Hi, I'm Mrs. Allchin, and I'm going to be taking you through the citizenship lesson today.

I'm going to give you all the information that you need to be able to take part in the lesson and I'll also pause and tell you when you need to complete an activity or complete a check for understanding I hope you enjoy the lesson.

This lesson is entitled, What is Power and Influence and it is taken from the unit, "How powerful is the media?" By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to explain different types of power and influence.

The keyword for today's lesson are power, which is having control or authority over something or someone.

Parliamentary sovereignty, which is the principle that parliament is a supreme legal authority in the UK.

And that parliament can create, amend or end any UK law.

And influence, which is the power to affect or change someone's thoughts, actions, or decisions.

This is our lesson outline for what is power and influence.

So first we're going to think about what are different types of power.

We're then going to move on to think what are different types of influence, and then we're going to consider is power needed to influence.

So let's start by looking at what are different types of power.

Andeep's asking, "What do we mean by power?" So if you want pause and have a think to yourselves.

Power relates to being able to make decisions, control resources, or lead a certain area.

So for example, in a sentence, our boss has the power to fire us, or our head of year has the power to decide who can go on the school reward trip.

So power relates to being able to make those types of decisions.

Power is an important concept in citizenship and it links to many other concepts such as politics, law, and rights.

And there are many different types of power that exist in society.

Some of the types of power within society include political power, legal power, media power, and also hard power.

So Andeep's thinking, "Can you think of any examples?" So why don't you pause for a second.

Consider those types of power.

Have you heard them before? And can you think of any examples of any of them? So political power is a key element of the British constitution.

So that's basically what makes up all of our laws and policies and how we run as a country.

And it is referred to as parliamentary sovereignty, which is quite a tricky word to say and spell.

But parliamentary sovereignty means that in the UK, parliament can create or amend laws, it refers to that power of parliament.

And this also includes common law that's been made by judges.

And this is because we have something that's called an uncodified constitution.

And what that means is once laws are made, everyone must follow them.

Laws can't be made or amended through any of the means, but because we've got an uncodified constitution, it does mean that laws can be changed by parliament via parliamentary sovereignty.

So let's have a look at that and break it down.

So citizens vote for people to represent them in parliament.

Parliament then has the power to make laws acting for all citizens that's as part of their parliamentary sovereignty.

And then once those laws are made, they must be followed by everyone including members of parliament.

So including the people that have made them in the first place.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Put the correct terms in the correct space.

So something is a key element of the something it is referred to as something.

And 'cause we've got some quite tricky terms here, you've got the answers in front of you, you just need to put them in the right spot.

So pause while you have a go at this task.

So let's see if you've got that right.

Political power is a key element of the British Constitution.

It is referred to as parliamentary sovereignty.

So Andeep's asking, "Does everyone in parliament have the same amount of power?" So pause and have a go answering this yourself.

So there is power in parliament as a whole because the whole of parliament work together to create laws.

However, the government led by the Prime Minister has the most power as it has a mandate.

And what this means is it can legitimately lead and make decisions due to winning a general election.

So because they were ultimately voted in by majority of the public, they have that mandate, which gives them that extra aspect of power.

But Andeep's now saying, "What do we mean by legal power?" So again, pause and have a think to yourselves.

So laws come with great power, as all citizens must follow them.

If laws are broken, there are clear sanctions.

And although it is parliament who make laws, there are other key people like the police and judges who also ensure that legal power is implemented.

So again, let's break it down.

Parliament use its power, that parliamentary sovereignty to make laws.

The police have special police powers which mean that they can arrest citizens who are suspected of breaking the law.

So they enforce the law.

And then if the crown prosecution service, the CPS decides that the case should go to court, judges then have legal power to interpret the law and decide on sentencing.

So you can see there legal power, there's lots of different people and aspects to that.

So let's have a check for understanding.

Match the source of power to its description.

So we've got parliament, judges, and police, and you need to match it to interpret the law, enforce the law, creates the law.

So who does what? Right then, so parliament create the law.

Judges interpret the law And the police enforce the law.

So Andeep's asking, "What do we mean by media power?" So again, pause and have a think to yourself.

So according to Ofcom, over 95% of citizens in the UK regularly consume some form of media.

So this could be traditional media like newspapers or radio, broadcast media such as the televised news or news media such as streaming videos, websites, or even social media.

So there's lots and lots of different types of media and it's consumed by over 95% of citizens in the UK.

So it's therefore really powerful.

With such high audiences comes power.

Many citizens rely on the media for information so they can make important decisions and reflect on the world around them.

And therefore the media is a very powerful thing in society.

So Andeep is now asking, "What do we mean by hard power?" So again, have you heard this term before? Pause and have a think.

So hard power means the ability to control a situation by using strong pressure, threats or even physical force.

