Elizabeth Hearn
Monte Sant Angelo Mercy College
High Distinction
Shaping Society.

In undertaking the personal interest project, or the PIP as I came to know it so well, I was completely unaware of the impact that the PIP would have on me. Although I had heard others who had undertaken the PIP speak of how central it had been to their final year of school, my initial approach to the PIP was no different to any school task. However, as I came to shape my topic, began my research and form my ideas I came to realise how much there was to be learnt. Not just in the facts, but also in the processes undertaken, the way in which society operates.

The PIP topic which I came to research was the way in which media, government and the public communicate and by looking at the level of conflict and cooperation between these groups across two very distinct cultures built upon different ideologies, China, centred around a communist regime and Australia, a democratic system I believed I knew well.

In studying the institutions of the government and the media and the way in which they communicate with the public I learnt a lot about the nature of power and authority within society. The concept of power and authority is one which I am only now understanding, in terms of the implications of power and the linkage between power and authority and what power means across two opposing ideological systems.

In communist China, those in power have the authority to strip citizens of their human rights, restrict and repress opposing institutions that challenge power and attempt to control all those with potential influence within society, including the media. In Australia, however power often involves more conflict amongst various groups. I found from my research that once a particular institution secures power and establishes a sense of continuity they are able to enforce social control, despite the perception of a ‘free’ and democratic society.