Chilly climates
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 29-10-17 12:45
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- Chilly climates
- Communities have climates
- Changing background environmental conditions
- Generated by constant series of small and subtle actions
- Individually negligible
- Collectively powerful
- Generated by constant series of small and subtle actions
- Changing background environmental conditions
- Social climates are experienced differently by members of different social groups
- Chilly climates are generated by:
- Constant, subtle behaviours that are individually incidental, but collectively destructive
- Chilling behaviours are different from explicit, 'in your face' forms of discriminative behaviour
- They are subtle (usually), unconscious and (usually) unintended
- Chilly climates are generated by:
- Important features of chilly climates and behaviour:
- They are hard to describe, explain, or 'put your finger on'
- They are easy for others to ignore, dismiss, or 'pass off'
- It's easy for people to think they're not guilty of acting in 'chilling' ways
- Something we're prone to resist or deny
- People likely to belong to a socially privileged group
- People who are not aware of chilly climates
- only tend to notice uncomfortable social climates
- No reason to deny or doubt their existence
- There is a vast amount of testimonial and experimental evidence
- No reason to deny or doubt their existence
- Some people are critical/sceptical of idea of chilly climates:
- "I don't get any of this 'chilly climate' stuff at all, I've never felt like that in a seminar room..."
- "I'm sure I don't act in 'chilling ways..."
- "What matters is that the points are made, not who makes them...."
- "But there's nothing to stop anyone from talking..."
- "if someone wants to chip into a discussion, they will..."
- Much of this is due to naivete or ignorance, but might also be due to pride or conservatism (resistance to change)
- What do we do about chilly climates?
- If you're experiencing chilly climates:
- Be aware of negative effects (e.g. anxiety) may be due to chilling effects of climate than to any inadequacies on your part
- If appropriate, talk to tutors/seminar leaders/etc. about chilly climates
- It's their job to 'warm them up'
- If you're contributing to chilly climates:
- Attend to your conduct and that of others
- Be aware of your actions and their effects on others
- Actively look for chilling behaviours and listen to others' reports about them
- Actively seek and take seriously constructive criticism of your conduct and then change it accordingly
- Attend to your conduct and that of others
- If you're experiencing chilly climates:
- All of these are hard and take constant practice and require (some of) you to challenge your egos and the privileges you take for granted so easily you're not even aware of them
- Communities have climates
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