A manifesto for social progress

 We are threatened simultaneously by poly-crises from war, climate change, technology, social injustices, and geopolitical rivalries. There is no super prophet available who has the sufficient moral and credible standing to lead us all out of the current wilderness.

We are threatened simultaneously by poly-crises from war, climate change, technology, social injustices, and geopolitical rivalries. There is no super prophet available who has the sufficient moral and credible standing to lead us all out of the current wilderness.

Change is coming so rapidly and bewilderingly from all directions that in a world of specialist experts, each in their own narrow fields, no single person has the breadth and depth of knowledge to explain simply to 8 billion people how to act for social progress.

Young climate activist Greta Thunberg has 2 billion followers, but no concrete plans on how to make change for climate warming. Just saying Net Zero by 2050 is just blah blah blah does not make serious change. In 2018, 300 leading global social scientists (International Panel on Social Progress) worked together to produce a multi-disciplinary three-volume report called “Re-thinking Society for the 21st Century”, considered then the cutting edge thinking on what is social progress and how to achieve it.

Since the report was highly technical, Cambridge University Press brought out a simpler version called A Manifesto for Social Progress: Ideas for a Better Society. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s foreword recalled that 170 years ago, the era of social injustices from industrial capitalism produced a Communist Manifesto that claimed “the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” The new Manifesto argues that social progress can be enhanced through reforms in institutions and behavioral changes. The difference between the two Manifestos is that the newer version is based on the latest empirical data and research.

The core idea of a good society starts from the premise that every human being is entitled to full dignity, irrespective of gender, race, religion, education, talent, and productive capacities. Since human activity is changing the planet (the Age of Anthropocene), humans should be in the driving seat of change. Indeed, the mantra of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) means that improvements in the environment and addressing social change must involve better governance.

Since governance quality determines the final delivery of social progress, politics is all about how to achieve the three pillars of social equity (reduce inequalities between and within nations), freedom (expand and deepen basic liberties, rule of law, and democratic rights for all populations); and environmental sustainability (preserving the ecosystem for future generations). Conventional thinking about governance is often presented as a binary choice between state versus market.

But in practice, there are many variants of mixed economies and political systems, in which state and markets are symbiotic, simultaneously working and fighting with each other. Whatever modes of governance, all must have bottom-up legitimacy and accountability, in which the link between leaders and communities have feedback mechanisms of empowerment, representation, participation, and deliberations that mobilize change-makers for social progress.

The alternative is social regression. Amidst all the polarisation and contention, the book draws common lessons about social change, which can come from revolution or evolution, depending on the degree of imbalances.

First, deep social change often comes from people, social movements and civil society organisations, rarely from top down.

Second, democratisation and empowerment require the participation of and pressure by those stakeholders who are affected by change.

Third, many experiments are needed to explore how to implement and adapt general ideas to local needs and possibilities for change to be accepted. In short, the consensus of 300 social scientists is that there is no single model, no single recipe for transformation. Social change comes from diversity and openness to different paths to change, but it is important to adapt general principles of human dignity and needs to local contexts and possibilities, and to exclude all forms of dogmatic approaches.

The latest mid-term elections in the United States reflect this complex but deep shift after nearly six years of Trumpian politics that deeply divided the nation. Past mid-term elections have always been against the incumbent party, but this time round, the “red wave” shift back to the Republicans winning both the Senate and the House of Representatives did not happen. The Democrats did well to retain narrowly the Senate and lost narrowly to the Republicans in Congress.

A new Republican leader in Ron DeSantis has emerged as an alternative Republican candidate to Donald Trump for the 2024 Presidential elections. The election results signal that American voters prefer a move towards the centre after years of traumatic polarization. In Bali this month, the success in their respective elections by President Biden and President Xi gave both the mandate to begin to calm down rhetoric after months of escalating US-China tensions. Differences will always exist, because progress comes from continuous work on change from individual to community to national and then global levels.

