Technology has a big impact on our society. Tools with a good usability and affordance become wide spread and accepted, changing the way in which we engage with activities and changing our behaviour and identities. From the beginning of the internet, and even more since the increasing popularity and the consequent impact on our society, there is a vital interest in the ways which humans interact with the computers, and the ways in which humans interact with each other using computers. Early popular and scholarly debate viewed on-line relationships as shallow, impersonal and often hostile because of the tendency of the early psychologists, to use pre-existing theories to internet behaviour. By arguing that interpersonal attitudes are primarily conveyed using visual clues, while the verbal channel contains only interparty, task-oriented, cognitive material, Short et al. (1976) argued in their social presence theory, that if the visual channel is removed like e.g. in the case of telephone and email communication, what remains is simply the capacity to transmit the task-oriented material and not the social, interpersonal information. Similar the social context cues theory, where Kiesler et al. (1984) argues that people loose ‘social cues’ or social context cues when they communicate using computers instead of face-to-face communication. The related studies seemed to confirm the theories. However, later studies e.g. by Walther (1992) through his social information processing model concluded that users of CMC have the same interpersonal needs as face-to-face communicators, and that CMC is quite capable of transferring social information between people if not restricted by time, meaning the users are given time to develop the adequate skills to convey the social information and considering the slower ‘transmission-form’ of typing compared to talking. Walter’s Meta-analyses of 21 earlier experiments on CMC confirmed that and on the contrary, that, given the time, CMC matches the ‘socialness’ of face-to-face communication. In other studies, CMC groups where rated even higher in most aspects of relational communication than the face-to-face groups, regardless of timescale. Malcolm R. Parks and Kory Floyd tried now in their study to establish the prevalence of personal relationship in on-line settings, the basic demographics or relational participants, the levels of development achieved in on-line relationships, and their links to off-line or real-life settings by conducting a survey around four main questions:
1. How often do personal relationships from in internet newsgroups
2. Who has on-line personal relationships
3. How developed do on-line personal relationships typically become
4. Do on-line relationships migrate to other settings
Their goal was to provide an empirical reference point for evaluating conflicting visions of social life in cyberspace, opposing the rather contradictory and often anecdotal data available up to now.
The internet newsgroups and their contributors were selected through a two-stage sampling procedure. At stage one, 24 newsgroups were randomly selected from published reference lists of groups in each of four major Usenet newsgroup hierarchies. Stage two consisted of a random selection of 22 people from a list of those who had posted messages to these selected 24 groups over a several day period. Surveys were then sent to these 528 prospective participants by direct email. The analyses of the 176 respondents confirmed the typical newsgroup member as being 32 years old, more likely male than female, and more likely to be single than married. Unfortunately there is not mentioning about ethical considerations, information passed along to the participants or guidelines followed during the analyses and publication of the gained information. However, the age of the participants and the nature of the questions are not critical if confidentiality and anonymity is sufficiently considered. Although the time period of messages posted for the selection of participants is rather short and might not necessarily single out the ‘typical’ newsgroups user, the chosen methodology serves the aim of collecting empirical data, makes the study repeatable and enhances its generalisability.
The primary finding was that just over 60% of the people in the random sample reported that they had formed a personal relationship of some kind with someone they had first contacted through a newsgroup. The study also revealed that more women than men reported forming a personal relationship and that those who formed a personal relationship contributed to more groups than those who did not. The presentation and interpretation of the findings along the four main questions added considerably to the understanding and provided a useful link between the data obtained and the interpretation. The rather vague term ‘relationship’ was subdivided into categories of opposite-sex relationships and same-sex relationships according to additional analyses. Although statistically not significant, it provides a better understanding. The fact that so many of the respondents across so many different types of newsgroups developed a personal relationship justifies the general conclusion that criticism of on-line interactions as being impersonal and hostile are overdrawn and confirms more recent theories and studies e.g. of Walther (1992-1996) and Chilcoat and DeWine (1985). The question of who has on-line personal relationships was researched along the line of demographic characteristics and patterns of Internet involvement by comparing people who did and did not have an on-line personal relationship. The finding that women are more likely to form a personal relationship than men lacks the explanation why, and needs further research in order to provide a valuable empirical reference point. The survey also shows that those who had formed on-line relationships had been reading their particular newsgroup longer and contributed more often than those without. The authors’ interpretation, that developing personal relationships on-line is more a function of simple experience than of demographic or personality factors is not sufficiently backed up with evidence and cannot be derived and concluded from the data of the survey. Depth of development of on-line personal relationships was measured along seven items based on the theory of the relationship development process. Because there was no comparison sample available to evaluate levels of development, a theoretic midpoint of each scale as a reference point was used. Albeit a valid method, it does not permit a conclusion of the same quality like a comparison towards other samples and the findings and subsequent conclusion, the suggestion of moderate levels of commitment in the sample as a whole divided in less developed and highly developed personal relationships do not permit a detailed enough conclusion necessary for a satisfactory answer to the question. Nearly two thirds of the respondents with personal relationships are using communication channels other than the computer. These findings permit the conclusion and are supported by other studies, that there is a need to overcome the limitations of computer-mediated channels by adding audio and video. This fact is adding to the understand of recent developments like the popularity of Skype and MSN Messenger whereas the conclusion that people are not drawing a clear line between their on-line and off-line activities is not sufficiently supported by evidence from the survey but rather a fact of a general tendency of an increased interconnectivity and blurred boundaries between the various activities of people in their daily lives.
