Discussions around shaping public awareness and constructing a targeted mental image are often tied to the guiding factors and tools that underpin the process of influence. This allows for achieving the expected results, which visibly manifest in the audience’s awareness and behavior. The discussion represents a major aspect of communication and influence theories among the masses. It describes a bilateral relationship between an influential party and an influenced party. The focus is on the process of influence as a tool for achieving materialistic interests or changing behaviors across various activities and fields, including cultural and economic domains. Influence tools are constantly being updated. They are utilized by any party in light of different trends and the relentless global pursuit of gains, both in utilitarian and opportunistic forms. There has been a need to highlight the importance of addressing the existence of a minimum level of self-resistance to this influence on several levels. The goal is not rejection and estrangement in its initial form, as much as it is an attempt to uncover the truths of things and not be led by undeclared purposes and goals that are intended to be passed on to the recipient without him noticing it. Therefore, it is exploited in an indirect and immoral way that contradicts his interests and convictions to which he adheres. Misleading human minds, in the words of Brazilian thinker Paulo Freire, is “a tool of coercion” that represents one of the tools through which people are sought to subjugate the masses for special goals. In contrast to the waves of control and influence sweeping the world, there are parallel waves that constitute a false reality, which is the continuous denial of the existence of this type of influence or control over societies.(1)
Change and Impact:
The concept of change is a transition from one state to another, and this transition may be complete or partial, and may take long or short periods of time, it is also a universal tradition that includes individuals and societies. Ibn Khaldun says in his introduction: “The condition of the world and of nations, their customs and sects, does not persist in the same form or in a constant manner. There are differences according to days and periods, and changes from one condition to another. Such is the case with individuals, times, and cities, and it likewise happens in connection with regions and districts, periods and dynasties. This is how God formerly proceeded with His servants.”(2) This change that is going through societies is a natural result of a steady universal relationship based on causes and events that had an effective impact on the transformation and transition from a previous state to a different later state. In principle, it aims to protect and adapt to new conditions, and its source may be factors from within or from outside the environment, and the state from which society has moved is often a state of relative stability and steadiness regardless of the nature of this stability, and this is what makes societies like a mirror in which all the changes that occur in other areas related to them are reflected. It is clear in some aspects of this equation that change can be shaped and attempted with effective tools aimed at bringing about a specific change in a specific environment or target segment, and as a result we have “change” as the action and “change” as the result.(3)
The concept of change has been linked to development in several areas. The talk was about the place of culture and society in creating this concept and their role in creating new changes related to human development. As a result, there were serious attempts by intellectual currents to dismantle the cultural, social and economic elements associated with them, and to reflect on their impact that hinders the acceleration of the movement to change societies. The development movement in its outcomes is in fact an expression of the cultural and social vision that drives the change movement on the ground. Then the concept of change related to development evolved until what was called social marketing theory emerged, in which the concept of change took on a new dimension represented by the importance of marketing awareness through the media, and it consists of two stages: the first – social advertising, where the use of advertising to change public attitudes and behavior emerged by family planning organizations in some countries, and in others – the shift to a social communications approach by focusing on personal selling and publishing methods in addition to advertising. Then Stanley and Dennis came and laid out the main features of social marketing theory, which are summed up in how to promote the ideas embraced by the elite in society to become of recognized social value.(4)
Here we discuss the term influence and its connection to the term change and the difference between them. Is every influence in reality a change?!
Influence, in fact, is a type of sway, and it means: an attempt to create a specific effect using effective tools and means that are responded to with emotional or subconscious emotions that push towards an intended effect. Looking at the elements of this term, we find that influence is composed of a group of factors and attempts that differ from each other in form and content. They are essentially parts of a single project whose goal is change, whether on a positive or negative level. We also find that influence in some of its uses may aim to achieve a specific, short-term matter for a specific goal, without aiming to bring about an actual change that has long-term effects on the recipient’s awareness and behavior.
