Indifference to Activism

By Jody Lightfoot

Last year I was fortunate enough to meet with about twenty leading campaigning organisations in the United States as part of The Oaktree Foundation’s Social Change Study Tour. One of the questions I explored was “how does a person transition from being indifferent towards social justice, to a committed activist?”. I’d like to share a few insights I learned through these meetings and relate it back to how this information can be used in a practical way to help us engage our friends and communities.

Education, relationship, ownership, responsibility

Insight – Two foundational themes that worked consistently were focused around creating an environment of increased education and a community of personal relationships in order to attract and then sustain volunteers. But organisations that seemed to have the greatest success in large grass root mobilisations were organisations that focused on providing increased pathways of responsibility and ownership to volunteers in a context of an overarching vision under provision of accountability. One example is ‘350.org’, who offered a high degree of responsibility and ownership by asking volunteers to organise a creative event in their community as part of the International Day of Climate Action which saw 5,200 separate demonstrations over 181 countries.

Perceived cultural expectations vs personal values

A group I found compelling was an organisation that focused on behavioural science called the Analyst Institute. We discussed the idea that people will often make decisions based on how they think a person of their social context should act instead of making decisions based on their own personal values. It was fascinating to think that the power of cultural expectations and the natural human desire for people to fit in can override our ability to make decisions that stem from our personal values.

Studies from the Analyst Institute demonstrate that showing your target audience that other people ‘like them’ are taking action will significantly increase the chances of your target taking action. Therefore people are less likely to take an action if they believe that no one is doing it because this would frame them as a minority. People are more likely to take action if they believe it is already being supported by a lot of people and if they believe people in their specific social group are taking similar actions.

Practical application

• You are in a position to be incredibly effective in educating your friends, family and close circles of influence about the issue of extreme poverty. This foundation of education is important and you can be far more effective than a stranger, website, email or video. Include the issue of extreme poverty in everyday conversations wherever you go and let people know about the amazing things you are doing.
• Bring your friends to attend events or parties that will introduce them to a community engaged in issues of social justice. This will give them the opportunity to develop a range of personal relationships which will be a strong motivator for them to come back.
• Select a friend and personally invite them to be part of an upcoming opportunity where they can utilise their existing talents and passions. A situation that offer a good degree of responsibility and ownership because if they do something meaningful that they enjoy, they will feel they contributed to something worthwhile and will be far more likely to continue to be involved in the future.
• The insights from the Analyst Institude demonstrate that you are probably the biggest chance your friends have of getting active in social justice issues. The personal connection that you can provide is often far more compelling than a person getting involved just to ‘do a good deed’. You can demonstrate to them that they are the kind of person that would take action by showing them people like them (being you) are already taking action, making it socially encouraging for them to get involved.

How many friends can you get involved in Oaktree before the end of the year?