Reasons for Living: Education and Young People's Search for Meaning, Identity and Spirituality - A Handbook

545 Pages·2006·3.83 MB·English

by  Marisa Crawford, Graham Rossiter

Reasons
for Living
Education and young people’s
search for meaning, identity
and spirituality. A handbook.
Marisa Crawford and
Graham Rossiter
ACER Press
First published 2006
by ACER Press
Australian Council for Educational Research Ltd
19 Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell, Victoria, 3124
Copyright © Marisa Crawford and Graham Rossiter 2006
All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Copyright Act
1968 of Australia and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise,
without the written permission of the publishers.
Edited by Venetia Somerset
Cover and text design by Mason Design
Typeset by Mason Design
Printed by Shannon Books
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Crawford, Marisa L.
Reasons for living : education and young people’s search
for meaning, identity and spirituality : a handbook.
Bibliography.
Includes index.
For tertiary students.
ISBN 9780864316134.
ISBN 0 86431 613 5.
1. Religious education of young people. 2. Moral education.
3. Meaning (Psychology) - Study and teaching.
4. Identity (Psychology) - Study and teaching.
5. Spirituality - Study and teaching.
I. Rossiter, Graham M. II. Title.
370.114
Visit our website: www.acerpress.com.au
Table of Contents
Contents – Summary iii
Contents v
Tables and Figures xvii
Foreword by Professor Brian V Hill xx
Preface xxii
Acknowledgments xxiv
About the authors xxv
Comments on Reasons for Living xxv

Contents–Summary
P a r t 1
Education and young people’s search for meaning, identity and spirituality 1
1 Reasons for living: Education and young people’s search for meaning, identity and spirituality 3
P a r t 2
Meaning, identity and spirituality: Analysing the constructs for educational purposes 21
2 The nature, psychological function and construction of meaning 23
3 The psychological development of meaning and issues related to change and development
in meaning 61
4 The search for meaning 80
5 The elusive self: Psychological and social functions of identity 89
6 Research perspectives on the nature and development of identity 106
7 Young people’s search for identity: Finding a way through the cultural maze 129
8 From St Ignatius to Obi-Wan Kenobi: An evaluative perspective on spirituality 171
9 Young people and spirituality: Negotiating the perils of adolescence 202
10 Educating young people in meaning, identity and spirituality 228
iii
iv Contents–Summary
P a r t 3
Implications for public education: The spiritual and moral dimension to the school
curriculum 241
11 The spiritual and moral dimension to the school curriculum: The evolution in personal development
aims for Australian education 243
12 Expectations of schools for promoting the spiritual and moral development of young people 255
13 Links between education, personal change and personal learning 277
14 From theory to practice: Conceptualising the spiritual and moral dimension to the school
curriculum 299
15 The shaping infuence of flm and television on young people’s spiritual and moral development:
An educational exploration 322
P a r t 4
Implications for religious education in independent schools (with special reference to
Catholic schools) 369
16 Historical perspective on religious education in Catholic schools: Towards a relevant religious
education for the future 371
17 The quest for personalism and relevance in religious education 391
18 The centrality of the concept ‘faith development’ in Catholic school religious education 409
19 Religious education and ‘sponsoring’ the development of faith in adolescents 423
20 Developing staff spirituality: A key component of the identity of religious schools 434
P a r t 5
Implications for state-based Religion Studies courses in Australian schools 441
21 Pedagogical background to the development of Religion Studies courses in Australia 443
22 Relationships between state-based Religion Studies courses and denominational religious
education 468
Bibliography 481
Index 512
Contents
P a r t 1
Education and young people’s search for meaning, identity and spirituality 1
1 Reasons for living: Education and young people’s search for meaning, identity
and spirituality 3
1.1 The spiritual and moral dimension to the school curriculum 4
1.2 The search for meaning 5
1.3 Identity 8
1.4 Spirituality 8
1.5 Relationships between meaning, identity and spirituality and their connection with other
personal development constructs 9
1.6 The sociocultural situation and the contemporary search for meaning, identity and spirituality 10
1.7 Education and ‘reasons for living’ 11
1.8 The role for school education in relation to young people’s search for meaning, identity and
spirituality 14
