Deep Disposition Design Studios

Conditions

What needs to be understood about the narrative landscape?

Headwinds

Known	Unknown
That we are experiencing the largest resurgence of fascism since the mid-20th Century	How power consolidates under fascism, and how this period is different from earlier periods
That rich, powerful political enemies are fighting against us	How enemies/bad actors are maintaining deep dispositions and blocking H3
That hegemonic power operates through consent (ideology, narratives) and coercion (oppression → state violence, competition), and leads to apathy	How different groups understand storytelling, and how hierarchies of power play out in this
That some deep dispositions have centuries if not millennia worth of reinforcement and reward allocated to them
That the mainstream media environment has been captured by neoliberals / fascists	How dominant stories are being told and by whom; how they’ve evolved over time; and whose voices they represent
That the spreading of heterodox economic ideas, democracy, and climate action is stuttering
That the media landscape / business models are shifting	How tech is playing a role in storytelling today
That professionalisation in journalism maintains harmful deep dispositions (e.g. cloak of ‘objectivity/impartiality’)
That there are gaps between organising, communications and cultural strategy	How different people in our spaces are using the same words, e.g. ‘justice’ or ‘liberation’ with different definitions
That there are capacity gaps within (especially radical/alternative) organisations	How to get resources out of the system as an ‘effective’ parasite
That we need to compost mental debris, including destructive tacit futures
That narrative enactment needs action, not just words	How to avoid the trap of ‘narrative as messaging’, recognising the need to be grounded
That visionary/deep practice work is not connected with tactical work
That we have broad visions but few tangible articulations
That we lack shared capacity for complexity and contradictions
That governance structures are limiting risk-tolerance and organisational ambition (charity commission, cautious boards, reactionary funders)

Tailwinds

Known	Unknown
That we need shared values and principles to operate from, to shift power from the hegemonic to the liberatory	How to build movement ecology / landscape intra-awareness and connection
That deep dispositions are reinforced by our experiences and sites of shaping	How culture is disseminated / shared / created
That the most powerful deep dispositions in our society tap into primal emotions – fear, belonging, survival	How deep dispositions are showing up in today’s context
That time and deep disposition are related – and the need for patience	How to ‘context better’
That narrative and power are related – all power has a narrative dimension, all narratives have a power dimension	How ‘narrative power’ works: who speaks, who’s visible, whose voices lead; and the structures and institutions that shape what narratives can exist
	How to create narrative resonance across issues
	How to speak to the needs and longings of publics currently only satisfied by the far right
	How we define, evidence and interpret narratives and deep dispositions, and how to cultivate and maintain a shared evidence base
	How to keep hold of the essential (but perhaps unmeasurable) imaginal, creative and spiritual elements of narrative work
	How social movements function, a shared analysis e.g. of the cyclical nature of social movements

Qualities

What would be the most beautiful/awful version of deep disposition work?

Field

More	Less
Gardening what’s growing	Reinventing the wheel
Reciprocal and generative	Transactional and extractive
Many ways of knowing	Singular linear reductionism
Comfortable not knowing	Desperate for certainty
Culture as soup	Culture as (just) artefact
Together in the soup	Imparting wisdom ‘down’
Long-term consequences	Instant wins
Experiencing	Telling
Convivial	Competitive
Input	Output

Funding

Yes	No
Trust-based	Control-based
Experimental	Prescriptive
Long-term	Short-term
Transparent	Opaque

Efficacy

How would you know if the deep disposition cultivation is working?

Outcomes of this work may take time to emerge, change will be non-linear, and traditional approaches to measurement may need to be evolved. This notwithstanding, here are some possible indicators that could help us understand efficacy. This work needs to be complexity-aware, which involves attunement to context, ripple effects, adjacent possibilities and multiple intervention points.

Indicator 1: Growth of the deep disposition community across sectors

• Diversity of sectors participating
• Numbers of participants
• Numbers of events / community interventions
• Relationships nurtured
• Development and use of tools and resources
• Ways of measuring the strength of relationships and the power of the network
• Tracking narrative coherence / discipline over time (not sure if this lives in this indicator)

To keep in mind:

• Contribution not attribution
• 10 year period

Indicator 2: Creation of deep disposition interventions

Covering the diverse kinds of possible deep disposition interventions, e.g.:

• Entertainment content
• Media content
• Education programmes
• Movement programmes
• Inner practices

Indicator 3: Reach of deep disposition interventions

• Quant reach stats
• Use a methodology that measures depth + systemic impact of reach, to value interventions that go narrow and deep? This could be an Indicator 4 point though.

Indicator 4: Shift in personal, cultural and discourse norms

• Track the contribution to shifts in attitudes, beliefs, values, cultural discourse, social norms
• Particularly tracking self-efficacy?
• On a personal level – what are the methods that would enable us to understand whether the quality of the deep disposition is having an inner impact – e.g. a mindset tracker?
• More pro-social behaviour

Indicator 5: Material changes in the world

• This could include policy change, institutional change, literal structural changes in our material lives
• But also the growth of groups and projects which embody the deep disposition