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From apathy to action: Promoting active citizenship and global responsibility in global north populations Wilson, E 2010, 'From apathy to action: Promoting active citizenship and global responsibility in global north populations', Global Society, vol. 24, no. 2, pp. 273-294. Document type: Journal Article Collection: Journal Articles Title From apathy to action: Promoting active citizenship and global responsibility in global north populations Author(s) Wilson, E Year 2010 Journal name Global Society Volume number 24 Issue number 2 Start page 273 End page 294 Total pages 22 Publisher Routledge Abstract Efforts to address social and global problems such as poverty, mass hunger and massatrocity crimes are hindered significantly by apathy and low levels of active civil and political engagement amongst populations in developed countries. Social change nongovernment organisations (NGOs), such as Oxfam Australia, Oxfam Hong Kong and Médecins Sans Frontières, have recently employed innovative, creative, experiencebased strategies in their efforts to promote active citizenship and greater global responsibility amongst populations in the Global North. These techniques are based on two key assumptions: that experiences change attitudes and that changes in behaviour will follow changes in attitudes. Yet the effectiveness of these newer techniques and the accuracy of the assumptions on which they are based remain largely untested. This article explores these assumptions and discusses the innovative, creative techniques that they have generated in NGO public education efforts. The article examines the theoretical literature on the problem of apathy and on the use of creative techniques to overcome apathy. It further discusses the practical application of these techniques through an examination of Oxfam Australia's "Refugee Realities" project. This discussion is based on preliminary evaluation research conducted by Oxfam Australia and the author's own experiences as an actor/volunteer on the project. The article suggests that creative, experience-based public education strategies are effective in challenging and confronting public attitudes towards issues of global injustice. Further research is needed, however, to determine whether these encounters result in long-term changes in attitudes and whether they contribute to moving individuals and communities from apathy to action. Subject Social Change Keyword(s) citizenship crime nongovernmental organization poverty public attitude social problem DOI - identifier 10.1080/13600821003626609 Copyright notice © 2010 University of Kent ISSN 1360-0826 Related Links Link Description http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13600821003626609 Link to Published Version   Versions Version Filter Type Fri, 07 Jan 2011, 12:40:35 EST Wed, 18 Jun 2014, 00:31:51 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in Thomson Reuters Web of Science Article Cited 2 times in Scopus Article | Citations Altmetric details: Access Statistics: 256 Abstract Views  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Fri, 07 Jan 2011, 09:11:00 EST by Catalyst Administrator