Role of Role Models

Role Model. This phrase forms an interesting play of words. Although it has come to have a variety of connotations, from a source of inspiration, to a great leader; the word quite literally means a model for a role, a person one can fashion oneself after, almost like an actor in a play. The notion of a role model is inextricably tied together with the youth. It is the young, with the possibility of the future open to them, who are supposed to be influenced by the people they aspire to be like. This is why the whole question of role models becomes important, as an insight into the views of the youth. The role models that people choose show the kind of values that are important to them and the kind of society they come from. Therefore in our communalized, post –Gujarat milieu, it is very alarming when one reads editorials in our leading newspapers about the rising popularity of Hitler amongst the youth. This is what led us to investigate the role models of our small slice of society. Armed with a questionnaire, we set forth in canteens, U-specials and bus-stops over many months (many, many months) to get over 100 young people to answer our queries. Our anonymous questionnaire dealt with role models, who they are, how they are chosen and how they influence people’s actions. The idea of a role model is also linked with society and politics, and how this ties in with the youth’s imaginings of their future world. Therefore we included questions on politics and politicians. Why people choose certain role models is also dependent on a sense of their social status, of their role in society and how society affects them. So there were questions on how people perceive their social status. There are many aspects to role models, from looks and wealth to states of haunted depression. It seemed however, that a popular role model was often a function of a popular personality. There was a tendency to choose an extreme. While 13 out of 100 chose the heated Eminem as their role model, only 1 chose the temperate Amartya Sen. Increasingly, the shocking, the brutal and the ugly have come to claim popular attention. Over the years, for example, there has been a growing preoccupation with Hitler. Dr. Radhika  Chopra, Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics pointed out that studies on fascist figures have been more widely received in recent decades. Although there have been studies since the post-war period, recently there are signs of Hitler becoming an obsessive curiosity amongst some people, almost an ideal or aspiration. Copies of Mein Kampf are available simply everywhere, from ugly, pirated ones at railway stations to beautifully bound ones at posh book stores. Figures who are blatantly violent or sadistic are the ones who attract greater attention. This can be seen when Eminem most readily comes to mind as the musical genius of the decade. Not because of his erudite vocabulary, but more for the in-your-face, tough and abusive character of his music. Why is there a fascination for such characters? What is it about them that makes them appeal to the youth of today ? In choosing a role model, the chooser was also indicating what he wanted to be thought of as. In picking Eminem from a list that also included Mother Teresa, a particular kind of statement was being made. This communicated a kind of devil-may-care unconcern for social mores. One-tenth of those who said they had role models felt that Hitler could be a possible role model. An insight into why some people identify with particularly violent or extreme figures was given by Dr. Chopra. She said, “Young people, at times have an overwhelmingly large sense of their own insignificance. Therefore they are attracted to power. Figures that can affect things and bring about change, without a moral judgment on their actions. They are attracted to people simply because they had the power to act, they were significant, larger than life characters.” Thus identification with Hitler in some cases was not so much a hatred for minority communities or a desire for war but more a desire to be all- powerful, to have attention and impact, to be a super-being. When choosing a role model, one also considers everything that the idea of that person represents. An attraction towards a particular person includes the attraction for a particular lifestyle. Sometimes the choice of a role model may be indicative of what the actual realities of the chooser’s life are. The things a person wants may have to do with what his life is actually about. We found that there was often a correlation between the position a person thought he had in society, and whom he wanted to be like. Many of those who rated themselves to have an inferior  position in society were attracted towards people in positions of power. For instance out of the ten who felt that Hitler would be a possible role model, seven felt that their own status in society was inferior. This feeling of inferiority may arise for several reasons, but one that seemed striking was the prevalence of larger than life figures. For example, as an answer to how people’s actions are specifically influenced by their role models, a girl wrote that she does her hair like Rachel from Friends. This brings to light the enormous roles that television and mass media play