Wed, Nov 12, 2003
George Lakoff on Shared Language and the Rockridge Institute
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GeorgeLakoff, professor of linguistics and cognitive sciences at
U.C. Berkeley, is an intellectual whose
work I have admired for several years now. He is the author of many
books, including Philosophy in the Flesh and Moral Politics: How
Liberals and Conservatives Think. (AD)
My friend Alex brought
an interview with Lakoff to my attention. Lakoff, along with seven
other professors from Berkeley and U.C. Davis, recently founded the RockridgeInstitute, a progressive
think tank. (AE)
One of Rockridge's goal is to develop a shared "moral language," and
to unify progressives around that language. In the interview, Lakoff
explains how conservatives invested heavily in infrastructure
beginning in the 1970s, creating a network of think tanks, scholars,
and media outlets devoted to pushing a conservative ideology and
agenda. The result was a shared language that framed public issues
from a conservative perspective. (AF)
Lakoff wants to do the same for progressives. He says: (AG)
The background for Rockridge is that conservatives, especially conservative think tanks, have framed virtually every issue from their perspective. They have put a huge amount of money into creating the language for their worldview and getting it out there. Progressives have done virtually nothing. Even the new Center for American Progress, the think tank that John Podesta [former chief of staff for the Clinton administration] is setting up, is not dedicated to this at all. I asked Podesta who was going to do the Center's framing. He got a blank look, thought for a second and then said, "You!" Which meant they haven't thought about it at all. And that's the problem. Liberals don't get it. They don't understand what it is they have to be doing. (AH)
Rockridge's job is to reframe public debate, to create balance from a progressive perspective. It's one thing to analyze language and thought, it's another thing to create it. That's what we're about. It's a matter of asking 'What are the central ideas of progressive thought from a moral perspective?' (AI)
Lakoff cites several examples of how conservatives have framed
language to subvert public opinion. For example, "tax relief" implies
that taxation is an affliction from which we should be relieved.
However, taxes could also be viewed as the enabler for what makes this
country great. They enable our infrastructure, they fund research
that leads to innovations, they cover law enforcement and defense,
they preserve our national parks. We ought to be patriotic about
paying taxes! The problem is that the conservatives have taken the
initiative in framing the language for public issues, and progressives
are playing into their hands by using their language. (AJ)
A SharedLanguage for Collaboration and Communities (AK)
Developing SharedLanguage is a fundamental prerequisite for effective
collaboration, and it is one of BlueOxenAssociates' primary goals.
The Lakoff interview does a beautiful job of explaining why language
is so important for framing ideas and unifying a community. (AL)
One of my aha moments while working with DougEngelbart on
BootstrapAlliance? was that there were many, many people out there
working on essentially the same thing. Most of these folks were
blissfully unaware of others, but when they learned of each other's
existence, nothing would happen. They couldn't figure out how to work
with each other. The problems were that there was no SharedLanguage
to begin with, and that there was no motivation to develop that
SharedLanguage. Lakoff touches upon the reason for the latter: People
simply don't appreciate the importance of SharedLanguage. (AM)
I've mentioned MGTaylor many times in this blog. BlueOxenAssociates
has partnered with TomorrowMakers, an MGTaylor spinoff, on one of its
initiatives. MGTaylor's facilitation process begins with a series of
exercises designed to develop shared language among the group. The
process often frustrates participants, because they feel like they're
not "doing anything," or they're not being productive. The reality
is, without going through that stage, it is impossible for groups to
accomplish anything or to be productive. Most participants realize
this in the end. SharedLanguage is what makes collaboration possible. (AN)
/collaboration |
Posted at 3:46pm
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