Therefore, if there are common intersections between them, then resistance to influence is not resistance to change. Resistance to influence is an initial attempt to consider and think about the information or data contained in the means of influence without taking a prior judgment that would be called upon to oppose or support its contents. This is what can be called in scientific activity the stage of examination and testing. Explaining this process requires us to say that it is not the subject of discussion if this stage is passed to the next stage, which is the stage of direct change based on unacceptable confrontation, starting with the other party, which robs him of the right to the process of choice.
Motives for Resistance to Influence:
As an important part of addressing the topic of impact resistance, the matter requires consideration and contemplation of the motives through which it is possible to reach a clear conception of the nature of this action, which is characterized by its strong connection to fear and its various dimensions, and knowledge of the context within which resistance to influence can move. We will address this in four motives, which are:
1- Beliefs and Religions:
Religion is a primary spiritual force that binds individuals and societies to its teachings, making any deviation from them subject to divine punishment and an inner sense of restraint. This is because the nature of religions, as described by Dr. Muhammad Daraz, “is based on the idea of glorifying a force that is related to daily events, and has constant care for beings, and never ceases to provide and manage them. This is the origin of the idea of worship, without which the name of religion cannot be achieved.” Therefore, we notice that the change occurring in heavenly laws and earthly religions is affected by the factor of time, because religions after their establishment tend to remain constant and stable,(5) and therefore the response to the changes occurring is very slow whenever the era is close to the first origin, and this is what makes calls for renewal of these religions receive strong opposition in the opposite direction, and then this opposition quickly eased as its timeline moved away. A modern example illustrating the influence of religion and the desire to defend it against external impacts is the resistance that arose against foreign legislation introduced to Arab countries alongside colonial powers in the late Ottoman era. Some of these laws contained provisions that conflicted with Islamic jurisprudence and principles of justice. Calls and fatwas appeared to reject any legal legislation that contradicts Islamic law, and any other updates that are definitely related to it because of its impact on legislation and judicial courts, which is similar to what happened with the creation of commercial courts for European merchants in Egypt. The successive waves of influence to modernize legal legislation in Arab countries collided with this historical event in which the clash occurred. It was difficult to accept any foreign legal updates in Arab and Islamic countries.
2- Established Customs and Traditions:
Established customs and traditions are always an impenetrable barrier for societies, through which they preserve their identity through a strong and solid bond, which its members strive to preserve in a way that enhances social harmony and identity, and this generates deterrent social penalties if violated. This entrenchment casts a shadow over the influences that come from outside the social environment, in which it becomes easy and quick to reject and not respond to them, and even the possibility of contemplating them carefully before expressing rejection or not. This shows the extent of the power these customs and traditions have over individuals belonging to these societies, regardless of the nature of this power, actual or imagined, and this is what made the American social psychologist Herbert Kelman classify the strength of this influence on three levels: First – surrender or submission (greed for group acceptance). Second: Identification (the individual’s acceptance of being influenced by others). Third: Identity (belonging to the group).(6)
Naturally, it becomes clear to us, as a result of this, the negative impact on the progress of the change movement and interaction with external influences and interactions in various fields. Although these customs and traditions are characterized by stability and inflexibility because of the meanings and values they carry that hold historical dimensions, they collapse in the face of the growth and change in the needs and interests of subsequent generations, in addition to the transfer and transformation of these meanings and values in a relative manner to multiple contexts and purposes that are compatible with new conditions of their different nature.
For example, we find that the social environment in the United States of America, after its inception in its modern form, abandoned many of the customs and traditions that were carried by immigrants from European countries, which still retained customs and traditions that had been inherited for a long time. This resulted in the rapid interaction of American society in its various sects with the changes and influences that occurred from the beginning of that history until the emergence of their amazing interactions in our present time, and the impact of this on the growing presence of American culture and its influence on the globlal level.