To expect top leaders of state or corporations alone to do the heavy lifting will not work. The social scientists’ manifest has six ideas to change one’s own life and the world. Climate change is a complex system change, and there is no silver bullet or instant change possible. First, one could change through family, especially listening more to the young. Second, change can come from the workplace, as one contributes through jobs. Third, we can effect change through community.

Fourth, we can change the market through our consumption and savings choices. Fifth, we can be a torch bearer to all we meet by caring and sharing. Lastly, each of us should be an active citizen, open and adaptive to change. Change must take time, which means often painful or tortuous transitions that cannot be avoided. Each generation must make their own mistakes or create their own opportunities for betterment. Change or be changed. This is an opportunity to either make lunch or be lunch.

ANDREW SHENG 

Source: The Statesman, 2011/22

Quote of the Day November 17, 2022

 

“Who are we to decide: what will be the outcome of our actions? It is God’s domain. We are just simply responsible for the actions.”
Geeta

“हम अपने कार्यों के परिणाम का निर्णय करने वाले कौन हैं? यह तो भगवान का कार्यक्षेत्र है। हम तो एकमात्र कर्म करने के लिए उत्तरदायी हैं।”
गीता

Let's Not Reject New Learnings About Human Behaviour.

 Many of us claim to be genuine seekers of new knowledge. But how good are we in absorbing new knowledge? Let’s take the example of human behaviour. There is no doubt that policymakers are keen to find new ways to manage our behaviour, be it be how to make people drive safely or ensure that citizens take their much-needed vaccinations in time. In the past few decades, lots of new knowledge has emerged that could help develop new strategies to deal with many behaviour-related problems. But much of this new knowledge about human behaviour have not been absorbed by policymakers and practitioners. Why? Gerald Zaltman, professor emeritus at Harvard Business School, was among the first in recent times to put forth genuinely new knowledge about human behaviour. In his 2003 book, How Customers Think, Professor Zaltman announced that more than 95% of human decisions occur at the non-conscious level. He pointed out that existing tools of consumer research, like focus group techniques and questionnaires, tap only 5% of the human decisions that are conscious. He went on to propose a new consumer research technique called Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique ( ZMET) to decipher many more decisions made at a non-conscious level.

A paper titled ‘The Nervous System in the Context of Information Theory’ by M. Zimmerman went few steps further. He pointed out that of the human brain’s 16 million bits of processing capacity, only 77 bits work at a conscious level. More than 99.99% of brain processes, according to the paper, occur at a non-conscious level, and so consciousness has a very small role to play in human decision making. While human consciousness deals with a tiny proportion of all incoming stimuli, the rest is processed at the non-conscious level, which is more than 200,000 times the capacity of the conscious.

An experiment by the late Benjamin Libet at the University of California, San Francisco, took the importance of our non-conscious processes to another level. He instructed participants to flick their wrists whenever they felt like it. Electrodes fitted in their heads detected fluctuations in electrical activity, indicating ‘readiness potential’, almost half a second before people made their flicking motion. But participants became aware of their intention to move only about 200 milliseconds before doing so. This led to the conclusion that their brains had decided on action before they became aware of it. In essence, non-conscious brain processes were in the driver’s seat.

More recent studies using functional MRI suggest that non-conscious triggers for human decisions occur even earlier. In research published in 2013, neuroscientist John-Dylan Haynes of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin had volunteers decide whether to add or subtract two numbers while under an fMRI scanner. They found patterns of neural activity that were predictive of the study subjects’ behaviour four seconds before those subjects were aware of making the choice.

Many interesting results from recent studies of the brain’s non-conscious processes have emerged from the field of sports. Neuroscientists have figured out that decisions, whether it’s while playing cricket, baseball or tennis, are made in a matter of milliseconds, and thus below our thresholds of consciousness. Studying these decisions that happen within milliseconds can be extrapolated to better understand the decision making processes of a driver on the road, or those of an e-commerce consumer online.