It is likely to be used to ensure that everyone complies with a set instruction or rule and it's unlikely to involve cooperation, collaboration, that working together.

So the government of North Korea is an example 'cause they use hard power.

Three generations of the Kim family have ruled with absolute authority using repression and censorship.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which is not a method used in hard power? Is it A, strong pressure.

Is it B, physical force.

Or is it C, group collaboration.

And it's C, group collaboration is not a method used in hard power.

So for task A, I'd like you to explain the differences between political power and media power.

For this task, you will need to firstly, briefly explain political power.

Then you'll need to briefly explain media power.

And then I'd like you to try and explain the differences between the two.

And if you can really try to include the term parliamentary sovereignty in your answer is it's a fantastic citizenship term and it'd be great for you to build your confidence with.

Pause while you have a go at this task.

So when explaining the differences between political power and media power, you may have said, political power involves parliamentary sovereignty.

This means that only parliament can make laws and all citizens must follow them.

The government in particular has power through mandate to create laws and policy.

The media is powerful due to the huge audiences who engage with it.

People turn to the media to find out information which they then use to make important decisions such as who to vote for.

The key difference between the two is that political power can actually make laws, whereas the media cannot.

We're now gonna look at what are different types of influence.

So Izzys asking, "What does influence mean and how is it different to power?" So pause and have a go at answering this yourselves.

The two terms do have lots of similarities and they are often used together.

However, there is also a difference.

Power is the ability to make decisions, control resources, or lead a certain area because of some type of authority, they can do it regardless because they already got that power, that ability to be able to do it regardless.

Whereas influence is the ability to persuade or inspire someone to change their behaviour.

So they are able to do it, but through communication and persuasions, they need to actually have that persuasive element there.

So that's the difference between power and influence.

And just as there are different types of power, there are also different types of influence.

And some of these include political influence, legal influence, media influence and social influence.

So Izzy's asking, "Can you think of any examples of these?" So just like we did before, have a think.

Have you heard of any of these types of influence and can you think of any examples? So political influence is when citizens are able to shape government decisions and policies.

They may do this individually or at an organisational level.

And one of the groups that do this are pressure groups.

So they are groups of people that put pressure on the government to action a specific change.

For example, the UK branch for people for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is a pressure group who work to persuade parliament to strengthen laws that protect animals.

And the TaxPayers Alliance is another example of a pressure group who aim to influence parliament to lower taxes for working people and have more clarity as to how taxes are spent.

So People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, otherwise known as PETA, or the TaxPayers Alliance, TPA, are examples of pressure groups.

So let's have a check for understanding.

Which of these is a pressure group.

Judges, Members Of Parliament or PETA? And it's C, PETA.

Although parliaments have parliamentary sovereignty, it has been elected to represent us, the electorate.

And it acts on behalf of all citizens.

Citizens can therefore influence the government or wider parliament to action certain things or consider certain issues.

Citizens can write to their MPs, they can email them, or even visit them in their surgeries.

That special places in the community where people can go and meet their MP and talk to them.

They can inform them about local and national concerns that they might have and they can urge their MP to do something about these.

So Izzy's asking, "Can you think of any examples of citizens influencing those in power?" So pause and have a think to yourselves.

So one example of a citizen who influenced government to make changes to policy was the famous chef Jamie Oliver, who you may or may not have heard of.

His actions have likely had a direct impact on you.

So let's have a look in a bit more detail.

So Jamie Oliver as a chef who understands food was really disappointed with how unhealthy school dinners were, especially as the government was spending huge amounts of money funding these.

In the early 2000s, Jamie Oliver filmed a documentary about the quality of school dinners and he worked on the ground with schools to really try and improve their meal offerings and make them more healthy and nutritious.

He also met with key politicians and he educated parents.

So Izzy's asking, "What happened as a result?" So pause and have a think to yourself, do you know about this, have you heard it? Do you know what the impact might have been? So Jamie Oliver was able to persuade key people such as parents, students and school kitchen staff that school dinners could and should be healthier.

He was then, in 2008, able to persuade the government to introduce basic nutrition standards for schools.

And this is why now there are much stricter rules about what's on offer in relation to things like caffeinated drinks, high salt food items or sugar content foods, and also by using fresh ingredients.

So the school dinners that you have now in your school and other schools in the country are as a direct result of the work that Jamie Oliver did when he was putting pressure on the government to make school dinners more healthy and nutritious.

The media, both traditional and new media, so social media are also influential due to the large audiences that it has.

They are used to inform citizens of factual information, which can then influence important decisions.

So for example, by proving information in the lead up to an election, which can influence voting behaviour.

They can also influence how people perceive issues by the way in which information is presented.

This can be seen with traditionally left-leaning media, influencing people to think highly of the Labour Party and right-leaning media to think highly of the conservatives.

