Robyn Penman

Making Better Social Worlds Robyn Penman

Do you despair about the divisiveness, the hatred, and the lack of compassion in our social world? Are you looking for a better way to manage the complexities and demands of 21st century social life? Well, this book offers just such a way.

Following the adage of Einstein, that you cannot solve problems with the mindset that created it, you are introduced to a new way of thinking and acting that opens up possibilities for a more hopeful future than the one we currently face. The new mindset presumes that we create our social worlds in communication, that our relationships with people matter deeply to the quality of our lives and that living with difference enriches us.

The authors draw on the Theory of the Co-ordinated Management of Meaning for inspiration, making dense concepts and technical language more accessible so that you can use the theory. You are introduced to such notions as relational beings, self-reflexivity and storied worlds, along with what it can mean to engage in joint action, dialogue and cosmopolitan communication. By drawing on these ideas and implementing them in our everyday interpersonal communication, the authors show how changing our communication practices can bring about social and cultural change.