Language ?

If we are to engage people meaningfully we need to think about our use of words.

Years ago we lived in a society, now we live in an economy. Being referred to as a human resource diminishes us to “a being” with a necessary skill, to fill a gap in the “corporation of business”.

In the latest issue of Habitat the ACF publication, they have re-printed information from the Common Cause Foundation, who ran an experiment to show the power of a single word, and found it can reduce environmental behaviours.

Two groups were given an identical task, to fill out a survey. Half were provided with the heading “consumer reaction task” the other half were “citizen reaction task”

The consumers became more competitive and were less likely to engage in collective action like volunteering. They also were going to consume more water in a resource management game, and felt less personal responsibility for environmental problems.

Are you a valued person, a consumer, or a resource? If you want to be recognised for who you are and your uniqueness maybe we need to use language that reflects our appreciation of you.

Thanks for being a “unique” member of our CCS (Society!)

Whilst away recently I snapped this, hope you enjoy it.

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