The four basic questions, which served as a guideline to examine the relational world actually being created through the internet discussion groups, provide a valuable base for an empirical reference point for evaluating conflicting visions of social life in cyberspace. By moving away from earlier and predated study composition (small groups, limited periods of time) towards surveying an ongoing ‘event’ or ‘phenomena’ supports and provides empirical evidence to theories like the social information processing model of Walter (1992) where he proposed that it is only the reduced ‘bandwidth’ and the inability to carry aural and visual cues of CMC, which may take longer to convey relational and personal information. Also the findings about the communicative code change confirm theories about acquiring the necessary skills and means to exchange and convey social information. The additional finding that nearly two thirds of those developing personal relationships on-line also used other communication channels challenges the beliefs that newsgroups participants are limited and are denied vocal and visual information. It indicates an expansion in channel use and represents information not found in current theories. In order to get a more complete picture about the relational world actually being created through the internet, research needs to be extended to other CMC settings and relationship development for a better understanding of the matter.
As with almost all new technologies, among affordance and usability it takes mainly time to find its place and usage in society. The mainstream use of the internet today confirms the important social place of it in society and empirical data provided by surveys like this one adds to a broader understanding of tendencies. Through this study we might understand that theories based on reduced-cues can not provide answers given the current rate of development in network technology. It sheds light on changes like the blurring of the boundaries between the relationships in cyberspace and those in real life through providing empirical evidence supporting models like the hyperpersonal communication of Walther (1996) and it enables us to move away from viewing cyberspace as an exotic and special place towards an ordinary, even mundane social meeting place and through that, enabling us to develop new perspectives and theories. The use of quantitative methods and the subsequent outsider view allows for a replication of the data and provides a high reliability and generalisability. It can be compared with other data whereas a qualitative approach would have given more detailed account but less empirical reference for which this study is aiming for. The ‘real-live’ approach which was chosen above an experimental setting aims for the same direction, to evaluate conflicting visions of social life in cyberspace through empirical data in the original environment.
(1612 words)
References
Joinson, A. and Littleton, K., (2003) Computer-mediated communication: living, learning and working with computers, in Brace, N. and Westcott, H., (eds), (2003), Applying Psychology, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Parks M.R. and Floyd, K., (1996) Making friends in cyberspace, in the Journal of Communication, 1996, vol.46, no.1, Winter, pp.80-97.
Dienstag, 23. Oktober 2007
two perspectives on the psychology of sex and gender. What can these perspectives tell us about what it is to be a man or woman?
The topic of sex and gender is one of the most challenging and important one in psychology since the inception of psychology as a discipline. It not only illustrates the diverse approaches within the field, it also emphasizes the political and ideological implications that arise from explanations of differences between the sexes and the different theoretical connotations by choosing either the terms ‘sex’ or ‘gender’. ‘Sex’ commonly refers to biologically being male or female and sexual intercourse, and ‘gender’ refers to differences in behaviours, relationships and practices between the sexes.
This essay will evaluate the biological and the social constructionist perspective of sex and gender, and critically appraise the perspectives’ approach and contribution to the topic and towards an answer to the question about ‘what is it to be a man or a woman’.
The conclusion will be that each of the perspectives provides valuable insight on the psychology of sex and gender, but non can provide a full explanation, each co-existing and enriching our understanding of this topic from its own angle. Only by adding the psyche, the inner unique meanings of an individual, to the biological and social explanation, they can be combined to complementary and by that giving as a clue about what it is to be a man or a woman.
The biological perspective on sex and gender is concerned about what effect biological processes have on behavioural differences between men and woman, and what influence behaviour has on the biological processes in return. There are three different methods of determining the sexes.