While all this new knowledge about our non-conscious calls was being generated, there were further experiments to establish the reduced role of consciousness in human decision-making. Cognitive psychologists Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris showed that when people focus hard on something consciously, say, counting the passes made by a basketball team, they become blind even to an unexpected sight, such as a gorilla dancing on the court right in front of them. This famous experiment reiterated the fact that the conscious brain can do only one thing at a time.

Shankar Vedantam, in his book The Hidden Brain: How Our Unconscious Minds Elect Presidents, Control Markets, Wage Wars, and Save Our Lives, writes: “The new understanding of human behaviour constitutes a revolution no less intriguing—and perhaps more powerful than the discovery that the sun really does not revolve around the earth." New knowledge about human behaviour is not just an incremental change to our existing knowledge base. It is a paradigm shift. So ideally, all our existing research methodologies must change. Our existing communication strategies have to change, and not just incrementally, but fundamentally.

Thomas Kuhn, the philosopher of science who spawned the trendy term ‘paradigm’, reminds us that “a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." This is just a reminder how difficult it is to get people to accept new knowledge, even if it is a well-established biological reality.

How many more lives must we lose to road accidents and how many more people should hesitate to take their vaccinations before policymakers realize that their traditional assumptions of human behaviour are fundamentally faulty? When will policymakers and professionals start embracing the new understanding of human behaviour? The wait continues.

Biju Dominic is chief evangelist, Fractal Analytics, and chairman, FinalMile Consulting. 

Meghalaya: Wangala100 drums Festival

 The 46^th edition of the Wangala Festival commenced on November 10 this year.

What is Wangala Festival?

Wangala Festival is a popular festival of the Garo community in Meghalaya. It is also known as a 100 drums festival. It is a harvest festival that honors the Garo tribe’s main deity, Saljong – the Sun god of fertility. The celebrations of this festival mark the start of the winter season and the end of the period of toil, which brings profitable outputs.

Presently, this festival is seen as a means to preserve and promote the cultural identity of the Garo tribe in Meghalaya. It provides the opportunity for Garos to showcase their culture and traditions. During the 2022 celebrations, tourists from France, Gujarat, Bengaluru, Kerala, Assam, Sikkim, and other places witnessed this festival.

How is the festival celebrated?

The celebrations usually last for two days and sometimes continue for over a week. Rugala (pouring of rice beer) and Cha·chat So·a (incense burning) are the rituals performed during the first day of the festival. They are performed by a priest known as Kamal inside the house of the Nokma (chieftain).

The second day of the festival, known as Kakkat, is when people dress in their colorful attire and play traditional music on long oval-shaped drums. Traditional dance forms are also performed during this festival.

Dama Gogata – the dance with drums, flutes, and various brass instruments – is performed on the last day of the festival. Katta Doka (talking in a singing style), Ajea, Dani Doka (describing Wangala by singing), Chambil Mesaa (the Pomelo Dance) feature during the celebrations.

Who are the Garo?

The Garo are Tibeto-Burman ethnic tribe who mainly live in the Indian states of Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, and Nagaland as well as in the nearby regions in Bangladesh. The religion of the tribe’s ancestors is known as Songsarek. Their language belongs to the Tibeto-Burman language family. It is not traditionally written down. The tribe’s customs, traditions and beliefs are passed down orally.

6 Tips to Ace Your Dissertation Paper: An expert step-by-step guide

 In an increasingly globalised world, shaped and controlled by rampant digital technology and market forces, abundant misinformation over data and confusion about what to choose for ourselves has become very prominent. The present education system is in search of ways to inculcate analytical skills in our learners. The ability to look at things from different positions and perspectives will be a much sought-after skill in the future. Writing is always an act of harnessing more clarity, and as such, writing a dissertation paper can be one such way to prepare our learners for the future.