in the creation of a role model. T.V. often governs the life of the young. The larger than life world of the media also leads to a sense of insignificance. Before these unreal figures, people tend to feel small and unnoticed. This is what sometimes attracts them to powerful characters. They don’t want to be just “another brick in the wall”. Attraction to unsavory figures also stems from a desire to present an anti-thesis to the conventional idea. It is part of a desire to rebel, to flout and defy social norms. The power of the images flitted into ones’ life daily is incredible. People start identifying more with milieus they have never lived in and people they have never met than with actual realities of their world. Thus these fantastic icons and cults created through television gain a mass subconscious following. Although very few openly admit that they want to lead lives other than their own, though from dress to mannerisms and conversations, it is detectable. What this displays is the power of the mass media to create alternate realities and icons. Faces known by all kinds of people all over the world. Television, print media and now the Internet have an enormous part to play in whom we know and whom we don’t, and as a result who we admire and who we don’t. Thus even among intellectuals and activists, everyone knows an Arundhati Roy better than a Vandana Shiva, because she is a familiar face. National political leaders or political activists did not come off well in this survey. Their rejection conveyed a defiant turning away from any acknowledgement of the need for a responsible leadership. It attempted at boasting of nonchalance, an easy unconcern for everything, a way of saying one was emancipated from any ties to society. But since older political figures were chosen by some as role models, we tried to understand how the ideology of these leaders fits into the chooser’s life. It is possible that the rising popularity of authoritarian role models and leaders, especially Hitler may have to do with RSS propaganda and their pushing of Hitler as a hero. But amongst the segment we surveyed, this did not seem to be the case. Although 65% were aware of their role models, only 15% let it influence them. A large number did not choose political leaders at all, indicating a sense of apathy at the political situation. A majority felt that politicians today are not fitting as role models. Some even went further to say that there is a lack of any fitting role models in Indian society today. An extreme disillusionment and cynicism were visible. Many of the people we surveyed were more inclined towards western figures as role models than Indian ones. So some people found an Allen Iverson a more fitting sports role model than a Sachin Tendulkar. This may be a consequence of the culturally colonized world we live in; the faraway often appeals more than the nearby. The issue of role models and how they relate to power and politics also led us to ask people what qualities were of most importance in their role model and what kind of political leaders they preferred. 23% said that the foremost quality that they looked for in a leader was charisma. Other qualities that featured prominently were authority/power and honesty. However, the options of vision, creativity, and determination attracted comparatively fewer responses. While 60 % favoured a democratic leader, the idea of a strong leader attracted a significant 40% of those we surveyed. This may be a result of the needs and desires of society. It is perhaps a sense of weakness, fragmentation and things falling apart that leads people to want a leader with an iron fist that can control such a situation. Violence, crime, corruption, disorder, chaos, inefficiency, unemployment lead people to admire those they feel would be able to fix these problems and find instant solutions. Although there may be no instant solution to the deeprooted problems of development, many people feel that weak leaders who conciliate various views and compromise on issues, will not be able to work as efficiently as those who have the strength and power to control and command. Thus there are no clear answers to the issues we set out to investigate with our survey. Since we don’t have data on the role models of yesteryears, even our whole premise that the popularity of offensive role models is rising is completely hypothetical. The results of our questionnaire were fissured. In trying to make sense out of these fragmented findings we came across several possible theories. But what we also came to realize was that the whole concept of a role model as someone you follow and emulate ardently is not as dominant as it appears to be. Twenty people we surveyed did not have role models at all. Of the remaining hundred, many filled in the survey for a laugh. Of the others who took the matter seriously, many said that their actions were not greatly influenced by their role models. It seemed that the youth also aspire to make a mark of their own. They are inclined towards the idea of paving their own destinies and making their own fortunes. Despite copied hairstyles and followed trends, there was a desire amongst people to establish their individuality and not blindly follow some arbitrary role model.

Pallavi Raghavan and Priya Shankar
II History