· by extremities, which is the most popular method (98%) to ‘sex’ children after birth
· by hormones, which determine the external appearance of sex organs, behavioural patterns and structure of some brain regions by balancing the male hormone testosterone and female hormones oestrogen and progesterone
· by genes, where usually one pair of the 23 is used to direct the sex of the person typically consistent of an X and a Y for men and two X for women, also producing the hormones
Despite the various ‘anomalies’ in these three methods like reduced enzyme to produce testosterone resulting in boys having visible sex organs that look most like those of females, androgen insensitivity syndrome or Klinefelter’s syndrome suggests that the biological perspective can demonstrate sex differences in genetic make-up, hormones and brain regions. However, these ‘anomalies’ or separate effects do show the complexity and interplay of genes, hormones and the effect on sexed bodies. Biologists developed the hypothesis that there are differences in the parts of brain that are involved in the processing of different tasks in which men or women seem to excel. While experiments with rats, treated with the opposite sex hormone showed corresponding behavioural change, it is much harder not to say ambiguous, to describe sexual dimorphism (visible differences in a part of the body between males and females) in human animals like the different brain structure in the rats due to the opposite sex-type hormone, not least due to the limited reliability and limitations of the research methods. Also in the field of biological factors in behavioural and cognitive gender differences there is no real evidence that genes and sex hormones alone make the difference between becoming male and female as a follow-up study of the famous study by Money and Erhardt (1972) and the large-scale meta-analysis of one hundred studies by Hyde (1990) revealed. However, there is evidence that the left and right hemisphere specializes in different cognitive functions attributed to girls, left side for language, and boys, right side for visuo-spatial and mathematical functioning. The fact that differences in certain brain regions appear only after a certain age suggests that experience is interacting with hormones over time and proves that biological differences between the sexes are not only due to biological factors, it rather proves interaction between other biological processes and the physical and cultural environment.
While the biological perspective takes on a natural science approach on sex and gender e.g. by conducting experiments, social constructionist take an approach guided by hermeneutic principles (the interpretation of meaning) e.g. by observation technique and discourse analyses of interview material. This perspective approaches the essay question by examining how knowledge about sex and gender has been constructed and how it influences people within their own particular historical and social context. A powerful example are the consequences for a new born baby in being ‘sexed’ as a boy or a girl at birth for his or her entire life and it is by these consequences, behaviours, rules, roles and expectations which she or he becomes a man or a woman. This cultural lens through which these behaviours and practices are filtered overlays gene selection and hormonal influences in shaping human sexual behaviour and by that showing the perspectives’ strength of taking into account the historical and cultural situation of human beings through meaning-making and communication of intensions, for explaining gender differences. Social constructionist argue, that an individual’s behaviour cannot be directly explained by their biological, reproductive sex status alone and is partly achieved by a process known as Social Identity Theory SIT (Henri Tajfel, 1978) by which people come to identify with particular groups and separate themselves from others as gender is one of the most important and powerful of social categories. Evidence for that claim would be the many forms and interpretations, gender roles can take in different cultures and during a life span of an individual. One of the most important factors in identity building is language and discourse, playing a central role in constructing identity as illustrated by Cooper and Kaye (2003). The example of the school as a powerful place in providing highly differentiated discourses about gender-appropriated positions and behaviours for girls and boys, incorporated in every aspect of life, provides valuable insight in that ‘mechanism’. Other than the biological perspective, which claims that gender differences in academic subject achievement and occupational choice are due to brain lateralization like visuo-spatial abilities, sense of smell and other skills, social constructionist suggest that these differences are due to the design of the curriculum, the specific aims of learning and education, the organization of the schools and the regulated interaction, producing and sustaining particular forms of masculinity and femininity. An explanation for certain gendered behaviours at school e.g. the harassment of female teachers in primary and secondary school is provided by social constructionists through the fact that most teachers at these levels are female and that boys fail to identify with the source of authority and that rebellion or rejection of authority becomes in this way a from of masculine identification. Experiencing power in relation to women is one way in which boys’ masculinity is produced and sustained in schools. Also the tendency to see academic achievement as linked to femininity is explained by social constructionists through the girl’s increasing academic success. On the bases of these examples, social constructionist provide valuable explanation that bodies and brains may become gendered over a lifetime of use where as the biological perspective offers a rather ambiguous explanation through brain lateralization. However, the failure to explain the origins of these gender differences is a weakness of social constructionism.
A big challenge and difficulty about comparing these two perspectives is the different questions they pose on the research topic and by that, giving different insight into it. Whereas the biological perspective poses the question about what effect biological processes like physiological, cellular, biochemical or molecular have on behavioural differences between men and women, social constructionist examine how knowledge about sex and gender has been constructed within particular historical and social contexts.
Also the different principles of scientific and hermeneutic they are based on, seeking empirical evidence to provide direct proof versus interpretation of meaning, result most likely in coexistence and in some part complementary to explain how the different influences interact to produce the specific behavioural differences of men and women.