1.9 The importance of teachers’ understanding of issues related to meaning, identity and
spirituality 16
1.10 An education that can promote meaning, identity and spirituality 16
1.11 A spiritual-moral dimension to good teaching 17
1.12 Summary: Characteristics of school education that enhance meaning, identity and spirituality 18
P a r t 2
Meaning, identity and spirituality: Analysing the constructs for educational purposes 21
2 The nature, psychological function and construction of meaning 23
2.1 The search for meaning 24
2.2 The search for meaning as a defning human characteristic: Perspectives from anthropology,
religion and psychology 25
2.3 The role of religion 26
2.4 The role of psychology and psychiatry 27
2.5 Reason and meaning, and a basic link with education 27
v
vi Contents
2.6 Young people and meaning 28
2.7 What is ‘meaning’? 29
2.8 Towards a typology of meaning 30
2.9 Personal meaning: The nature and psychological function of meaning in the individual 30
STRuCTuRE AND FuNCT ION
2.9.1 Meaning as personal explanatory theory or interpretation 32
2.9.2 Meaning as personal motivation 32
2.9.3 Meaning as the justifcation of thinking and behaviour 32
2.9.4 Articulated personal meaning and expressions of meaning 33
2.9.5 Implied personal meaning 34
2.9.6 Emotional meaning 35
2.9.7 Imagination and intuition: Their contribution to meaning 35
COMPONENTS TO MEANINg
2.9.8 Structural components of meaning 36
2.9.9 Meaning as a set of values 37
2.9.10 Meaning as beliefs 37
2.9.11 Religious beliefs 37
2.9.12 ultimate meaning 37
2.9.13 Meaning through religion 38
2.9.14 Meaning through prayer 39
2.9.15 Meaning as life goals 39
2.9.16 Meaning as a set of ideals and hopes 40
2.9.17 Narrative structure to meaning; personal meaning as a ‘master story’, and as
personal myths 40
2.9.18 Meaning as the point of intersection between understanding and emotion 41
OTHER FuNCT IONS
2.9.19 Meaning as a coping mechanism 42
2.9.20 The contribution of meaning to wellbeing and resilience 42
2.9.21 Meaning as ‘psychic moorings’ 43
2.9.22 Meaning as the ‘fall back position’ – inner resources 44
2.9.23 Meaning as interpretation of the world outside 44
OTHER TYPES AND ExPRESS IONS OF MEANINg
2.9.24 Meaning through humour 44
2.9.25 Cool meaning 45
2.9.26 Meaning articulated in belief/values statements 45
2.9.27 Meaning and creative expression 46
2.10 Cultural meanings: Social and cultural meanings as reference points for personal meaning 46
CuLTuRAL MEANINg
2.10.1 Meaning embedded in culture 46
2.10.2 Communities of meaning 47
2.10.3 Normative cultural meanings 48
2.10.4 Popular cultural meaning 48
2.10.5 Implied cultural meaning 48
Contents vii
2.10.6 Meaning through myth-making 49
2.10.7 Meaning referenced to place, location and lifestyle 50
CONTExTuAL INFLuENCES
2.10.8 Political meaning, ideology and hegemony 51
2.10.9 Meaning and cultural postmodernity 52
2.10.10 Crisis of meaning: Diseases of meaning, spiritual pathology and junk meaning 53
2.10.11 Cultural change and changes in cultural meanings 53
MEANINg AND COMMuNITY
2.10.12 Cultural inheritance as ready-made meaning 54
2.10.13 Community and education in meaning 54
2.10.14 The academic study of meaning 55
3 The psychological development of meaning and issues related to change and development
in meaning 61
3.1 The psychological development of meaning 62
3.1.1 The construction of meaning 62
3.1.2 Change and development in personal meaning 63
3.1.3 Assimilating the meanings embedded in role models 63
3.1.4 When do you know you have meaning? 63
3.1.5 Meaning as the ‘bigger picture’ contextual framework within which experience is
understood 64
3.2 Issues related to change and development in meaning 64
3.2.1 Accessing people’s meanings: a central part of human relationships 64
3.2.2 Thwarting of meaning and ‘retreat’ from meaning 65
3.2.3 Range or scope of personal meaning, mental health and propensity to self-harm 66
3.2.4 Manipulation and power through meaning 67
3.2.5 Political meaning and social justice 68
3.2.6 Strengthening the meaning system 68
3.2.7 Dependence on institutions and authorities for meaning 69
3.2.8 Bolstering the meaning system through fundamentalism 69
3.2.9 The different meanings of scripture 70
3.2.10 Changing theological meanings 70
3.2.11 Scientifc meanings 72
3.2.12 Clashes between scientifc and religious meanings 73
3.2.13 Young people’s perceptions of relationships between religious and scientifc meanings 75
3.2.14 Meaning systems and religious claims to truth 76
3.2.15 ‘Earthquake’ in the meaning system 77
4 The search for meaning 80
4.1 What is the ‘search for meaning’? 81
4.2 Issues related to the search for meaning 82
4.2.1 Individual and community frames of reference for meaning 82
4.2.2 Flight from meaning and the avoidance of meaning 83
viii Contents
4.2.3 Maturity in the development of meaning 83
4.2.4 Maturity of meaning in the light of postmodern concerns about uncertainty in