So the terms that left wing right wing tend to lean towards.

Right wing is more conservative values and left wing more labour values.

So we can see this within the media with different types of media that are more left or right leaning, supporting or going against potential political parties.

So let's have a check for understanding.

True or false, the media are very influential.

Is that true? Is that false? And can you tell me why? it's true? Why? 'Cause they are used to inform citizens of factual information, which can then influence important decisions and can also influence how people perceive issues.

By the way in which information is presented.

The media can also be used as a vehicle to bring campaigns to people's attention and influence them to act.

An example of this is the company Dove, and its ongoing campaigns to improve body image for women and normalise a range of diverse body types.

Dove utilise the media by placing advertisements of the campaign within print media, making televised adverts and also using social media and the hashtags, #nodigitaldistortion, #realbeauty, and #letschangebeauty, to promote the key messages of their campaign.

This aims to influence the beauty industry to consider their advertising and also to positively influence how women viewed themselves.

People can also be influenced by others, and this is referred to as social influence and can be divided into categories.

So we have conformity, so if people are conforming, they're changing their behaviour to fit in with a group.

So for example, that might be agreeing with friends' political opinions when a discussion is taking place, you're conforming so that your views and ideas seem to fit in with theirs.

We've then got compliance and that is when individuals comply by acting in response to direct requests from others.

So for example, signing petitions, they're going along and they're complying with it, they're agreeing to do something.

And then we've also got obedience, and this is when people follow orders from authority figures.

So for example, following the rules during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

So let's have a quick check for understanding.

Can you match the social influence type to its description? So we've got conformity, obedience, and compliance, and you need to match them to either, people change their behaviour to fit in with a group, individuals act in response to direct requests from others, or people follow orders from authority figures.

So conformity is when people change their behaviour to fit in with a group.

Obedience is when people follow orders from authority figures.

And compliance is when individuals act in response to direct requests from others.

Let's have another true or false.

An individual does not have the ability to influence decision makers.

Is that true? Is that false? And can you tell me why? That's false and why? An individual can be influential, for example, Jamie Oliver's campaign to make school meals healthier.

A citizen can also raise awareness of an issue using social media or by contacting their MP to try and influence them to speak out about an issue.

For task B, I would like you to think about what Laura is saying and then explain the steps that Laura could take to try and influence the media politicians and the police to improve the issue that she's concerned about.

So Laura is 16 and let's have a look at the issue.

So she's saying, I'm concerned about the roads near to our school.

It's rare that cars follow the speed limit and they often drive through the crossing when people are waiting.

My brother starts year seven next year and I'm dreading it.

The roads just don't feel safe.

So think about and explain the steps that Laura could take to try and influence the media, politicians, and the police to improve the issue that she's concerned about.

So how can she be influential to people that have power? So pause while you have a go at this task.

So some of the steps that Laura could take to try and have an influence on the issue of road safety are.

Laura could lobby her local MP and counsellors, telling them about the issue and requesting that they look at the problem.

As Laura is 16, she could post about the issue on social media and even use a hashtag to get the issue trending.

She could create a petition and ask members of her school community to sign it.

She could post this online to try and get the local community involved too.

And she could also speak to her school police officer or local policing to raise the issue.

We're now going to look at is power needed to influence? So Izzy is saying, "I think it's only possible to influence others if you have some kind of power.

I think power is needed or people won't listen or they won't care." Whereas Andeep is saying, "I completely disagree.

I think 'normal' people who don't have any specific type of power can be very influential.

It's a topic that matters, not the power." So why don't you pause and have a think who do you agree with and why? On the one hand, it could be argued that power is needed or is at least hugely helpful in influencing others.

Jamie Oliver achieved huge success with his school dinners campaign, but it could be argued that being a very well known and famous chef gave him power due to his status, following and finances.

If a citizen without this level of fame campaigned about the same issue, would they have received the same result? It's hard to say.

Have a pause and think to yourself.

Do you think they would've had the same result? In 2020, the teenager Christina Aena started a petition to ask the UK government to continue providing free school meals during the May half term holiday.

Although Christina managed to get thousands of people to sign the petition.

It was when the famous footballer, Marcus Rashford supported the campaign and used his fame and his platform to amplify the message that the government was persuaded to listen and change the policy.

It is difficult to know whether the campaign would've been a successful or reached its target as quickly without the endorsement of someone with significant media power.

So it was interesting that it wasn't actually Marcus Rashford that started the campaign.

It was someone else.

But when someone with his kind of power due to his fame and his sort of influence really with the amount of followers he had on social media, took that campaign on hold that it really started to be successful.

So let's have a check for understanding.

What did Marcus Rashford use his status to do for the preschool meals campaign? Did the A, silence the message.

B, amplify the message.

or C, simplify the message.

