Critical Information Literacy and

Political Agency

Lauren Smith

PhD Researcher

The University of Strathclyde

lauren.n.smith@strath.ac.uk

Introduction

• Background • Research Approach ▫ Critical pedagogical theory ▫ Phenomenography

• Research Questions • Methods ▫ Questionnaires ▫ Repertory grid interviews ▫ Focus groups

• Findings • Conclusions

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background

• Decline in political participation

• Political disengagement of young people

• Disempowerment of citizens

• Assumptions about young people’s information use knowledge and lack of critical thinking

• Criticism of approaches to information literacy that do not fulfil purported aims of democracy and social justice in LIS

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“Critical pedagogy currently offers the best, perhaps the only, chance for young people to develop the knowledge, skills, and sense of

responsibility needed for them to participate in and exercise the leadership necessary for them

to govern the prevailing social order.”

Giroux 2012, pp.116-7

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Critical information literacy aims to “reverse trends of exclusion from political

participation and enable people to participate in the decisions and events that affect their lives.”

Whitworth 2009, p.118

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Research questions

1. What sources of information influence young people’s political opinions and worldviews?

2. In what qualitatively different ways do young people conceive of ‘political’ information?

3. Do young people think about political information critically?

4. What aspects of critical pedagogy may be of most use to those seeking to support political agency through critical approaches to information literacy?

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Research methods

• Questionnaires

• Repertory grid interviews

• Focus groups

• c.35 participants aged 14-15 from a secondary school in

South Yorkshire

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questionnaire

• Introductory exercise

• 11 ‘quiz’ questions about politics/civic rights

• Insight into levels of political knowledge

• Question about level of interest in politics

• Question about lowering voting age from 18 to 16

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9

How interested in politics would you say you are?

Very 1

Somewhat 10

Neither interested nor uninterested

9

Not very 9

Not at all 6

No response 1

Total 36

Do you think the voting age should be lowered from 18 to 16?

Yes 15

No 16

I don’t know 0

I don’t care 4

No response 1

Total 36

results

10

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0 7.0 8.0 9.0 10.0

Leve

l of

inte

rest

in p

olit

ics

Level of political knowledge

Repertory grid interviews

• People “seek to predict and control the course of events in

their environment by constructing mental models of the

world” (Latta and Swigger 1992)

• Asked for participants to give ten places, people or things

they get information about politics, current events and the

world around them

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Repertory grid interviews

• People “seek to predict and control the course of events in

their environment by constructing mental models of the

world” (Latta and Swigger 1992)

• Asked for participants to give ten places, people or things

they get information about politics, current events and the

world around them

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Elements

13

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Sources of Political Information

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constructs

• Ways of assessing value

• Relationship

• Judgements about purpose

• Emotional engagement

• Practical issues

• Reasons for engagement

• Format

• Politics

R: “Do you always believe what’s being reported?” P9: “No. I guess I do more in the newspaper, I know it’s probably wrong but, it does seem like there’s more facts to back it up whereas on the radio they’re not really giving you the full story, they’re just giving you a little bit of it.”

P23: “I think, mum would have more reliable information, not perfect though because obviously either way it’s coming from somebody else’s mouth so it’s gonna be different and it’s what they interpret it as.”

Emerging themes and issues Critical theory

Understanding of media bias (omission, selection, placement, labelling, spin)

Media literacy (Giroux, 2007, pp.229-241)

View of schooling as preparation for work, not learning how to be a citizen

Marketisation of education, democratic public spheres (Giroux, 2012, pp.36-37)

View of young people as not knowledgeable or responsible enough to participate in politics

Manufactured cynicism (Giroux, 2006, p.83)

Trust in media to report all ‘important’ news, faith that media will tell truth

Media literacy (Giroux, 2007, pp.229-241), critical pedagogy (Giroux, 2011)

Influence of images in the media on how participants feel about current events and world conflict

Culture of fear (Giroux, 2006, pp.200-201)

Interpretation of violence and formation of political attitudes relating to it

Consumerism, masculinity, violence, politics , gender relations (Giroux, 2006, pp.205-225)

Debating and understanding structure of arguments – applying this to own lives

Politics of possibility (Giroux, 2006, pp.229-236)

Concerns about welfare, benefits and immigration. Knowledge or understanding of economic situation

Ideological hegemony (Giroux, 2011, p.22)

View of young people as a group influenced by media portrayals

Youth panic (Giroux, 2011, p.91)

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conclusions

• Further analysis needed to structure findings in

phenomenographic outcome space

• Critical pedagogy relevant to information literacy

• Research will contribute methodological and

theoretical recommendations for practice,

development of IL theory and application of critical

theory to under-theorised area of LIS

References

• Giroux, H.A. (2013), Segment: Henry Giroux on Zombie Politics, Bill Moyers Show [Video and transcript]. Available at: http://billmoyers.com/segment/henry-giroux-on-zombie-politics/ [Accessed 20 July 2014].

• Giroux, H.A. (2012a), The War Against Teachers as Public Intellectuals in Dark Times. Truthout [Blog] 17 December, 2014. Available at: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13367-the-corporate-war-against-teachers-as-public-intellectuals-in-dark-times [Accessed 20 July 2014].

• Giroux, H.A. (2012b), Education and the Crisis of Public Values: Challenging the Assault on Teachers, Students, & Public Education. New York: Peter Laing Publishing.

• Giroux, H.A. (2011), On Critical Pedagogy. London: Continuum. • Giroux, H.A. (2010), Zombie Politics and Culture in the Age of Casino Capitalism. New York: Peter Laing Publishing. • Giroux, H.A. (2007), Chapter Twenty-one: Drowning Democracy: The Media, Neoliberalism, and the Politics of Hurricane

Katrina. In: D. Macedo and S.R. Steinberg, eds. Media Literacy: A Reader. New York: Peter Laing Publishing. • Giroux, H.A. (2006), America on the Edge: Henry Giroux on Politics, Culture, and Education. Palgrave Macmillan: New York. • Giroux, H.A. (2002), Educated Hope in an Age of Privatized Visions. Cultural Studies <=> Critical Methodologies, Vol. 2 No. 1,

pp. 93–112. • Latta, G.F. and Swigger, K. (1992). Validation of the repertory grid for use in modeling knowledge. Journal of the American

Society for Information Science, 43(2), p.115. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(199203)43:2<115::AID-ASI2>3.0.CO;2-I [Accessed 18 July 2014].

• Whitworth, A. (2009). Teaching in the relational frame: the Media and Information Literacy course at Manchester. Journal of Information Literacy, 3 (2), pp.25–38. Available from: http://ojs.lboro.ac.uk/ojs/index.php/JIL/article/view/PRA-V3-I2-2009-2 [Accessed 18 July 2014].

Image: CC www.xkcd.com

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