Civility Consciousness— Raising at the Societal Level
1. Overview
I recommend completing “Who Am I?” study posted above before undertaking the activities described below. As you know if you have already done so, the analysis gives you a rich and novel way to explore your personal civility identity. The study outlined here applies those understandings to how civility functions in the larger society. In other words, you are now coming to understand your civility identity; the activities described below develop your civility consciousness. The former is personal; the latter is societal.
My book, Creating A New Civility, especially its Introduction and Process #1, is the suggested text for this course.
2. The New You: Carrying Your Civility Identity into the Public Arena
Give yourself a substantial amount of time, say, a month or so, to notice identity- and civility-shaping moments that surround each of the ten identity markers as you move through your life. You are extending the “Who Am I?” analysis above.
Given your sense of [insert name of marker— I’ll use DNA-ascribed mind-body abilities as an example here], reflect on how they have shaped your identity. Work through these issues, considering how your civility identity has been shaped:
The activities below extend civility identity understanding. Trust me, after this intimate self-study, you will see yourself, including your effort to be civil, in a new way.
3. Witness
Notice “moments” of (in)civility,
4. Deconstruct
Carry out a similar witnessing on a behavior of your own or on one you happened to be part of. Deconstruct the experience by
5. Identify Civility Heroes and Champions
6. Reflect
7. Think, think, think; write, write, write; talk, talk, talk; read, read, read; and act, act, act — to advance the cause of a new civility.
You are creating your civility identity! This process is how knowledge advances. Talk over your civility understandings with members of your study group or with trusted others. Through journaling, try to come to some consensus in understanding the relationship between identity as you have explored it in yourself and in society at large.
Continue study of the relationships between identity and civility as you see them played out in contemporary life. Think about how intersectionality is operating in your daily life. For example, focusing on race, figure out how it is affected by gender identity, religious and political beliefs, class, ethnicity, place, and education. Or think of how age is implicated in discussions of gender, class, DNA-ascribed abilities. What do such insights have to do with the way people of color and the aged are treated in society?
8. Try your best to live what we might call a substantive civility, one devoted to Full Humanity, Interdependence of All, and Common Good. Talk to others and encourage them to undertake self-study. Go to work, creating civil social situations and advancing the cause of civility in the communities in which you participate.
I recommend completing “Who Am I?” study posted above before undertaking the activities described below. As you know if you have already done so, the analysis gives you a rich and novel way to explore your personal civility identity. The study outlined here applies those understandings to how civility functions in the larger society. In other words, you are now coming to understand your civility identity; the activities described below develop your civility consciousness. The former is personal; the latter is societal.
My book, Creating A New Civility, especially its Introduction and Process #1, is the suggested text for this course.
2. The New You: Carrying Your Civility Identity into the Public Arena
Give yourself a substantial amount of time, say, a month or so, to notice identity- and civility-shaping moments that surround each of the ten identity markers as you move through your life. You are extending the “Who Am I?” analysis above.
Given your sense of [insert name of marker— I’ll use DNA-ascribed mind-body abilities as an example here], reflect on how they have shaped your identity. Work through these issues, considering how your civility identity has been shaped:
- gifts and challenges your [DNA ascribed mind-body abilities] present(ed) in making you who you are today;
- how caregivers and teachers, given their attitudes toward your [DNA-ascribed body-mind abilities], help(ed) or hinder(ed) your emerging sense of self
- how societal expectations regarding your [DNA-ascribed body-mind abilities] aid(ed) or abet(ted) your identity development; and
- how life circumstances surrounding your [DNA-ascribed body-mind abilities] affect(ed) your ability to love, grow, care and be kind, to empathize, to reach out to all those of humankind whose life path cross yours.
The activities below extend civility identity understanding. Trust me, after this intimate self-study, you will see yourself, including your effort to be civil, in a new way.
3. Witness
Notice “moments” of (in)civility,
- thinking through how identity markers impinge on behavior you witness,
- how the moment shapes the character of the actor(s),
- how the moment shapes and is shaped by the larger situation at hand.
4. Deconstruct
Carry out a similar witnessing on a behavior of your own or on one you happened to be part of. Deconstruct the experience by
- taking it apart,
- thinking how the moment was “built,”
- who “built” it,
- what was said and why
- the points of view of those involved,
- who or what forces held power and how it was used,
- and other so on.
5. Identify Civility Heroes and Champions
- explain what they do,
- how they behave and comport themselves, and
- what in their identity configuration qualifies them to be so designated,
- and in what ways they are heroic.
6. Reflect
- Consider what you are understanding about your own identity and fold that understanding into civility as a way of life.
- Consider how you are seeing civility unfold in society at large.
- Meditate on that understanding.
- Write about it in your journal, making journal entries at regular intervals so you can both advance and mark progress in your thinking.
- Talk over your insights with friends, family, and those in your Civility Circle or Study Group.
7. Think, think, think; write, write, write; talk, talk, talk; read, read, read; and act, act, act — to advance the cause of a new civility.
You are creating your civility identity! This process is how knowledge advances. Talk over your civility understandings with members of your study group or with trusted others. Through journaling, try to come to some consensus in understanding the relationship between identity as you have explored it in yourself and in society at large.
Continue study of the relationships between identity and civility as you see them played out in contemporary life. Think about how intersectionality is operating in your daily life. For example, focusing on race, figure out how it is affected by gender identity, religious and political beliefs, class, ethnicity, place, and education. Or think of how age is implicated in discussions of gender, class, DNA-ascribed abilities. What do such insights have to do with the way people of color and the aged are treated in society?
8. Try your best to live what we might call a substantive civility, one devoted to Full Humanity, Interdependence of All, and Common Good. Talk to others and encourage them to undertake self-study. Go to work, creating civil social situations and advancing the cause of civility in the communities in which you participate.