Academic Congress Sept 2012

Psychology of discrimination Ambedkar memorial lecture 22nd april 2014

Exploring the psychology of the lesser privileged

Dr. Navin Kumar

Associate professor

Psychology

Bhim Rao Ambedkar college, Delhi University

E-mail- navinbrac@yahoo.co.in

Individual is genotype of social life and social field which acts upon him/her is phenotype.

Social conduct is a product of inter individual uniformities or dissimilarity which is algebra of individuals cognition and motivation.

Man as Rule-learning animal (Harre and peters) that leads to appropriateness of conduct to all social situations.

Equity theory of deprivation is concerned with individual’s relations with other individuals (berkowitz & walter 1976).

Rokeach (1966) theory of prejudice is based on inter-individual perceptions of belief similarity.

Bruner & Rodrigues (1953) described the notion of “Relative increase in over estimation” guided by interest.

Perception of accentuation in a perceived relationship is also an effect of inter-serial relationship.

Categorization is an important dimension of discrimination which is result of an interaction between information obtained from outside and its active internationalization by the person.

Attribution of differences is a fundamental feature of this internationalization.

Bruner (1957) described that most perceptual activities are perceived in terms of categories.

Why categorization? It helps us to perceive in simplicity and group differences of nationality, race, skin, color, height is transmuted to one.

The idea of notions about certain groups and autonomy of cognitive functioning in altitudes towards other groups is governed by learning of evaluations. (Preferences)

Man appears as exploring and rational animal from evolutionary point of view.

Discrimination or co-operative relations arise by the logic of the situations.

All port in his book prejudice describe five cognitive functions of stereotypes which is also a basis for discrimination

It forms large classes and clusters for guiding our daily adjustments

Categorization assimilates

Category enables us quickly to identify a defect or class of defects.

The category saturates all that it contains with same ideational and emotional flavor.

Categories may be or may not be rational.

Discrimination is also a result of certain generalizations reached by individuals.

Generalizations are both cognitive and social.

Cognitive is applied in process of categorization and social as it is shared by large scale social group or entities.

An interaction between contextual structuring and their role in the adaptation of individuals to social environments result in stereotypes and discrimination.

Discrimination is governed in terms of selecting, accentuating and interpreting the information in a biased or exaggerated manner.

Value differences play an important role in social categorization.

Extreme events or extreme individuals are more accessible to memory retrieval than are more average instances.

The concept of “illusory correlations” introduced by chapman (1967) is the process of report by observers of a correlation between two classes of events which in reality are-

a-     Not correlated     b- correlated to a lesser extent than reported.

Discrimination is not ‘out there’ rather it is constructed by in individuals by the social contexts in which they live.

Discrimination has cognitive (knowledge) evaluative (membership in a group may have positive or negative value connotations) and an emotional content (love/hatred, like/dislike).

The consensus about “who is who” is shared by many in a group socially categorized.

In the process of discrimination in-group and out-group social behavior is adopted.

Inter-personal is determined by personal relationships between the individuals on basis of individual characteristics and in case of inter-group behavior of two or more persons is determined by their membership of different social groups.

Discrimination may lead to social mobility for social movements which is aimed at promoting or resisting change in society at large.

Relative deprivation – (Gurr, 1970) in his book why men rebel defined relative deprivation as actor’s perception of discrepancy between their value expectations and value capabilities.

Value expectations are the goods and conditions they think they are capable of getting and keeping.

Deprivation is driven by social comparison and theory of reference groups.

Classic paper on aspiration level written by Chapman and Volkman (1939) ‘whatever change in aspiration level is induced by a change in the frame of reference may have enormous social consequences.

The new judgment may serve as catalyst for major social changes in which groups revise their ambitions and perhaps their status.

The failure of expectancies can have two possible dimensions personal & interpersonal.

The people may be deprived but not frustrated as it also depends on their realization of obtaining those hopes.

Donziger: the awareness of common group fate determined by race focused the school boy’s aspirations from individual goals of comparative success and towards the development of political ideologies expressed in terms of their group aspirations.

South Africa represents an extreme example of groups whose members are not able to move individually.

How discriminated groups construe their social outcomes-

Ego defensive perspective (Jost & Banaji, 1994)- Member of discriminated groups construe their social outcomes in ways that will enable them  to buffer their personal or social self-esteem from threat.

System justification perspective-

Discriminated people have tendency to perceive that status quo as just or legitimate and they start perceiving their social outcome in ways that justify and legitimize their disadvantaged position.

Social ideologies, attitudes, beliefs and values that are consensually held within society often help to sustain the perception of social system as just and fair.

Because of their impact on construal processes legitimacy appraisals are thought to influence affective reactions to disadvantage such as resentment, discontent and anger.

Discriminated group members may reflect a spectrum of bhehavior-

Inaction

Individual normative actions socially accepted behavior directed at improving personal status.

Individual non-normative action-such as criminal behavior

Collective non-normative actions.

      Behavioral framework may involve feelings of injustice, resignation, frustration, anger.

Gramsci’s (1947/71) central concept is hegemony: is a mix of co-ercive repression and control of ideological leadership and persuasion.

 Hence, consent the balance between them varying historically.

Consent is not automatic rather it is produced through a machinery of ideological domination.

The relationship between base and super structure (i.e. sates civil society) is subtle and complex.