personal knowledge 84
4.3 Young people’s search for meaning 86
4.4 Healthy meaning 86
4.4.1 Preliminary list of the characteristics of a healthy personal meaning 86
5 The elusive self: Psychological and social functions of identity 89
5.1 What is understood by identity: How the construct is used in contemporary discourse 89
5.2 The emotional substrate to identity 91
5.3 Dimensions to personal identity 92
5.4 Personal and group identities 94
5.5 Projective and defensive functions of identity 94
5.6 Identity issues 94
5.6.1 Identity and status anxiety 95
5.6.2 Identity relationships with religion 96
5.6.3 Identity, confict and violence in the Australian context and internationally 97
5.6.4 Identity and terrorism 98
5.6.5 Identity relationships with the non-human world 100
5.6.6 Homo economicus: The rise and rise of economic identity 101
5.6.7 Relationships between media, the state and national identity 103
6 Research perspectives on the nature and development of identity 106
6.1 Developmental theories: contributions to self-understanding 107
6.2 Psychological theories of identity: From the perspective of ‘identity health’ 109
6.3 Personal identity: Interaction between the individual and culture 114
6.3.1 A social psychological view of identity 114
6.3.2 A narrative structure to identity 114
6.3.3 A perspective on identity from critical theory 115
6.3.4 Relatively fxed psychic reference points for identity 115
6.3.5 Exaggerated individualism 116
6.3.6 Identity implied in life structure 117
6.3.7 Spirituality and identity 118
6.3.8 generational identity 118
6.4 Relationships between identity and self-esteem 118
6.5 Congenital identity defciency? 121
6.6 Research on relationships between identity and education 121
6.7 A conceptualisation of identity and identity health for educational purposes 124
7 Young people’s search for identity: Finding a way through the cultural maze 129
7.1 general cultural issues 131
7.1.1 The changing place of religion as a basic reference point for youth identity
and spirituality 131
7.1.2 Constant change as the baseline reference point for youth identity and spirituality 131
Contents ix
7.2 Youth identity and consumer culture 132
7.2.1 Externals, consumerism and young people’s search for identity 132
7.2.2 Retail identity and the seduction of individuality 134
7.2.3 Logos and the clothing of identity 135
7.2.4 Leaping on the brand-wagon: The retail potential of identity needs 136
7.2.5 The marketing of ‘cool’ to youth 137
7.2.6 The cost of being cool: Some examples 138
7.2.7 Identity-related advertising for glamour: ‘Be a princess’, ‘Because you’re worth it’ 139
7.2.8 Lifestyle-indexed identity: External identity validation, the conditioning infuence of
advertising and prolonged adolescence 142
7.2.9 Branded: The buying and selling of teenagers 147
7.2.10 The retail potential of teenagers’ dreams for self-improvement 149
7.2.11 Body image: The marketing strategy of inadequacy and the buying of beauty, sex
appeal, and performance 150
7.2.12 Consumer without a cause: The marketing of rebellion to youth and the
domestication of nonconformity 152
7.2.13 A spiritual dimension to marketing? 154
7.2.14 From James Dean to Clueless: Teenage angst to teenage makeover 154
7.3 The anatomy and psychological function of ‘cool’ 155
7.3.1 Young people’s search for a ‘cool’ identity 155
7.3.2 Being acknowledged as cool: A psychological defence and coping mechanism 158
7.3.3 Cool image, relationships and the intensity of experience 161
7.3.4 Classic cool: Nike’s successful recipe for cracking the Chinese market 162
7.3.5 The quest for cool: The new opiate of the masses? 164
7.3.6 The relationship between cool and violence 166
7.4 Advertising and identity 166
7.5 Young men and crisis in male identity 167
8 From St Ignatius to Obi-Wan Kenobi: An evaluative perspective on spirituality 171
8.1 Developments in the meaning of the word ‘spirituality’: An evaluative perspective 173
8.2 Historical notes on religious spirituality in the Australian Catholic Christian tradition since the
1960s 173
8.3 Key aspects of a religious spirituality 177
8.4 Distinctions between the ‘religious’ and the ‘spiritual’: Issues for what constitutes
spirituality 179
8.4.1 Secularisation and distinctions between religious and spiritual language 180
8.4.2 Privatisation of religion 180
8.4.3 Public rituals and private devotion (external observance and the personal) 181
8.4.4 Contemporary emphasis on experience (implications for personal autonomy and
religious authority) 181
8.4.5 Meeting spiritual needs; spirituality as a consumer commodity 181
8.4.6 Scientifc rationalism and modern religious studies 181
8.4.7 Postmodern views of religion 182
8.5 Further consideration of issues related to the nature of spirituality 185
8.5.1 Spirituality, belief in god, and belief in a transcendent dimension to human life 185