Importance of dissertation writing

Dissertations are vital not just for the creation and dissemination of new knowledge but also to keep oneself updated about the chosen field of study. It is a double-edged tool in the sense that it provides an in-depth awareness of a particular topic and enables researchers to find problems, while also enabling them to problematise the present context and look at something from different perspectives. For example, Sir Isaac Newton’s famous dictum, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”, points to the insights he gathered from the existing knowledge system.

Dissertations are useful to analyse the present situation and offer a better framework or tool to understand the challenges faced by society, nation(s), or international establishments. Let’s take a look at six essential tips to ace your dissertations:

1. Start with a Question

I always say that questions are seeds of life. They are vital to our understanding of the phenomena around us. A good question leads to creative activity, frameworks for generations to follow, providing impetus to society and nation, even the global world. A perfect example could be the discovery of gravitational law. It was always there but no one knew of it until Thomas Newton discovered it for the world by questioning the fall of the apple. Questions must precede any human activity, and dissertations as well. They need to connect with the dissertation analysis in mind for new possibilities and findings.

2. Identifying a topic

One must have a purpose behind writing a dissertation. A lack of purpose will make it increasingly difficult to identify a topic, find materials, and establish facts, not to mention the challenge faced in framing a working hypothesis for the dissertation. One must never go for a broad dissertation topic; it must be precise and new. It always works better if the dissertation topic matches the researcher’s interests to avoid the push-and-pull play during the writing work. Identification of a topic leads to analysing reviews of available research work on that topic, visualising the pathway that one has tread, thus helping any researcher to arrive at a hypothesis and proceed with the journey of dissertation writing. The best way to identify a topic is to problematise the available findings.

3. Introduction and Hypothesis

Treat the introduction part of the dissertation as a window that offers your audience an opportunity to see what the work has to offer. Hence, it must clearly mention aims, objectives, and research questions, leading to the establishment of a hypothesis towards the end.

A hypothesis is a research statement, also known as visaya (statement) in the Indian knowledge system. In simple words, a statement must qualify to serve as a hypothesis to be tested through research in the dissertation. The caveat is not to draw too many hypotheses in any dissertation, which then runs the risk of formulating unconvincing and opposite arguments to the established hypothesis. The analysis of the research work must remain singularly focussed on the hypothesis, thus establishing the provenance of the data used. Hence, it is advisable to keep a check on validating/invaliding outcomes.

Also, it is advisable to specify the relevance of the hypothesis–in what ways it differs from the existing scholarship, and its contributions to societal context, if any. Good dissertations must make an appeal to the audience with convincing arguments. It is always more welcoming if the dissertation is done keeping others’ needs in mind, and not as an individual exercise.

4. Literature Review

This is the most crucial part of any dissertation work. The literature review is an exhaustive exercise and may lead to a sense of complacency. While it is important to research old works on the chosen topic, it is equally important to keep a track of the latest available research work. Many dissertations seem to suffer from this problem and end up offering arguments which have already been advanced, may be beaten to death, and thus end up as unoriginal dissertations. The literature review helps us to identify unresolved questions, establishing the newness of our work, and hence it is like a canvas on which the dissertation could offer innovative insights. Make use of it. Therefore, this section must demonstrate convincing arguments in a balanced way. A neutral voice is vital to avoid any display of prejudices and preconceived notions.

5. Methodology

The methodology is a concise explanation of frameworks and pathways that the dissertation will work on and follow to establish the provenance of the hypothesis. The term methodology has its genesis in the Greek word, methodos, a compound of meta-hodos, which means “journey after”. Hence, the methodology section in the dissertation must focus on using available data, resources, and theories to build new ones. The basic idea of methodology is to help one get across. The methodology must always remain in conversation with the dissertation hypothesis, while also pointing out the relevance of the chosen methodology.

6. Conclusion

Dissertations need to have a conclusion to establish the results of the findings. The conclusion section must be short, precise and to the point, not resulting in several findings. It must establish the provenance of the research question/hypothesis. The section must follow with a Bibliography, and all the citations should go here to avoid any charges of plagiarism.