The state apparatus (of govt. courts, police) and civil society (schools, media, church) together constitutes the mechanism of engineering consent through producing and transmitting ideas.

Like Machiavelli Marx & Gramsci Habermas assumes that a façade of legitimacy is a functional prerequisite of a state social order.

The contradiction between liberal ideology and monopoly capitalism causes a deficit in legitimacy.

Beliefs once externalized, because they are reality, and therefore in the nature of things are capable of justifying action in accord with belief (Spears etal).

Effects of reality considerations on the acceptance of stereotypes-

Stigma individuals can have their social identity, their humanity and their membership in the group questioned by others.

They can be devalued, have their social identity spoiled on be treated as if they were flawed (Jones Etal 1984).

Crockers Etal suggest “Stigma is a devaluing social identity (p-505) linked to the groups to which person belongs.

The author goes on to agree that people of higher status may stigmatize those of lower status to justify their advantage (p-509). 

Political sociologists and psychologists have long-argued that social ideologists attitudes, beliefs and values that held consensually within society often help to sustain the perception of social system as just and fair and justify the hierarchical and unequal relationships among groups in society.

The legitimizing ideologies tendency lead to members of disadvantaged groups to construe their social outcome in ways that justify and legitimize their disadvantaged portion; system legitimizing ideologies [such as the belief that status system is permeable] substantiate the inferiority of low status groups and superiority of high status groups.

System justification theories indicate the potential vulnerability of the self-esteem of members of socially deprived groups of social devaluations.

In a research Crocker etal (1993) found that overweight women who were rejected as dating attributed the rejection to their weight, but not the biases of male evaluations. The term “Queen Bee syndrome” was coined to describe the phenomenon that women who have been successful in male dominated environments are at times particularly likely to oppose women’s movement.

Tokenism, Ambiguity and the tolerance of injustice:

Tokenism is an intergroup context in which boundaries between the advantaged and disadvantaged are not entirely closed, but where there are severe restrictions on access to advantaged positions on the basis of group membership.

The social identity theory [Tajfel & Turner] presents boundary permeability – the perceived possibility of individual upward mobility as primary determinant of disadvantaged group behavior.

Lesser privileged group member’s discriminatory social structure is primarily dependent on perception, emotional reactions and their actions. This lesser privileged discriminatory social structure may lead to inaction, individual normative actions, individual non-normative actions such criminal behavior, collective normative & non-normative actions such as protests and strikes. The dynamics of everyday life activities result into long-term indicators of self-efficacy, happiness or complexity.

The distinction between lesser privileged and the privileged social groups needs to be understood in the micro-sociology of our living of everyday life as process reality rather than product reality. In education field technology and exposure play a vital role and the lesser privileged are left behind in the modern life clock due to lack of these factors. Categorization is an important feature of group process which is result of an interaction between the information obtained from outside and its active internal organization by human beings. Categorization helps us to perceive in terms of simplicity and group differences are transmuted to one and even new differences are created which does not exist at all.

Allporet described stereotypes in terms of selecting, accentuating and interpreting the information obtained from environment which increases the gap between lesser privileged and the privileged. It is an exaggerated belief associated with a category.

Impressions of group of people are also affected by the way in which data are organized in memory.

Illusory correlations are made about people on the basis of class affiliation which in reality are not correlated or are correlated to a lesser extent.

The consensus about who is who is shared by many by the group socially categorized. Social reality is not out there rather it is constructed by individuals through their inter-individual behavior which in turn becomes intergroup behavior.

Purely interpersonal behaviors are also affected by membership of social groups or categories.

Social mobility initiated through education and awareness consists of a subjective structuring of a social system in which permeability and flexibility assumptions and free movement of one group to another takes place.

Gurr in his book why Men rebel defined relative deprivation as the actor’s perception of discrepancy between their value expectations and value capabilities. Education can intensify the hopes change in the aspiration level and frame of reference in which lesser privileged can revise their ambitions and perhaps their status for equitable life.

Qualitative research methods of ethno methodology in which contribution of interaction and context both are important, discursive psychology- everyday conversations, interpretive repertoires descriptions, images and metaphors can become building blocks for creating positive social actions.

Knowledge of equitable social order can vastly improve the way we organize our experiential world. Jerome Bruner proposed folk-psychology every account of why people act as they do.

 Folk-beliefs are carried within the mind as narratives that are we understand others by thinking in narratives. Indeed the very shape of our lives the rough and perpetually changing draft of our autobiography that we carry in our minds is understandable to ourselves and to others only by virtue of [our] cultural system of interpretation. Thomas Kuhn [1962] historian of science rightly emphasized the difference what researchers are supposed to do and what they actually do our academics should allow more space for subjective interpretations.

Structural conditions for status beliefs

Since max Weber social theorists have observed that development of structural inequality between social groups is a precondition for the development of status beliefs about the groups. A structural inequality is an inequality in the distribution of a valued resource such as wealth, information technology that brings social power.

Status construction theory begins by assuming that a structural inequality has developed between the distribution of a valued resource and a cognitively recognized distinction among the population about which there is not yet any consensual evaluation.

Paternalistic prejudice reflects a desire to domesticate and exploit a low status group.