3- Possessive Tendency:
Influence may sometimes be a response to an internal motive seeking power and influence in order to satisfy the instinct for possession and protection, and the overwhelming desire to achieve interests that include finding submission and non-contradiction from others. Accordingly, it becomes clear that the idea of maintaining possession – being a human instinct – may also appear in the form of resistance to any influence from those who have any influence or power for fear of losing them. As a result of this tendency and its impact on social reality, Herbert Schiller believes that the emergence of a fixed division of society into two categories of winners and losers and the availability of factors for its continuation is a result of preserving the system of private ownership of productive property and recognizing this system, and that the principle of private ownership extended to all other aspects of human existence. Among those who pointed to this meaning was Ibn Hazm al-Zahiri, saying: “I contemplated everything below the sky, and my thoughts lingered over it, and I found everything in it, whether living or non-living, of its nature if it were able to bestow upon other species its appearance and to clothe it with its attributes… and every person of a doctrine wishes that people would agree with him”.(7) This desire, which Ibn Hazm referred to, to change others in a way that agrees with the desire of the strong one who is in power requires working on not changing his prevailing position, and preventing any change or influence that he is exposed to.
4- Economic Transformations:
The great openness that the world has witnessed and the manifestations that accompanied this openness are an influential factor with large and profound effects on people’s dealings with other societies. Dealing with economic transformations is closely linked to achieving an increase in the income of individuals and companies and raising the level of well-being and consumption for segments of society. Therefore, the degree of resistance to the effects associated with economic transformations varies according to the extent of benefit from them, and this is due to the bias towards national ownership and the extent to which others can share and benefit from this advantage. Therefore, economic globalization at a time of growth in international trade was accepted by many in exchange for the economic benefit expected from this economic pattern around the world. Then, at a later stage, the economic returns were negatively affected. After that, calls appeared calling for reducing global trade cooperation and the necessity of preserving the balance of local markets and preserving jobs by resisting waves of labor migration.
When contemplating the motives for resisting influence and discussing its dimensions, it is appropriate to point out two observations in this context, namely:
The first – one of the characteristics of studying cases that fall under the human sciences is that they are: unique: the same characteristics are not repeated in other cases. Hidden: it cannot be perceived with certainty, but rather it is perceived with the preponderance of suspicion. Complex: due to its high degree of influence by separate elements, as a result of its strong attachment and connection with them. Among the signs and sunnahs of Allah in His creation is the sunnah of difference, and it is a great sunnah whose effects appear on individuals and societies in various forms. Among the forms of this difference is the difference between individuals and societies in general and as a whole in the degree and intensity of their interaction with one influence to which they are all exposed at the same time, so you find a difference in the response speed and a difference in the degrees of the level of resistance to it or not, and this difference is generally due to factors, which are: 1- Difference in mental and intellectual abilities, 2- Difference in physical and psychological needs, 3- Difference in personal interests and abilities. We find that these factors in their interaction with the influencer are related to two things on the part of the recipient: First – the ability to deal with this influencer and how he is expected to understand it and its consistency with one’s own convictions. The other – the expected benefit to be obtained as a result of responding to this factor. From this inherent difference in societies and individuals, based on a universal destiny, came the difference and diversity of tools and means of influence.
