Challenges & Connections
Values
Within our culture we face profound challenges, which often feel beyond our scope to address. Leadership is important, often emerging from higher education institutions such as the GSA, but also important is connecting with people through their values so that they can become more aware of the issues, and awaken to how they can participate and take action.
We can give people facts on climate disruption, poverty or social injustice, but if we don’t relate and connect to their identity and values then they can be rejected or ignored. If we don’t think in systems we also miss opportunities to apply a variety of approaches, values being one of them.
We talk of both intrinsic and extrinsic values, which can be activated through peer-pressure or experience and what they see as the social norm. Intrinsic values show concern for the wider-than-self world, whereas extrinsic relates to egotisitcal self-gratification and financial worth. By using words, images, communicating and creating emotional and value-led links to frame issues, we can help people more deeply understand, appreciate then encourage them to take action through their personal and professional lives.
More on values and how they work from the WWF. You can see the latest thinking from around the Common Cause. And right here at the GSA we have the Radial Project exploring values-based actions.
Below, a representation of our values, which link across the Glasgow School of Art’s