The most extreme expressions of paternalistic prejudice is slavery. This kind of prejudice is couched as benevolent by the dominant group and can be accompanied by affection and emotional closeness with low status group members (Jackman, 1994). Paternalistic affection nevertheless co exists with a lack of respect for the subordinate group, which is stereotyped as incompetent and discrimination (often disguised as benevolent concern) aimed at keeping the lower status group safely “in its place”. For example many affluent and higher caste children are raised by lower caste aayas whom they develop lose emotional and physical relation but strict role segregation maintain status differences. In the case of ‘benevolent sexism’ – a set of beliefs that are subjectively benevolent because they idealize women’s warmth, but sexist in that they cast women as subordinates in need of paternalistic protection is a cross cultural phenomena . Legitimizing the system is an ambivalent manner is crucial for maintenance of status discriminations.

This ambivalent attitude of hostile and benevolent sexism helps to maintain gender discrimination.

In an individual base social hierarchy individuals enjoy power, prestige and wealth by virtue of their own valued characteristics whereas in group based hierarchies individuals enjoy power prestige and privilege by virtues of their membership in ascribed social groups such as sex, age, race, caste, class and soon orientation.

Social dominance orientation (SDO) is an attempt at identifying the specific processes responsible for the creation, maintenance and recreation of group level social hierarchies and the manner in which these processes affect on another (sidanius and pratto 1999).

Social dominance theory suggests that legitimizing ideologies rationalize group  level social inequality (hierarchy enhancing legitimizing myths) and also serving to justify greater group based social equality (i.e. hierarchy attenuating legitimizing myths).

Finally SDO indicates the group based social hierarchies are produced and maintained social hierarchies are produced and maintained by various forms of behavioral asymmetry (i.e. by systematic behavioral differences between dominants and subordinates).

  

Recent studies also support the hypotheses that stereotypes of group warmth and competence are predictable from social structural relations between groups, with status determining ascriptions of warmth to groups. These trait attributions are particularly effective in legitimizing myths of difference between lesser privileged and the privileged. 

It becomes difficult for the lesser privileged to refute the taxonomy of prejudice existing in a given socio cultural context.

Social systems impose themselves through the medium of norms that that requires justification (Habermas).
The potential psychological conflict and challenges a professionally successful women have to face has been aptly described by Valian(1988p20)

A man’s success and Masculinity reinforce each other. If a woman is professionally, successful, she must see herself as having masculine traits- and thereby run the risk mof seeming unfeminine to her and others or as having compensated in some way through luck or extraordinary effort for a lack of masculine characteristics. Unlike a successful man, a woman has to loose something from success- her gender identity or belief in herself of the capabilities. Conversely failure and feminity reinforce each other-For men then, there is complete congruence between professional goals and the need to feel like like a good example of their gender; for women there is a potential conflict. The same applies to other disadvantaged groups..

Studies also demonstrate  that low status groups  members may opt  to misidentify with at least  certain attributes  that they agree   are the characteristic  of their own group and to perceive themselves  as more similar  to the  out group.

Under the umbrella of research of social identity, social dominance and system   justification perspective people acquire strong motives  to legitimize  the self. Legitimize the group and social system.

Naive realism and the search for social change and perceived legitimacy:-

The social cognitive approach to group conflict has assumed that both sides in social conflicts are equally prone to social misperception.

Asch (1952) and Ichheiser (1970) proposed that opposing partisans follow a straight inferential path to reach conclusions about their opponent’s attitudes and preferences, this process is referred to as “naive realism” [Robinson, Keltner, Ward, Ross 1995]

Theories of naive realism have three tenets. First, people assume that they see the world objectively, thereby underestimating the subjective forces that shape their own perception and judgment (Asch, 1952). Second people assume that others leave their judgments on this same “objective” reality a projective tendency known as the “false consensus effect” (Ross, Green and House 1977).Third, Partisans attribute the origins of judgments that deviate from their own, such as those of opposing groups, to ideological bias.

It is also a complexity of the social phenomena of the lesser privileged groups that so many deprived individuals do not protest their status. Behavioral manifestations of resentment are lacking at certain social arrangements which are highly unequal in terms of distribution of resources.

Perceptions of deservingness are central to the feeling of resentment. Self-blame or believing that one is responsible for causing one’s plight reduces feelings of entitlement and thereby reduces resentment about deprivation.

[Bernstein and Crosby, (1980) Bulman and Wartman, (1977)]

It is also the imagination, vision and the thinking of deprived individuals thinking of the ways that better outcome could have occurred, they are likely to feel resentful. It is also important to highlight the term motivation to believe that the world is a just and fair place, tendency for lesser privileged to have relatively little personal experience with discrimination and social undesirability of bing resentful add to the tolerance of injustice. 

Lerner (1970, 1977) proposed that people want to believe that the world is fair. In his just world theory, lerner suggested that we are all motivated to believe that the world is just, because believing otherwise would imply hat we might be treated unfairly ourselves. Lerner’s theory is best known for its application to few perceivers respond to the suffering of other people. Studies indicate that whwen compensation to victims character’s either blaming them for their suffering or concluding that they are bad people who deserve to suffer.

(Lerner 1980, Lerner and Miller 1978).

This belief in a just world also predicts the tolerance and it becomes an important determinant of low rates of protest and acceptance of low status quo.    

References:-

Asch, S.E (1952), Social psychology, New York. Prentice – hall.