The second – one of the distinguishing observations that represents a cornerstone in measuring the ability of societies and individuals to respond to influences is trust. Regardless of the content of the goal and objective, we find that the greater the trust in the source of the influence, the greater the rate of response and the lower the rate of resistance. Which means a quick transition in the interaction stage and achieving the expected impact, and less need for any other support for the influence process. It is also noted that this trust allows greater scope for the passage of messages and goals that can tolerate error, or contradict the recipient’s convictions or expectations, without there being an increase in the rate of resistance. On the other hand, we find that loss of trust has a very significant impact on measuring the ability of societies and individuals to respond to influences, and also increases the rate of resistance in an exaggerated manner. The problem here is that this effect generated by loss of trust creates an imbalance in the scales of examination and logical consideration of these influences, which leads to not measuring matters correctly and missing related interests. Perhaps the origin of this observation is that confidence is related to the issue of sensation and observation, which makes it easier to reduce the load and burden on the recipient and faster in the response process. Therefore, the famous legal thinker Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhouri says in his diaries and observations in Paris in 1923, commenting: “I see that loyalty to non-holographic ideas and principles is more difficult than loyalty to concrete, anthropomorphic persons. I say this on the occasion of the meeting of the French Royal Party, which I attended tonight and saw the speakers take turns speaking on the necessity of a strong system in France that represents the nation in all stages of history. This idea, which is merely an idea devoid of tangible substance, would not have affected souls as the mention of the name (Duke of Ullian), who is the claimant to the throne of France today. Here I felt that the attendees had no idea or principle drawn in their minds, rather, a man of flesh and blood whose existence is undisputed, and he lives in close proximity to them. Here I understood why people tend to worship heroism and heroes, and that if the noble principle is not embodied in a hero, it has little effect on souls.”
Impact Resistance:
It is clear from the above that the process of influence and being affected is a universal process that cannot end or stop, and that, in its general framework, it circulates within the cultural system of each society in all its dimensions, which include scientific knowledge or stable customs and traditions, and that this system contains a group of influences that vary in the degree of their influence according to the time, place and contexts in which they are invoked. At the present time, when the momentum of influence and its motives seeking to achieve interests in various ways has increased, it is not possible to identify tools corresponding to specific influences for a simple reason, which is that interests in this world are changing rapidly and frighteningly. Accordingly, the map of influence targeting societies and individuals changes along with it.
The best thing in confronting and resisting waves of influence, through which we aim to find that minimum level of consideration and examination, is to raise the level of efficiency of knowledge circulation on the broadest scale, and to extend its area of influence to the fields of relationships in which the interests of societies and individuals intersect, including cultural, social, economic, and political relationships.
Raising the level of efficiency in the exchange of knowledge and facilitating access to it by all parties enables an increase in the rate of achieving justice for the benefit of the largest possible number of those exposed to waves of influence within a balanced framework that preserves the convictions and interests of its owners. This also aims to clamp down on some practices that involve a conflict of interests and are exploited in unethical ways, resulting in harm to others in the long term.
In this context, we will discuss three tools that enhance the efficient circulation of knowledge in societies at several levels. The reflection of their impact on individuals and institutions contributes to the easy access to it in an integrated and cumulative framework, and it can be used in various fields that are compatible with rapid and unexpected developments in the future, which are:
Critical mindset: Examining the first idea or information is a mental defense process. It aims to free the mind from the dominance of false ideas that can gradually take over the recipient if neglected. This is expressed by Dr. Ayed Al-Dosari.(8) The responsibility of the recipient individual in carrying out this task is of great importance and danger at the same time. British philosopher and political theorist Isaiah Berlin warned that neglecting ideas without adopting a critical view may lead to them gaining overwhelming power that cannot be resisted or curbed. This necessarily means exerting more effort in searching the sources of information and carrying out the process of examination and criticism, which will encounter a huge pile of defects that affect its cognitive value, such as deficiency or falsification.
Therefore, one of the principles that modern knowledge institutions are trying to advance is the continued growth of human knowledge and the granting of the ability to predict and act rationally in a subjective manner, through the possibility of free access to and circulation of knowledge. We see that the American Library Association in its document titled The Library Bill of Rights obliges library curators to present a balanced and unbiased picture of the issues in the book holdings they have in libraries, in order to prepare the reader to make the most independent decision possible.(9)
Institutional entities: The concerted efforts and scientific expertise and their accumulation in institutional entities is a starting point and tremendous breakthroughs in the development of the path of nations in contemporary history. These entities, which were formed from research and study centers, think tanks, and professional unions, reflect solutions and programs for executable projects that governments and companies are working on around the world, and for these purposes Institutional entities, with their human expertise and accumulated scientific knowledge, have a great impact in illuminating societies and pushing them to develop and overcome the challenges that surround them, and their institutional work model shows great strength in knowledge production that would not have been achieved without the establishment and continuous development of this model.
