Stories bring narratives to life
Stories are the threads that connect us as humans. For millennia, we have told each other stories about lived experiences and imagined plots. These stories shape our ideas of right and wrong, influence our desires, and guide our actions. In essence, stories help us to make sense of the world. They provide a framework to comprehend and navigate our complex surroundings and suggest how we should – or should not – address collective challenges.
Many stories share common patterns and themes. Most of us have, for instance, all heard a version of the classic ‘rags to riches’ story. It’s about the cousin who ‘made it’ in the US, the successful rapper who ‘comes from the ghetto’, or the political candidate who rose from humble beginnings. While all of these stories are located in a specific time and place, they share a common, underlying narrative: The struggle of an individual who overcomes all obstacles of life and succeeds through hard work and intelligence. The stories bring to life a narrative that instills hope, suggesting that anyone can succeed regardless of who they are and where they come from.
Stories
Narratives
- have beginning, middle and end
- recount particular series of events
- occurs in a particular place and time
- can be told
- bring narratives to life by making them relatable and accessible
- no standard form or structure
- representing central ideas or belief
- System of related stories that are told over time
- are understood at gut level
- infuse stories with deeper meaning
The table is based on the definitions of main concepts in the report ‘Toward New Gravity’ by the Narrative Initiative (2017).
Narratives hold power
We have heard the ‘rags to riches’ narrative in so many versions that it rings true. The only problem? It isn’t! It is at least not an accurate representation of reality. While the individual success stories may be factually correct, they only show a very small part – a frame – of the entire picture. If we zoom out, a different perspective emerges: The narrative suggests that rich people deserve to be rich – while wealth is frequently inherited and perpetuated through privileges. It suggests that hard work is rewarded, ignoring that many people are poorly, or not at all, paid for extremely long and heavy labor. It suggests that our happiness is tied to wealth, motivating us to seek lucrative careers over those that benefit our societies and the planet. It calls upon us to compete within the system, instead of uniting to change it.
„Framing is about the choices we make in what we say, how we say it, what we emphasize, and what we leave unsaid, and how these choices shape how people think, feel, and act.“
FrameWorks Institute
This demonstrates that the stories we tell, and the frame that we choose, are not neutral. Dominant narratives serve those in power by legitimizing systemic inequalities and discouraging collective resistance. These narratives promote values like competition, individualism, and capitalism, suggesting not only that these are good choices but that they are the only choice.
This simple Wave model by the Narrative Initiative serves to unpack the complex relationship between values, narratives and stories.
Redistributing narrative power
It is increasingly evident that our current systems, along with the dominant narratives that legitimize them, are failing us and future generations. Globally, we face rising inequality, an intensifying climate crisis, ongoing violent conflicts and wars, increasing polarization, and pushbacks against hard-won human rights.
In response, millions of people across the world are coming together to address these challenges. Young people are mobilizing against injustice, holding their government accountable for (in)action that threaten their future. Feminist collectives are advocating for more equitable and inclusive political, social, and economic systems. Indigenous communities are demonstrating alternative ways of living in co-existence with nature.
Despite the wide existence of these stories of resistance, they rarely reach a large audience, and when they do, they are often not told from the perspectives of those living them. Shifting narrative power to those that are usually omitted in the dominant narratives would allow new narratives to emerge. These narratives would shift our focus towards collective well-being, emphasizing values like community, care, equity and social justice. They would offer alternative perspectives and choices for comprehending and navigating our world. They could inspire confidence that our challenges can be addressed and encourage people to actively shape a better future together.