Brewer, M.B and Kramer, R.M (1985) The psychology of intergroup attitudes and behavior, Annual review of psychology 36, 219-243.

Brofenbrenner, U (1961). The mirror image in soviet American relations journal of social issues, 17, 45-56.

Chance M, (1967), Attention structure as the basis of primate rank orders, man, 2, 503-518.

Crocker, J Major, B (1994) Reactions to stigma : The moderating role of justification In M.P. Zanna & J.M. olson (eds).

Gramsci, A (1971): Selections from the prison notebooks, London : Wishart.

Ichheiser, G (1970) Appearances and realities, San Francisco: Jossey – Bass.

Lerner, M.J (1970) : The desie for justice and reactions to victims. In J. Macaulay and L berkowitz (Eds). New York : Academic Press.

Lerner, M.J (1980) The belief in a just world: A fundamental delusion. New York plenum.

Keltner, D and & Robinson, R.J (1996) Extremism, power and the imagined basis of social conflict, current directions in psychological science, 5, 101-105.

Ross, L, Greene, D & House, P (1977). The false consensus effect : An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes journal of experimental social psychology, 13, 279- 301.

Sidanius, J and pratto, F (1999) Social dominance an inter group theor of social hierarchy and oppression, New York : Cambridge university press.

Tajfel H & turner, J.C (1986). The social identify theory of intergroup behavior. (pp-7-24) Chicago : Nelson Hall.   

Role of innovativeness and critical thinking in Individual and organizational Context

PAPER presented in Delhi Univ. Academic congress 6^th & 7^th aug 2012

I

nnovation is about weaving diverse knowledge sets to a successful configuration and turning resources to reduce the uncertainty.

            In our initiative to do better we may adopt incremental innovation or radical innovation. In order to maximize the benefit of innovation we must try to understand the architecture of innovation which is learning and configuring new knowledge system and unlearning an old and established one. Innovation is a core process concerned with renewing what the organization offers and the ways in which it generates and delivers these.

            At the basic level to the organization has to manage certain phases making up the innovation process.

They have to;  Search their environments (internal and external), need analysis at its stake – holders. Opportunities are arising and process signals about potential innovation strategically selecting from set of potential triggers a few things that organization is best resourced at doing. Implementing the innovation growing from a need and research analysis.

            Reflect upon the previous phases and review experience of success and failure. No organization is an island – the challenge of networking.

            Innovation involves trying to deal with an extended and rapidly advancing scientific frontier, political uncertainties, and regulatory instabilities and a set of competitors who are increasingly coming from unexpected directions.

            Roy Rothwell’s vision of “fifth generation” innovation is essentially the one on which we need to operate – with rich and diverse network linkages accelerated and enable by n intensive set of information and communication technologies.

            Innovation does not necessarily imply the commercialization of only a major advance in the technological state of the art but it includes also the utilization of even small – scale changes in technological knowhow – Roy Rothwell and Paul Gardiner (1985) ‘Invention, innovation, re – innovation and the role of user, Technovation, 3, 168.

            Innovation is the specific tool of entrepreneurs, the means by which they exploit change as on opportunity for a service. It is capable of being presented as disciplines, capable of being learned, capable of being practiced’ Peter Drucker (1985) Innovation on and entrepreneurship Harper & Row, New York.

Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have its not about money. It’s about the people you have, how you are led, and how much you get it (Steve Job, Interview with Forbe’s Magazine 1998).

            Innovation is increasingly about building teamwork and creative combination of different disciplines and perspectives.

            Organizations which manage to challenge the accepted rules of the game by creating and maintaining an innovation organizational context that enables innovation to flourish.

            Interesting misconceptions associated with innovation must be taken into account. Vacuous expression of mission and vision associated with top – management commitment is associated with successful innovation whereas real challenge of implementation and commitment by its stake – holders is not ascribed due importance. Innovation is inherently uncertain and inevitably involves failures as well as successes. As Robert cooper 2003 suggests, the inherent uncertainty in innovation should be reduced where possible through the use of information collection and research.

            We should not confuse leadership and commitment with always being the active change agent. In many case innovation happens in spite of senior management within an organization, and success emerges as a result of guerilla tactics rather than a frontal assault on the problem.

            Emerging literature on styles of creativity and management suggests that it is useful to keep preference distinct from capacity. Creativity is required in both the situation while doing things differently and doing things better. The traditional nation of leadership highlighting heroic attribute is being questioned nowadays where reciprocity of leader follower characteristics is also assigned due importance. It is not possible to find Gandhi and Vivekananda today but it is equally important to perceive the cardinal shift of traits among the citizen’s at large. Thus an organization in order to be innovative requires a leadership, management and its stake holders. High involvement in innovation and a road map for the Journey (HII):-

            Research on implementing HII suggest different stages of the Journey progressing of the journey progressing from the development of systems and capability to involve people and also progressing in terms of bottom live benefits.

Stages in the evolution of HII capability involves random problem solving to structured problem solving attempts and measurement of HII against strategic goals to proactive HII and sharing the learning as dominant habit pattern of an organization.

CREATIVE CLIMATE

Microsoft’s only factory asset is the human imagination. (Bill Gates)

Louis Pasteur observed “chance favors the prepared mind” and we can usefully deploy our understanding of the creative process to help set up the conditions within which such accidents can take place.