What calls us to talk about these entities and their importance is that they constitute a milestone in the production of human knowledge and the translation of their historical experiences at various levels and provide space for the growth of social and economic prosperity, and their continued development and positive interaction gives them great confidence among their followers. It is not possible to reach the desired achievements if the path of research, criticism, and analysis remains limited to research and scientific groups or professional groups characterized by individualism or narrow circles. These groups are unable to carry out the necessary efforts due to weak knowledge communication among them. Additionally, the capabilities of activating the results of knowledge and experiences are limited to small geographical areas.
Given the weak independence of the business model of these institutional entities or the conflict of interests they are exposed to in the course of performing their work, whether through submission to political regulation, financial funding from commercial entities, or media campaigns from political pressure groups, the best option that this model can offer and deal with is the diversity of knowledge, analysis, and translation of experiences offered by these entities, including the difference in their aspirations and strategies at several levels. Their motivation will certainly be the difference in interests and orientations that are predominantly utilitarian and controlling, and this diversity will allow the difference in circulating knowledge and ease of access to it to benefit from its huge data and its various analyzes for several parties from societies and entities around the world, and therefore it will help them directly and indirectly to take the position that suits their interests and does not intersect with their beliefs.
Independents: Independent writing is a tool for confronting and resisting influence, because the ideas and analyses presented by independent writing come from the minds of their authors, without the independent researcher or writer having in what he proposes any affiliations to defend or interests he seeks to achieve, and most of what makes the researcher’s proposal or the independent writer attractive those interested is the belief of its owners in the issues that intersect with the issues of others and their defense, and steadfastness in the face of the temptations that fall upon them in exchange for attracting their opposing positions, and this is what makes the practice of this work a subject of appreciation and respect from different parties that are not united by a single bias.
The importance of enriching the knowledge of independent researchers and writers and circulating what they propose lies in the possibility of presenting different points of view from many angles, which others may not pay attention to, or some of whom may deliberately hide them with the intention of making other parties fail to appreciate the ideal situation or not being able to do so. What is striking in the case of independent researchers or writers is that their positions on future issues and situations cannot be predicted or estimated, and this gives strength in not falling into biases or preconceptions that do not reflect reliability in the professional performance of this independence.
Finally, the overwhelming flood of ideas, behaviors, and material choices that contemporary life suggests makes contemplating and considering them with a careful and comparative eye an urgent necessity, with the motive of preserving man’s humanity and reassurance, striving to balance his livelihood, and providing him with the knowledge that will help him assess situations and avoid consequences.
Most important references:
The Mind Managers: Herbert I. Schiller (1973).
al-Muqaddimah. Ibn Khaldūn : volume 1, pp. 28.
Al-farq bayna al-taghayyur wa-al-taghyīr, D. Aḥmad Ibrāhīm Khiḍr.
al-Taghyīr wa-taʼthīr wasāʼil al-Iʻlām, D. Muḥammad al-Kharʻān.
al-Dīn : Buḥūth mumahhadah li-Dirāsat Tārīkh al-adyān, D. Muḥammad Allāh Darāz, Dār al-Qalam : (61), (67).
What does it mean to be a follower? Saul McLeod.
al-Akhlāq wa-al-siyar fī mudāwāt al-nufūs, Ibn Ḥazm al-Ẓāhirī.
fī Naqd al-afkār wfḥṣ al-maʻlūmāt al-Jadīdah, D. ʻĀʼiḍ al-Dawsarī, Published by: Athārah; fiqh tadbīr al-Maʻrifah.
Burning Books and Leveling Libraries: Extremist Violence and Cultural Destruction: Rebecca Knuth (2006).
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