When you were a child and someone asked you "what do you want to do when you grow up", did you ever answer: "I want to change the world"?
I have. And one thing you quickly learn about social change is that sometimes the biggest changes happen because of the actions of a small few...
Examples of single events which triggered big changes are numerous and often clichéd to mention. There was Rosa Parks, an African American woman, who refused to sit at the back of the bus. There were the 78'ers, a group of gays and lesbians in Sydney, who refused to be abused and humiliated by the police (and a whole society) any longer and marched down the street in 1978; the birth of Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras. There was Eddie Mabo who took Australian history to the High Court and won; recognising that Australia was stolen land and originally owned by Indigenous peoples with a 50,000 year history and culture - who never ceded their native title. And these are some of the overdue calls for just change.
What is often forgotten is the place of universities in social change. Few know that the first Mardi Gras was actually organised from Sydney University's own Mills Building (where I now have my sociology classes!). Or the fact that two of Australia's most influential (and completely opposite) political leaders - Gough Whitlam and Johnny Howard - went to Sydney. But one thing that is often not mentioned is the change that is taking place today in offices, libraries, classrooms and laboratories across campus. The changes brought about by research.
Research is any project undertaken to reveal new knowledge. Research can be scientific; such as, testing to find cures for illnesses or improve medical treatments. Research can be humanitarian or conservational; such as, finding more efficient and safer ways to build structures, purify water, make energy or farm better crops. Research can be social; such as, finding out the impacts of poverty, uncovering the incidence of domestic violence, learning about how people interact or discovering what artifacts can tell us about ancient civilisations.
All disciplines at university engage in research. Most of your lecturers and academics will be researchers when they are not in the classroom teaching. Academics are actively involved in finding out new information, investigating better ways of understanding phenomenon and indeed – making change.
Unfortunately overall, our universities have seen nothing but funding cuts in the last few years. These institutions which provide us with new knowledge have less funds in 2006 than they did in 1996. Perhaps politicians just don’t like to see their populations change, challenge or lead the charge for more knowledge? If knowledge = power, then keeping us in the dark = more power for them.
And it’s not surprising. Research can lead to radical change and dramatic social wake-up calls. In the late 1940s and early 50s, Dr Alfred Kinsey published his two reports on human sexual behaviour. Although the reports have since been criticised for their methodological faults (for example, 30% of his male sample had been prison inmates or prostitutes), they nonetheless changed the way people thought about sexuality. Kinsey found that about 37% of his male interviewees had had at least one homosexual experience and 46% of males reacted sexually to both sexes in the course of their adult lives. 26% of females had cheated on their husbands by the time they were 40 and 62% of females (92% of males) reported that they masturbated. (Apparently, the rest were lying – hehe ;-)). Infamously, Kinsey made the claim that 10% of the adult male population were exclusively homosexual for at least 3 years of their adult lives (this figure apparently becomes 9.9% if you remove the prison inmates from the sample!).
Now, let’s consider the era that this report was published in! This was a time when homosexuality was criminalised in most countries, including the United States where the research was conducted. 37% of the American male population were effectively criminals! (In fact, sexual conduct between males in NSW carried a penalty higher than sexual assault until 1984, and even today, homosexuality is criminalised in almost 100 countries – 7 of which proscribe the death penalty). Understandably, these research reports caused an absolute controversy and furor.
Now forward-track fifty years to 1998 and the launch of an incredible Australian study done by researchers at a university in Melbourne. The Writing Themselves In report surveyed over 700 same-sex attracted young people between the ages of 14 and 21. The results of the report were startling: 13% of same-sex attracted young people had been physically abused because of their sexuality or perceived sexuality and 74% of those abused, were abused at school. Same-sex attracted youth were also more likely than their heterosexual peers to feel depressed, attempt suicide and use drugs. 80% stated that they did not find any of the safe sex information taught at their school useful for their same-sex attracted sexual lives. The study was so influential in government policy making, that a second report was done in 2004: Writing Themselves In Again. In this second study, which had a huge sample of 1,749 valid responses, more same-sex attracted young people reported to feel better about their sexuality. However, feelings of safety at school had not improved, despite 6 years since the first report. School is still the unsafest place for same-sex attracted young people in Australia today. Now that is food for thought.
It took research to uncover this fact. Research that can now be taken to politicians, teachers, policy makers and parents and make them accountable for the safety of all young people in our nation's schools. Research that undoubtedly created the impetus for the development of anti-homophobia curriculum. More needs to be done, but it was research that started the ball rolling.
These are just two studies which demonstrate the power of research for making social change. In my next posting, I will tell you about my own honours research that I can only hope will add to the ripples in this incredible ocean of change led by researchers in our universities. No wonder the pollies are scared!