It is important to realize that every one of us possesses creativity but preferred style of expressing it is governed by a set of socio-cultural and organizational practices.

Some people are comfortable with challenging the status quo in which a system works, while others prefer smaller changes at individual level to improve their own working environment.

That is the reason many creative people like artists, painters, scientists have at times difficulty living under the domain of conventional acceptance behavior.

Organizational structures are the visible artifacts’ of what can be termed an innovative culture- one in which innovation can prosper. There is no single definition of culture but it broadly relates to the pattern of shared values, beliefs and agreed norms or in short collective programming of mind of the people in a given context. Changing the culture and reinforcing behavioral norms can’t happen as a result of few initiatives or mass training in a new technique of particular relevance in this area is the design of effective rewards systems. Rewarding text – book behavior or rewarding creative behavior and to encourage its emergence innovation and the idea of extending involvement goes far – beyond the stake – holders and building relationship  with extended cast of characters, including society at large. Post innovation auditing research suggests that learning new tricks is the ability to forget old ones and the difficult to teach is that old patterns are very deeply embedded.

            No longer is it necessary to have all the resources for innovation under one roof provided you know who the expert of a particular field is.

            It is clear not only in India but also in developed counties that scientist, academicians and researchers have become disposed towards the commercialization of research. The badly targeted and poorly monitored financial support provided by research institutions in India are mostly producing ‘entrepreneurial academics’ rather than ‘academic – entrepreneurs – scientists in the Public and Govt. sector who are not really committed to creating start – ups, but rather are seeking alternative support for their own research agendas and widening their own Bio – Data. This has resulted in commercially oriented or industry – funded research activity with little growth prospects, remaining in incubator for many years. This commercial exploitation of industry friendly research poses a real danger of lowering of our. Research standards and instead of pursuing the pursuit of knowledge we move a far from it. In most cases our research findings are defined imprecisely, targeting ambiguous objectives, prove impracticable and prescribe further research in the area.         

There is a need to connect our researches with the developmental problems of our day to day life and societal problems.

A key issue that requires urgent attention in our higher education research is to find connectivity with the real problems and find out mechanisms to solve them objectively and scientifically.  It is good to conduct research activities but finding the link with social economic problems like Naxalism, Casteism, Communalism, Corruption, white collar crime, and so on is equally important.

Lack of strict ethical guidelines has led to high levels of voluminous publications becoming prima-Dona of their respective disciplines and making a complete mess of their research findings.

Context independent innovation ideas and practices have no relevance as all knowledge of the world, according to post – metaphysical thinking is continued communicatively. That means the process of innovation acquisition is itself a communicative process that may develop in course of an exchange of reasons and evidence among speakers of knowledge claims and large social gamut of receivers of such claims. Our tendency to dividing the reality in terms of dependents and independents variable is problematic because it rejects subjectivity, agency and meaningful reflection. The colonization at our minds with power-point presentation finding causes of causes reduce is capability of being creative.

            Vygotsky (1981) and his followers have challenged mechanistic and individualistic concept of human mental life.

Thomas Kuhn (1962) historians of science emphasized the difference what researchers are supposed to do and what they actually do.

In our higher education system too much rigidity on methodology rather than on subject matter has led to an altitude called methodologism. It a methodology can prescribe what a researcher can study,   research is unnecessarily limited. Critical approach does not exclude subjectivity from our research (parker 2003) from post structuralism perspective innovativeness can’t be defined safely by science, but by the layers of history and future creations captured in wider sense of language, thought and experience.

Our innovative desires, acts and thoughts have extra-scientific dimensions.

In post structuralism the objectivity and purity is contrasted with values still at work that we can find innovativeness.

For example the language of science and forms used to justify it are analyzed for false presuppositions with respect to time, space and reality (Deleuze) with respect to narratives of progress (Lyotard) with respect to ethical or epistemological neutrality (Foucalt, Kristeva) or with respect to implied metaphysics (Derrida) Deleuze’s describing the concept of Difference and Repetition calls for going beyond, or transcending the boundaries of given faculties of thought.

            His theory also suggests that thinking must seek out ways to be jogged by radically different experiences.

            In the process of being innovative ours faculties should be resolutely interdisciplinary. We should not separate our theories of disciplines without prior practice. We should encourage experimenting with the new ideas and working in a different way.

            All forms of established common – sense and common - values be allowed to be criticized to given space to creativity.

            In the field of art and literature our thought should be given space to encounter contingent events; space away from accountancy and accountability.

            In the Discourse figure layout does not define the figural in abstraction from works. He described deconstruction power of a Picasso drawing as follows;

            We have illustration of (the transgression of a revealing trace) in this drawing by Picasso (Nude Study 1941) where the object of the deconstructions is the edge, the line that marks a single unifying and reifying point of view. The co – existence of many contours induces simultaneity of many points of view. (DF: 277)

            In his book Libidinal Economy (1974) Lyotard constructs metaphysics of intensities hidden within structures.

            In these changing be understood in Habermasian terms as a global phase of the “Colonization” of the communicatively mediated reproduction of the “Life world” by “Systemic” mechanisms of social co – ordination based on “Steering Media” in particular many and administrative power.

