MEGATRENDS AND MEDIA

MEGATRENDS AND MEDIA
Education leading to support for tolerant multicultural coexistence
and general tolerance towards diversity, implying a development of
cross-cultural and intercultural communication, should therefore be an
implicit part of education in contemporary societies. We are aware that
the school environment is not the only factor inluencing the values and
attitudes of the younger generation, but that the family (socio-economic)
environment and the media also have a signiicant inluence. However,
schools are a relection of the society to which they belong 1 , and as many
research probes focused on the issue of the media construction of the
reality reveal, the mass media interfere signiicantly in the transformation
of our society.
We return, here, to the themes that we have developed previously 2
and through our experience in managing the ESF OP VK project “Antiprejudice
workshops” we focused on the practical application of the
ideas of multiculturalism in the educational process. In 2010-2012 we
carried out under this project a research which sought to uncover the
value orientation of secondary school students, with a focus on the
multicultural aspects of their education.
In comparison with criticism of the media conditioning of social
structures and the stereotypical and prejudiced view of members of
minorities in our society, its results bring signiicant indings in relation
to the media.
2 Context
Multiculturalism, meaning the one we are striving for, is a pluralistic
and tolerant ideology, intentionally completely opposite to all the
grand narratives of the past: Christianity, fascism, communism, all
the totalitarian systems that advocate a single truth, a single path and
a single justice. The population growth cannot be stopped, however,
the fragmentation of ways of life, social class, belief and education can
1 SLEETER, CH. E., GRANT, C. A.: Making Choices for Multicultural Education.
New York : John Wiley & Sons, 2009, p. 19.
2 Compare: PREISSOVÁ KREJČÍ, A.: Multikulturní koncept ve vzdělávání a
výchově v České republice. In PREISSOVÁ KREJČÍ, A., JUÁREZ TOLEDO, R.
et al.: Sociální exkluze v multikulturních společnostech. Olomouc : Univerzita
Palackého, 2013, p. 11-45; PREISSOVÁ KREJČÍ, A.: Multikulturalismus –
ztracené paradigma? Olomouc : Univerzita Palackého, 2014, p. 141-170.
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