Creative Social Change Projects

I was rereading Edward De Bono's book Serious Creativity and got some ideas. De Bono describes many techniques for generating new ideas, and some techniques for introducing creativity into organizations. These are really formal mechanisms for eliciting new ideas.

Activist organizations and social service nonprofits need to keep up a list of specific areas where creative ideas are needed. This is what De Bono called a Creative Hit List.

People interested in changing the world in some way, big or small, could benefit from creating new concepts to use or to promote. This much is probably not news, but maybe you have never thought of an organization implementing a formal process to create new concepts. This is called concept R&D. Maybe some of the big activist organizations, like Greenpeace, need Concept R&D offices. Maybe some of the big social service organizations like the United Way need the same sort of office.

Activists often concentrate on solving problems, which is a reasonable thing to do if you genuinely believe that ___________ is a big problem. Creative Hit Lists and Concept R&D can be useful here. As De Bono points out in Serious Creativity, there is a need to go beyond problem solving and make a conscious effort to look for opportunities. An Opportunity Search could be done in broad subject areas like fund raising, public policy, marketing, and public education. Searches could also be focused on issue areas like animal welfare or renewable energy. What opportunities exist to advance our agenda? To change more behaviors in the direction we desire?

We can't help but act on assumptions about the world, about people, about social institutions, and about what tactics or strategies will work best. Sometimes we need to tease out then challenge assumptions about the world and even our assumptions about what needs to be changed.

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Bad Driving Explained

I was inspired to address this subject by a question someone asked me last night: Why are there so many rude drivers? You probably thought that some people were just selfish and/or stupid.

You were partly right. Since this is a sociology blog so I feel compelled to come up with a few sociological observations.

Several social forces are at work, or not, in the case of rude drivers. Consider the low standard that so many drivers set for us. Its easy to say that I'm not as bad as that chick who cut me off while talking on a cel phone and drinking coffee. Bad drivers seldom experience any negative consequences for their behavior. Sure, they get tickets sometimes. Sometimes bad drivers and the just plain rude drivers get in accidents. Do they take responsibility for themselves? Not always. Nope. It is easy to blame to the "stupid cops" for punishing aggressive drivers to whom natural selection has bequethed control of the roads. Easier still is blaming dumb luck or bad road conditions for your accident.

An unwillingness to own up to one's responsibilities is party psychological and perhaps partly cultural. Conservatives love to complain about how American culture encourages people to blame everyone else for everything. Maybe the conservatives have a point there. Or maybe not.

Getting back to the consequences of bad driving behavior brings up an idea. People seldom get in trouble for being rude or aggressive. Maybe that can change? A honking horn or an obscene gesture aren't going to make an impact. Playing Mad Max with a really rude drive is definitely not a good idea. We need new and informal ways to sanction bad drivers and make them behave. We need something that doesn't require the police to be involved, is not dangerous, is legal, and will make a real impression. Horns and ramming are defnitely out! Cursing and making obscene gestures can get you in trouble, or have no effect whatever.

Any ideas?

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