            It is all more necessary to forge a balance with these impersonal systemic forces to gain effectives else danger of losing our self – belief and innovative ability. A fundamental tension pattern is on the ascendant with the requirements of capitalist economy and lesser self – control of individuals in navigating their own and contemporary societies complexes.

            At times it is very difficult to avoid the dominant. The power to determine what is pathological contributes to a disciplinary regime (Foucault, 1980). Definitions of normality and optimal mental health serve as ideas of behavior. These authorized meanings of normal and abnormal constrain everyone being innovative.

Role of Leadership in Innovativeness and Concept of the Servant Leader:-

            We are not accustomed to thinking of leaders as servants. We had to emphasize position rather than responsibility. Socrates had identified the common element of service in all leadership by insisting the core responsibility of leaders is to meet human needs. Jesus clothed much the same message with his religions authority. By so doing, he altered for all time the moral climate of leadership. The deepest flow in leadership is usually arrogance. The root of arrogance is an inflated pride which makes a person in a position of leadership act in an excessively determined, overbearing or domineering way.

            The anidotes to the disease of arrogance in relation to leadership go back as far as Lao Tzu, a Chinese thinker in the fourth century BC and supremely to Jesus. In the concept of leadership advanced by both Lao Tzu and Jesus there is a marked absence of assertiveness, a lack of vanity or presumption and the feeling that a leader should see his or her part as something moderate or small in scale especially in comparison to the contribution of others.

            The Tao principal is what happens to itself. It is this quality of things spontaneously and in an unselfconscious way without regard to their effects upon other people’s perceptions of oneself, the links Lao Tzu with the treading of Jesus. There is a freedom from acting for show or indeed for outward things. This refusal to dominate or to Lord it over others again parallels the teaching of Jesus. Lao envisaged a leader who practices humility, being neither self assertive nor talking. The highest good is like that of water wrote Lao. The goodness of water is that it benefits ten thousand creatures, yet itself with the places that all men disdain on leadership for example, the following words of Lao Tzu have become justly famous:-  A leader is best when people are hardly aware of his existence not so good when people praise his government less good when people stand in fear worst, when people are contemptuous. Fail to honor people, and they will fail to honor you. But of a good leader, who speaks little when his task is accomplished his work done. The people say, we did it ourselves.     

Thus innovativeness implies a rejection of certain or predetermined way of science especially where it becomes either an arbiter of value (for example in terms of morality) or where it claims to be value free (for example interns of being able to give value-neutral determinations of human and animal essence or life).

The real art of innovativeness lies in appreciation of diversity of value.

A scholarly French tradition of academic exercise called “explication de texte” in which focus is on interpretation, situation and illuminating description, rather than on critique, classification or judgment.

The failure of the space of language sharing reduces the emotional bonding in our class-room situations and it leads to a practice of revolving around fixed meanings of the texts. Innovative expression depends on events that trigger the creative process. Innovativeness lies in involvement in wider relations of transformation and overcoming. Sometimes our position, our power identity holds us not being natural and fixes the pattern we can move in. Famous quote of Michel Foucalt’s “Do not ask me to remain the same leave to the bureaucrats and our police to see that our papers are in order (The archaeology of knowledge 1969; 19).

In the landmark essay “what is universal pragmatics” Habermas(1971) distinguishes between language(Sparche) and speech(Rede).Whereas linguistic competence refers to the ability to produce syntactically well-formed sentences, communicative competence refers to our ability to produce context-appropriate utterances.

The role of communication is not merely transmitting information rather it should also involve establishing relationship.

The process of modernization continues in the form of what Ulrich Beck (1992) and others have termed “individualization’’.

The demand for being more innovative has also become important with the expansion of choices of occupation, marriage partners, religion, life styles and so on and contemporary individuals have to be more cautious in making rights decisions. It is becoming increasingly complex to strike a balance between individual developments (“Ontogeny”) and social evolution (“Phylogeny”).

Indian mythological perspective

If we incorporate Indian perspective of Jainism it mentions if we judge things from standpoint we are going to miss plurality of truth. According to Buddhism the world would be better for the triumph of natural law over supernaturalism. It also describes causes and effects are earlier and later stages of a continuous process. According to Bhagvad Gita three methods Karma Marg, Bhakti Margand Jnana Marg is pathways that will lead to same goal for access to the divine.

Even in organizational contexts conditions of co-reflections, polytonality or expanding interpretations opens multiple paths of innovativeness.

Educational organizations should be the fields of conversations among members to co-construct meaning.

Decisions not created by participants remain alien and people support more what they themselves create. Sources of leadership lies not in individuals but in collaborative relations

We should adopt an attitude that encourages curiosity and optimism. We should tend to avoid stereotypes in our thinking and behavior.

According to Gandhi Ji it is possible for a teacher situated miles away to affect the spirit of his pupil by his way of living. A cowardly teacher cannot make his boys valiant.

