{"id":53,"date":"2016-09-26T16:22:58","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T16:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourstoryhub.org\/?page_id=53"},"modified":"2022-10-22T14:19:21","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T14:19:21","slug":"narrative-a-powerful-tool-for-social-change","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/home\/about\/narrative-a-powerful-tool-for-social-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Narrative &#8211; a powerful tool for social change"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Narrative \u2013 a powerful tool for social change.<\/strong><\/h1>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe src=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/presentation\/d\/1lnvfX7YDa3ox0T-8OjpomuCvv14R7egn53E1r0KhL8c\/embed?start=false&amp;loop=false&amp;delayms=30000\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" width=\"480\" height=\"389\" frameborder=\"0\" align=\"middle\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<pre style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>To access the Speaker notes:<\/strong> on the Google Slides control panel <\/em>\n<em>select the options button (gear icon), then open speaker notes.<\/em><\/pre>\n<blockquote>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>\u2026 public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment \u2026 makes statutes and decisions possible or impossible. \u2014<\/em><em>Abraham Lincoln<\/em><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #dd2330;\"><strong>Narrative \u2013<\/strong><\/span> a powerful tool for social change. At Our Story, we define narrative as a <em><strong>values<\/strong><\/em> based <em><strong>story<\/strong><\/em> about our <em><strong>core beliefs<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Powerful narratives, used over and over again over time, can change how people view the world and shape cultural common sense. Values and story are essential elements of narratives that move people.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #dd2330;\"><strong>Core beliefs \u2013<\/strong><\/span> narrative and the 3rd face of power. We think of politics as what happens in elections, in legislative bodies and in our courts \u2013 that\u2019s the 1st face of power. We see how entities \u2013 organizations, corporations, labor unions, political parties and more \u2013 work to shape politics \u2013 that\u2019s the 2nd face of power.<\/p>\n<p>But, as President Lincoln said, how people understand their relationship to the world around them, how they understand society, the economy, the role of government \u2013 is the dominant 3rd face of power. The prevailing worldview is the environment that defines what political change is possible.<\/p>\n<p>Effective narratives, used smartly over and over again over time, can change worldview. And changing worldview is a powerful lever to make major change.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You can read more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/grassrootspolicy.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/GPP_34FacesOfPower.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Three Faces of Power here<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #dd2330;\"><strong>Values \u2013<\/strong> <\/span>It has been said that \u201cmorality is the extraordinary human capacity that made civilization possible.\u201d Values \u2013 concepts that organize our morality \u2013 have tremendous emotional and explanatory value. And as Aristotle noted 2,000 years ago, emotion trumps reason in public persuasion. Powerful narratives spring from our values.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/series\/progressive-traditions\/view\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Progressive Traditions<\/a> series provides look at five powerful ideas in American history and thought.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #dd2330;\"><strong>Story \u2013<\/strong><\/span> We organize our world through stories and powerful narratives are based on stories. The epic stories \u2013 from the Iliad through Star Wars \u2013 are about how heroes vanquish villains to win their quest.<\/p>\n<p>Powerful narratives use these story elements to help us understand our world.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What do we seek \u2013 our quest.<\/li>\n<li>What is the problem \u2013 the villains and their threats.<\/li>\n<li>What is the solution \u2013 the heroes and their tools.<\/li>\n<li>Call to action \u2013 how the heroes vanquish the villain to win the quest.<\/li>\n<li>Washington States\u2019 <a href=\"http:\/\/heroesnarrative.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Heroes\u2019 Narrative<\/a> explains the basics of epic story telling narratives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #dd2330;\"><strong>Over and over again over time \u2013<\/strong><\/span> Repetition is key to persuasion. People are much more likely to believe something they hear repeatedly. In fact, repetition can actually build new neural pathways. Repetition creates a pattern, which creates the comfort of familiarity. For narratives to drive change, we must repeat our story \u2013 including similar language \u2013 over and over again over time.<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #dd2330;\"><strong>Who is your audience?<\/strong><\/span> \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/10-cautions-on-polling-.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">10 Things to Be Aware of in Using Polling to Guide Messages<\/a>. Polling and other public opinion research is often the go-to tool for guiding messages and communication in issue campaigns. But polls are often misused and the message advice from pollsters can easily do disservice to winning campaigns and to advancing progressive values and core beliefs. Here is advice on how to think about your audience and  big cautions you should be aware of in using polling to inform messages for issue campaigns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Narrative \u2013 a powerful tool for social change. To access the Speaker notes: on the Google Slides control panel select the options button (gear icon), then open speaker notes. \u2026 public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment \u2026 makes statutes and decisions possible or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":19,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-53","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3057,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/53\/revisions\/3057"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstoryhub.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}