About the author: Om Prakash Dwivedi is presently a Visiting Researcher at Linnaeus University, Sweden.

Source: The Telegraph, 17/11/22

Begin the show

 Drag is assumed to be a Western import in India but it has been a part of Indian art, folk, and religious traditions for centuries

In all nations and civilisations, one feels the pressure to be either masculine or feminine. But what if you are both and you are neither?

Drag is a gender-bending art form that challenges socially constructed gender stereotypes through gender displays that are usually associated with traditional femininity and institutional heterosexuality. The artists dress up and wear make-up to exaggerate a specific gender identity, usually perceived to be that of the opposite sex, and it is performed not just for entertainment but also as a form of self-expression and celebration of LGBTQ+ pride. According to Judith Butler, “...[D]rag is subversive to the extent that it reflects on the imitative structure by which hegemonic gender is itself produced and disputes heterosexuality’s claim on naturalness and originality.” It forces the audience to explore the nature of their own sexuality while assisting the performers in their activism.

Drag is assumed to be a Western import in India but it has been a part of Indian art, folk, and religious traditions for centuries. The major difference between the drag cultures of India and the West is in the context in which it emerged. Unlike the underground drag subculture that evolved in a largely homophobic environment in the West, in the Indian context, contemporary drag is emerging in a milieu where some civil rights have already been extended to queer and trans individuals. With the recognition of transgender individuals as citizens by the Supreme Court and the decriminalisation of homosexuality, drag became more visible and competitive but India, unfortunately, does not have enough venues for drag performances.

The absence of information on gender-subversive practices in India notwithstanding, gender and sexual non-conformity were never subject to legal laws until India encountered a colonial governance. The ancient Hindu treatise on dance, Natya Shastra, refers to a variety of performative techniques that were not restricted by the performer’s gender or sex. Numerous indigenous and folk performative traditions in India— Kaniyan Koothu in TamilNadu and Launda Naach in Bihar — also question conventional gender roles. ‘Neodrag’, however, is different from the more established forms of gender-disruptive performance traditions. The majority of contemporary drag performers reside incities and are members of upper-caste groups unlike the performers of Launda Naach who come from underrepresented castes and rural areas. Modern drag shows have a sizable LGBTQ+, metropolitan audience while the traditional gender-subversive arts draw country folks and a straight male audience. It would be incorrect to ignorethe diverse drag traditions deeply ingrained in India’s history and culture as well as LGBTQ+ artists who have been performing drag. Keshav Suri popularised drag by opening a chain of nightclubs in various cities for drag performances. However, its dominance over the drag scene led to elitism as well as the marginalisation of other drag performances.

Queer people have been the target of violence for their sexuality throughout history. Interestingly, the world of drag constitutes a little pocket untouched by the shame and the stereotypes imposed by cultural norms. Drag aids in dismantling the categories that people choose to categorise one another, thereby shattering stereotypes, injustices, patriarchy, social constructs, and misogyny. The concept of drag is itself a form of rebellion. Many Indian drag artists have claimed their space without letting go of the Indian culture that they represent through their performance. One doesn’t have to be queer to do drag. The whole idea behind drag is to create an inclusive space. Since the art form is essentially centred on gender, performing drag can better our understanding of how we comprehend gender and how much of it is conditioned. The drag culture is yet to become well-established in our nation. It’s time to bring Indian drag into the open as we have incredible drag performers laying the groundwork for upcoming queens.

Diya Binu  

Source: The Telegraph, 17/11/22

Quote of the Day November 16, 2022

 

“Put your positive thoughts honestly and untiringly into actions and you don’t have to strive for the success, you will be inundated by it.”
Anonymous

“अपने सकारात्मक विचारों को ईमानदारी और बिना थके हुए कार्यों में लगाए और आपको सफलता के लिए प्रयास नहीं करना पड़ेगा, अपितु अपरिमित सफलता आपके कदमों में होंगी।”
अज्ञात