And it's B, he was able to use his power to amplify the Message.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns political power was used to influence citizens' behaviour.

Not only was this influence on behaviour linked legal power, but they also used other methods available to them due to their political power.

Regular key messages were broadcast via the media to citizens, and these included messages such as, Stay at Home, which was commanding language to communicate urgency.

Protect the NHS, which is motivational language to encourage the following of restrictions.

And Save Lives, which encourage compliance and shared responsibility.

On the other hand, there are many examples of normal people being influential, and you might have heard of some of these.

So we've got the American survivors of the Parkland School shooting who have really campaigned for stricter gun laws in the USA.

We've got Malala who is very, very famous for what she has done in terms of girls' education and that continuous campaigning for global equality in terms of girls' education.

We've got Amika, and she was someone that really campaigned for period poverty and she made sure to try and get it so that actually people didn't have to pay lots of money or have high tax on period products.

So she's someone, again, normal person being influential.

We've got a young boy called Max who sadly lost his childhood friend to cancer and he actually spent lots and lots and lots of months and months camping outside and sleeping outside in a tent in his back garden to raise money for hospice and again campaigning for funds for hospice funding.

And we've then got Greta, who we know, a really famous example of someone that has campaigned for climate change.

And then we've got Gina, who was the lady who managed to campaign to make upskirting illegal.

So she actually introduced by her campaigning the Voyeurism Act.

So these are all normal people.

Normal people who for whatever reason 'cause of either personal experience or just because of a sense of injustice did something to campaign to change things in society.

There are also many historical examples of normal people influencing significant social, cultural and political change.

The campaign for women's suffrage in the 19th and 20th centuries became influential through its protest tactics and creative publicity campaigns.

The campaign's actions kept the issue in the spotlight and over time earned it public support.

And as a result we have equal suffrage in the UK today.

Rosa Parks became influential during the US Civil Rights Movement when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in 1955.

This sparked the Montgomery bus boycott, drawing national and international attention to discrimination.

Her actions led to the Supreme Court ruling that bus segregation was unconstitutional and inspired further boycotts, including the Bristol bus boycott in the UK in 1963.

So again, examples of normal people being highly influential.

Let's have a check for understanding.

True or false.

There are not many examples of normal people having influence.

Is that true? Is that false? And can you tell me why? That's false and why? There have been numerous examples of normal people having influence from modern examples such as Gina Martin, to historical examples such as Rosa Parks.

So for task C, I'd like to evaluate how important you think power is in relation to being able to influence.

So you're going to give it a score right of 10, and then you're going to justify your answer using the knowledge gained from this lesson.

So if you're scoring around a one or two, you think that power's not all important, whereas if you're scoring a 10 or round a 10, you think it's very important.

So pause while you have a go at this task.

So when evaluating how important you think power is in relation to being able to influence, your answer may have included.

So you might have given a low score.

So say you're two out of 10, and you might have said something like, I don't think power is needed to be influential as long as you have an understanding about the things that you can do to have influence over others.

For example, Rosa Parks was not considered a powerful woman, but she was hugely influential.

Furthermore, anyone can get in touch with their MPs, contact the police about issues or use social media to try and influence others about issues.

Alternatively, you might have scored somewhere in the middle and you might have said, I'd say five out 10.

I don't think power is always necessary to be influential.

As we have things we can do as citizens to try and influence others, such as posting on social media to raise awareness or writing to our local decision makers.

I do however think that having power helps you to be influential.

For example, Marcus Rashford's powerful status significantly helped the free school meals campaign.

Therefore, someone with more power will likely have a larger audience helping them to be influential.

Alternatively, you might have scored really highly and you might have said something like nine out of 10, although there are the exceptions to the rule.

On the whole, I believe power is needed to be influential.

Governments influence what we can and can't do every day because they have political power.

The media can influence and educate people because they have media power.

Without some kind of power, it can be difficult for your voice to be heard.

This was witnessed with the free school meal campaign when it only became influential once a famous footballer, Marcus Rashford, got behind it.

Likewise, if a non-celebrity chef with no power had tried to achieve what Jamie Oliver had, I doubt they would've had the same outcome.

Power makes you influential.

So in summary of the lesson, what is power and influence? Some of the types of power within society include political power, legal power, media power, and forceful power.

Some of the types of influence within society include political influence, legal influence, media influence and social influence.

Some people may argue that power is needed to influence others as this can give you status, fame, and popularity, such as Jamie Oliver using his fame to promote his healthy school dinners campaign, whereas other people argue that power is not needed as there are many examples, both in the past and present of normal people having influence.

Such as Rosa Parks' contribution to the US Civil Rights Movement.

And Amika George's success in raising awareness of period poverty.

That brings us to the end of this lesson.

Well done for all your hard work, and I hope that you'll come back for more citizenship lessons in the future.