            The most brilliant surgeon is not the best man to run a hospital nor do the bestselling authors best suited to run a publishing house. Researches in psychology indicate people are more likely to keep promises which they have made voluntarily. No single concept of innovativeness can be tried at different points of time and context. But this curiosity to participate in creative acts can lead to innovativeness. A major shift is required in the paradigm of pedagogy that promotes mediocrity. A leading school master of his time wrote we are they who make or mar all. They that are flowers of our nation, and those who becomes leaders of the rest are committed to our education and instruction. Many of the landmark discoveries and innovations have come from travelers account of their journey to different geographical space interacting the diverse set of people.   persons like Lord Buddha, Jesus Christ, Vivekananda, Columbus, Alexander the Great , Mother Teresa, Gandhiji, Fahiyan, Huentsang and many others traveled extensively in order to come out with their innovative best. Similarly in the recent times Ed-Deiner considered as father of happiness surveyed and travelled more than hundred countries to innovate the concept of Happiness index. To the surprise of many Bhutan is the happiest country in terms of happiness index not a developed country like U.S.A.

This presentation will not achieve its mission of expressing ideas related to innovativeness if it fails to connecect to the local reality happening in Delhi university of India where we are witnessing innovation initiatives like innovation projects, granting of permission to unmukt chand for appearing in examination, Launch of Gyanoday express,,Cluster innovation projetare some of the landmark initiatives. This is just the tip of the iceberg and a more committed effort at individual and collective levels is required to flourish ourselves in a culture of innovativeness and creativity and pave the way for bright future for the present and successive generations.

  

Social and Cultural Influences of Academic Success and Its Impact on Life Satisfaction; An Indian Context 3rd International Conference on Positivism 6th – 8th August 2012, Amity University Jaipur

This is an attempt to understand the dynamics of academic success and its impact on life satisfaction .From the very beginning stage our children are taught to compromise their natural instinct in order to meet the challenges of nursery admissions. The brilliant texture of inner self of a child is geared to fit into a social paradigm which rigidly controlled and regulated by institutional and strict social parameters of achieving perfection. This illusion of future success is so rigidly constructed around social and cultural foundations that outside agencies overpower the inside of a child. Personal desires emotions and interest of a child is held secondary and primary importance is assigned to achieve these outward standards.

The irony of this ongoing process demotivates the child using their own standpoints of innovativeness and become passive recipients’ of others motives may be parents, teachers or the significant others.

Satisfaction and motivation to achieve is perceived as need based   which is an aspect of life satisfaction not the complete aspect of the satisfaction process.

The satisfaction of physical self is   considered   more dynamic than hidden and active mental self. Our modern view of navigating real life events predominantly works on mechanical principle of engineering success ignoring the fundamental nature/ prakriti of aperson. The dominance of physical science has accustomed us to an attitude of measuring satisfaction in quantitative terms. -The power of idea being is becoming replaced by idea force which fixes conditions for success and delving to search satisfaction.

Three qualities of human nature as perceived in Bhagvad Gita are Tamas- as natures power of nescience ‘Rajas-as her power of active seeking ignorance enlightened by desire and impulsion, Sattwa- as her power of possessing and harmonizing knowledge.

Whatever action is mechanical predominantly by Tamas but action of life within is governed by Rajas that leads to further action and desire and finally actions of intelligence, reason and rational will are initiated through Sattwa an effort of assimilation and harmony of conflicting happenings and experiences.

The attainment of life satisfaction depends more on assimilation, equilibrium which provides more happiness; ease and unity that is the goal of positive psychology.

Values should guide the enhancement of human well-being (Prilleltensyky 1997)

Academic success based on marks or grades contract the possibilities of people to expand their horizons of growth and our pedagogical techniques do not appreciation of diversity of skills instead reinforces the ideology of rote learning .Memory is hyped as a glory and granted property of one’s merit which should be treated as simply data of some ongoing social action. Teachers once appointed do not bother to continually improve their learning and focus more on syllabi completion job not on meaningfully engaging their students in creative activities .Root of arrogance lies in inflated pride .Modern class-rooms with all latest gadgets like computers and laser discs provide infrastructural inputs but lack of face to face involvement between teacher and the taught fails to generate mutual interaction. It is no wonder that students not involved in the class room engage themselves in frequent messaging during class time. The concept of GURU advanced in ancient Indian wisdom had marked absence of assertiveness. A good teacher speaks less and when a task is done students say   we did it ourselves .NO single teacher knows all the answers but a good teacher tend to show empathy the capacity for participating in another’s feelings and ideas.  Life satisfaction is not a onetime objective or an all or none event instead it is a gradual process. TV, internet, mobile phones have colonized our creative leisure time and we hardly get time to share our feelings with friends and parents. In order to understand the life satisfaction we must explore the emotional land escape and also try to know the ontological concerns-the study of fundamental characters of reality. Describing academic success in terms of simple cause and effect relationship creates inferiority complexes in the minds of young children. WE have a strong generalizing attitude of classifying merit simply on the basis of qualifying a competitive examination like it, as, pmt ignoring the process merit of large number of examination unsuccessful people.

Psychologist Vygotsky (1978) and his followers have challenged mechanistic and individualistic concept of human mental life. His theory is known as Zone of proximal development-based on the idea that testing an individual in isolation is limited and it is more important to find out how an individual behaves in collaboration with peers and others. Even in course of  decision about careers  students have to undergo a conflict of deciding career according to parents choice and bearing the burden of  blame in case of not being so successful on a path imposed by others. Social constructionist thinkers have provided conceptualizations of an individual that are not independent of his/her context but embedded in society and community (Gergen 1985). These social generalizations based career choice prescriptions are based on strong prejudices and stereotypes that may not suitable for each distinguished child bestowed with unique resources. It becomes culturally and socially to pursue a career choice other than one visualized by parents and significant others. That is the reason we find successive generations of people moving in the comfort zone of   their parental profession. But it is a tendency that only political class is singled out for pursing parental profession. Most surprisingly the field of creative arts  like Bollywood is strongly dominated by this trend This tendency gives rise to stereotypical progress of career choices and inhibits the growth of entrepreneurial  and uniquely diverse career choices .cricket is like a religion in our country but  majority of the parents will not want their children pursuing  cricket as  career  .Other paradoxes of  gender discrimination is also a major deterrent in the path of academics and life satisfaction relationship. That is the reason that female students are considered to be more suitable for teaching and other so called soft professions.

