1.1 Perspective

IB Knowledge Statements

1.1.1 A perspective is how a particular situation is viewed and understood by an individual. It is based on a mix of personal and collective assumptions, values and beliefs.

1.1.2. Perspectives are informed and justified by sociocultural norms, scientific understandings, laws, religion, economic conditions, local and global events, and lived experience, among other factors.

1.1.3 Values are qualities or principles that people feel have worth and importance in life.

1.1.4 The values that underpin our perspectives can be seen in our communication and actions with the wider community. The values held by organisations can be seen through advertisements, media, policies and actions.

1.1.5 Values surveys can be used to investigate the perspectives shown by a particular social group towards environmental issues.

1.1.6 Worldviews are the lenses shared by groups of people through which they perceive, make sense of and act within their environment. They shape people’s values and perspectives through culture, philosophy, ideology, religion and politics.

1.1.7 An environmental value system is a model that shows the inputs affecting our perspectives and the outputs resulting from our perspectives.

1.1.8 Environmental perspectives (worldviews) can be classified into the broad categories of technocentric, anthropocentric and ecocentric.

1.1.9 Perspectives and the beliefs that underpin them change over time in all societies. They can be influenced by government or non-governmental organization (NGO) campaigns or through social and demographic change.

1.1.10 The development of the environmental movement has been influenced by individuals, literature, the media, major environmental disasters, international agreements, new technologies and scientific discoveries.

This section focuses on:

Defining perspective and values using examples
Describing and identifying EVS using surveys
Describing the development of environmental movement

Part 1: Perspectives and Values

Stimulator

How does this picture make you feel or think of?

An external stimulus affect someone's value and later their perspective. How do you differentiate values and perspectives?

What value do you think this company hold?

Outline how this photograph affected us

An advertisement from an organisation usually aims to demonstrate the value(s) of the company. These days, most companies are trying to demonstrate their responsibility towards the environment as more and more individuals and populations are more aware of the importance of living sustainably.
In development of the awareness bloomed significantly when the Apollo 11 of NASA released a photo of the Earth taken from the moon.
The lead to increased awareness of the importance living as a unit and to take care of the Earth.
Later, we learnt that values and a person holds or believes define how a they sort their priorities and hence, their perspective

Activity 1 Understanding/justifying Perspectives

Form a group of 3 – 4 students

Each one should share…

1.Comment on the given stimulus (could be how you feel, how you see it etc.)

2.Justify your comment by relating it to yourself / your life

As you listen to your peers…

1.Identify your peers’ value(s)

2.State the reason of their perspectives

3.Outline the impact of their values on their action/statements

Using the images and the video above, answer the following questions:

Define perspectives
State the factors that influence perspectives
Distinguish perspectives and values
State the aspects that a value can be observed in an individual
Distinguish worldview and perspective

Worldview VS Perspectives

Worldviews are the lenses shared by groups of people through which they perceive, make sense of, and act within, their environment.
This contrasts with perspectives, which is how a particular situation is viewed and understood by an individual.
In the past, perspectives would have been influenced by a worldview that was established within a local community or context.
With the development of the internet and social media, a person’s perspective can be influenced by a far greater variety of worldviews than just those of the local community.
Consequently, models that attempt to classify perspectives, though helpful, are invariably inaccurate as individuals often have a complex mix of positions.
Different types of society have different worldviews

Part 2: Environmental Value System (EVS)

An EVS...

is a worldview or paradigm
shapes the way an individual (or a community or an organisation) perceives and evaluates environmental issues
is influenced by cultural, religious, economic and socio-political contexts

Identify inputs and outputs of EVS. Use the image carousel below to check your answer