OUGD401- Context of Practice- Politics, Society, Culture, History

 In the lesson we got into pairs and had to make a list of 20 things that came to mind in regards to the words:

• Politics
• Society
• Culture
• History

Some of the words we came up with were:

Politics

• riots
• lies
• news
• unfulfilled promises
• stress
• men
• government
• law 
• society

Society 

• chavs
• alienation
• drinking
• classes
• mess
• culture
• people
• race
• shops
• struggle
• money
• tax
• government
• law police
• dole

Culture

• holiday
• food
• language
• clothes
• fashion
• aeroplane
• destination
• design
• documentation
• tropical
• pop
• religion
• expensive

History

• museum
• nazi
• books
• technology
• lectures
• progress
• architecture
• human evolution
• culture
• war
• wikipedia
• social status
• people
• global

Next we had to make two lists, one positive and one negative for each category.

Negative words:

• Politics:- stress , riots, decisions , budget & law

• Society:- Chavs , drinking , mess , alienation , drinking , money dole , mess & classes

• Culture:- colour , documentation , religion & expensive

• History:- Nazis , war , social status & people

Finally we had to write positive things for each categories, fold the paper in half and swap with our partner. We had to do the same but write negative words for each category without knowing what our partner had wrote.

I found it hard to write positive things for some of the categories, such as politics, because I knew little about them apart from what I have seen on the news which is not always positive. 

Our study is split into three sections in relation to the following contexts:

"We propose a reversal of priorities in favour of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication – a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design." 

(First Things First Manifesto 2000)

For the task we have been asked to write 4 short positive statements that summarise my individual positioning / opinions in relation to the following contexts:

Politics

My understanding of politics is a group of people (the government) that make decisions that maintain and develop the country. Political scientist Harold Lasswell defined politics as "who gets what, when, and how". To me this refers to the decisions that are made to benifit the country as a whole, such as the economy and public affairs. Having this system in place is essential for the country to continue and progress.

Society

Society is a varied collection of individuals, characterised by the relationships among its constituent members. For example, the resources available to us in everday life such as health care, the police force, tradesmen, education etc. Everyone in society has an individual input in some way or form to benefit their own lives, as well as contributing to the progression of a society as a whole. Although a society is a collection of individuals, acceptance and respect towards one another is needed to evolve the infrastructure.

Culture

Culture can be seen to have two meanings. One meaning is the human capacity to represent experiences. The second is the distinct ways that people from different parts of the world classified and represented their experiences. These experiences tend to be past down through generations through the relationships between people. For example, family, traditions, religion etc. England is now home to a variety of cultures that have integrated breaking down stigmas, learning from one another and even enriching views on the individuals within the different cultures. 

History

Our world wouldn't be the way it is if it wasn't for the events that took place in the past. It has influenced the way modern society works by providing information about past events that we can learn from to improve the world we live in. For example, the need to progress, particularly in technology which has advanced substantially in the last 50 years alone. The progression in the medical field and the general standard of the treatment of people.