Wilhelm Dilthey (1976) divided the scientists into natural and human sciences .Natural kinds are physical, chemical and biological objects. Constructed concepts cannot become natural objects because they have empirical support. Thomas Kuhn (1962) historians of science have emphasized the difference what researchers are supposed to do and what they actually do. Similarly getting a degree is not the sufficient enough reason to be successful navigators of real life experiences. The major focus on methodology rather than on subject matter has led to an epistemological attitude called methodologism. If a methodology can prescribe what researcher can study, research is unnecessary limited. For e.g. best Thermometer in the world is worthless for measuring speed. Element of criticality should not exclude subjectivity from our research (parker2003).

Hermeneutic approaches emphasize the intentional, dialogical and active side of the person. We commit epistemological violence while generalizing the complete ability of aperson on a single parameter of getting a good job, good salary, good course or good institution ignoring the alternative interpretations. Lack of analysis of alternative interpretations often leads to negative generalizations. For e.g. feminist researchers have identified the ideology of mainstream scientific methodology as male biased. In her classic studies, Keller(1985) explored the association between objectivity and masculinity and defended the thesis that scientific research was based on masculine discourses, ideals metaphors and practices .She argued that the emphasis on power and control ,widespread in the rhetoric of sciences history, represented the projection of a male consciousness  of science .The language of science  expressed a preoccupation with dominance and an adversarial relationship to nature .She pointed out  that science divided reality into two parts the knower and the known with an autonomous knower in control distanced and separated from the known obviously, qualitative methods are preferred within such a framework.

Postmodernist thinker Richel Foucault (2006) introduced critical discourse analysis that focuses on analysis of written or spoken language, understands language as a social practice that is infused with biases. This method operates based on the idea that language is often embedded in ideological oppressive and exploitative practices. Martin – Baro (1994) approach provided that knowledge must be generated by learning from the oppressed, research should look at psychological processes from the perspective of the dominated educational should learn from the perspective of illiterate, industrial should begin with the perspective of unemployed, clinical should be guided by the perspective of marginalized.

Marx’s famous notation of the primary of praxis over theory intellectual reflection should not ne about interpreting the world so much as changing it.

Simply arm-chair theorizing can’t be the solution to the problems we are faced with participatory action research where problems demand their own theorization is necessary.

The power to determine what is normal and what is pathological contributes to a disciplinary regime [focualt, 1980]. Definition of normality and optimal mental health serve as ideas of behavior. There authorized meanings of normal and abnormal constrain everyone.

Assertion of what is normal and what is abnormal is not matter of science, but judgment based on social cultural and ethical standards. For e. g. Hearing dead people speak and speaking to them is not acause of alarm in Indian culture but in western culture it may be taken as evidence of hallucination.Bereaved individuals in a country like India where custom of mourning runs into years may be diagnosed as depressed by an unknowing American clinician.

Zimbardo’s prison simulations have demonstrated that “well-behaved people can be led by situational influences to torment others’’ (Berkowitz 1999).

Academic success should not be viewed that outcome is simply the product of two independent factors-person & situation instead more dynamic and emergent view of both persons and situation are transformed through their interplay.

Our academic system is more dialogue and theory based and even researches lack strong linkages to practice. Researches in Indian context being theory – informed research have resulted into unfounded optimism ignoring the larger reality of problems in various walks.

Increasing consumerism, sexism, classism by a small group of persons, corporations representing their interests dominate social academic and economic life under the banner of free- trade and democracy. Theorizations of faulty nature are propagated by corporate controlled media keeping ordinary citizens uninformed about sufferings of poverty, hunger and ill health by producing entertainment and shifting attention from real issues.

Insights and reflections are avoided and the lack of intense fullness of engagement and relationship is also closely guarded.

Academic and life satisfaction can also be judged with the institution of marriage that has been burdened by exaggerated visions of romantic fulfillment and self enhancement .The unrealistic expectations placed on marriage contribute to the tension and violence in Indian marriages including wife-beating and child abuse. Academics should not focus on merely guaranteeing a job it should also aim at empowerments of its citizens. Motivation to achieve should not be only need based it should also aim at rendering a vision and a world view.

The Grameen bank in Bangladesh is one such example how academics can help reduce poverty. Jodo Gyan initiatives, water inspectors appointed in schools of Rajasthan are some of the better examples of academic – life satisfaction synthesis.

That which knows is essence action and withdrawal from action, what ought not to be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation, that understanding, o Parha is Sattwic.

Eighteenth chapter “30” Bhagvad Gita.

A wholistic and all inclusive approach is required not an elitist or exclusive approach to strengthen the effective interlinkage between academic success and life satisfaction.