-interest and distrust in all ways, and politics and other institutions legimize that; than a virtuous upbringing stands no chance.
(...)
We don't need a course on norms and values in schools, but a 'norms and values-monitor' for the government, companies and social institutions. With every decision a politician, journalist, CEO should be wondering: 'which effect will my decision have on morale in society?'"
 | It's a very solid article and these passages triggered me into reading a book about branding: Beyond branding. Ton has participated in the discussions the authors of this book had preceding the writing of the book. He talked to me about it at home and therefore I knew what the book would be about. When Ton and I visited London last november we met two of the authors: John Moore and Tim Kitchin. At that time I had no idea what Ton, John and Tim were discussing. And the time was too short to talk about the then upcoming book. But now I've read the book and the only thing I can say about the 14 authors is that they put into words a new paradigm in marketing which includes the ideas of Rutger Claassen. I most certainly can identify with this new paradigm. This is their message: |
- "(...)business has to change its mode of thinking because doing the right thing is good for business. Companies have to recognize their accountability not only to shareholders, but to all audiences and to society as a whole."(Preface)
"(...)this book does not aim to refute the negative image of business in general and brands in particular. Nor does it seek to attack business. Rather it recognizes that business can be a force for evil, but it can also be a force for good. Brands can enrich people's lives or manipulate them. Employees can find fulfilment at work or entrapment. The task is to create a culture and system where the focus is more consistently focused on the positive."(pp.2-3)
"(...)in order for it to play a positive role in society, branding must adapt to respond more responsibly to real human needs. Without authentic communication among the human beings inside and around brands, little of worth can be achieved. With authenticity, the unique creative abilities of human beings can be released to create real value."(p.104)
I could go on citating the whole book, but it would be a lot easier for me if you'd read it yourself. Or join them in discussion right now (free registration required) at chautauqua.
Searching for research articles
I've been browsing the web and especially weblogs in search for (research)articles about weblogs. Untill now I've only found a few usefull articles, but there must be written more than that. Is there anyone that can help my search? Is there a source where weblogarticles are being gathered?
I'm going to make a special referencepage in this blog with a collection of all the articles I've come across with an explanation what the articles are about. I hope you can help me make it a really long list (maybe it's time for you to write something (new) about weblogs;).
How can we understand weblogs as a form of communication?
That will be the main question for my thesis-proposal. It's a very broad question and to me it's also a very challenging one. How am I going to get an answer to the question? Therefore I will discuss two major subjects. First of all I need to make clear what communication is or when we can speak of communication. I will take Habermas' theory of communicative action to explain that, since he is one of the few thinkers of our time who has written a theory about communication. His theory will be the conceptual framework of what communication is.
To fully understand communication through weblogging, one must look at the way it is mediated by technology. Using technology can have major impact on the way one communicates. Therefore the second subject is an investigation of the effects the technology of weblogs has on communicationprocesses. Questions within this subject are how we experience the world through weblogs, in what way do we experience the other through weblogs.
These two subjects combined will give an answer to the question in the title. It will be a purely theoretical analysis and therefore a great challenge for me, since my entire education has been about empirical investigation. No statistics involved this time. Hopefully my faculty will approve my proposal.