The biological perspective does not tell us much about what it is to be a man or woman. There is very little explanation through establishing sex differences at birth, brain lateralization which attributes different cognitive functions to men or women and through the fact of reproduction. There is neither insight through human experience nor an explanation of the psychology of sex and gender. By taking into account the environment and everyday life of the individual as suggested by the social constructionists, the examples in how gender differences are constructed e.g. by social significance attributed to physical change like e.g. the experience of a girls menarche, we can start to anticipate what it is, to be a man or a woman.
Neither of the two perspectives can give us a full explanation of the different behaviours, the experiences or development of men and women. Neither the biological perspective, by focusing on the biological processes, nor the social constructionist approach, by examining how knowledge about sex and gender has been constructed within particular historical and social contexts. It is more then just combining hormonal change and social meaning. Only by including the dimension of psyche as shown by the example of ovulation where the biological factor of an early period and the social meaning of an early period combined with the psyche of a girl, the inner meaning of body, gender and sexuality result in a unique meaning to her, to begin to tell us what it is to be a man or a woman.
(1597 words)
References
Cooper, T. and Kaye, H., (2003) Language and meaning, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Hollway, W., Cooper, T., Johnston, A. and Stevens, R., (2003) The psychology of sex and gender, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Hyde, J. (1990) ‘How large are cognitive differences? A meta-analysis using w2 and d’, in Nielson, J.M. (ed.) Feminist Research Methods: Exemplary Readings in the Social Sciences, Boulder, CO, Westview, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Money, J. and Erhardt, A. (1972) Man and Woman: Boy and Girl, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Tajfel, H., (1978) Differentiation Between Social Groups: Studies in the Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, London, Academic Press, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
This essay will evaluate the biological and the social constructionist perspective of sex and gender, and critically appraise the perspectives’ approach and contribution to the topic and towards an answer to the question about ‘what is it to be a man or a woman’.
The conclusion will be that each of the perspectives provides valuable insight on the psychology of sex and gender, but non can provide a full explanation, each co-existing and enriching our understanding of this topic from its own angle. Only by adding the psyche, the inner unique meanings of an individual, to the biological and social explanation, they can be combined to complementary and by that giving as a clue about what it is to be a man or a woman.
The biological perspective on sex and gender is concerned about what effect biological processes have on behavioural differences between men and woman, and what influence behaviour has on the biological processes in return. There are three different methods of determining the sexes.
· by extremities, which is the most popular method (98%) to ‘sex’ children after birth
· by hormones, which determine the external appearance of sex organs, behavioural patterns and structure of some brain regions by balancing the male hormone testosterone and female hormones oestrogen and progesterone
· by genes, where usually one pair of the 23 is used to direct the sex of the person typically consistent of an X and a Y for men and two X for women, also producing the hormones
Despite the various ‘anomalies’ in these three methods like reduced enzyme to produce testosterone resulting in boys having visible sex organs that look most like those of females, androgen insensitivity syndrome or Klinefelter’s syndrome suggests that the biological perspective can demonstrate sex differences in genetic make-up, hormones and brain regions. However, these ‘anomalies’ or separate effects do show the complexity and interplay of genes, hormones and the effect on sexed bodies. Biologists developed the hypothesis that there are differences in the parts of brain that are involved in the processing of different tasks in which men or women seem to excel. While experiments with rats, treated with the opposite sex hormone showed corresponding behavioural change, it is much harder not to say ambiguous, to describe sexual dimorphism (visible differences in a part of the body between males and females) in human animals like the different brain structure in the rats due to the opposite sex-type hormone, not least due to the limited reliability and limitations of the research methods. Also in the field of biological factors in behavioural and cognitive gender differences there is no real evidence that genes and sex hormones alone make the difference between becoming male and female as a follow-up study of the famous study by Money and Erhardt (1972) and the large-scale meta-analysis of one hundred studies by Hyde (1990) revealed. However, there is evidence that the left and right hemisphere specializes in different cognitive functions attributed to girls, left side for language, and boys, right side for visuo-spatial and mathematical functioning. The fact that differences in certain brain regions appear only after a certain age suggests that experience is interacting with hormones over time and proves that biological differences between the sexes are not only due to biological factors, it rather proves interaction between other biological processes and the physical and cultural environment.
While the biological perspective takes on a natural science approach on sex and gender e.g. by conducting experiments, social constructionist take an approach guided by hermeneutic principles (the interpretation of meaning) e.g. by observation technique and discourse analyses of interview material. This perspective approaches the essay question by examining how knowledge about sex and gender has been constructed and how it influences people within their own particular historical and social context. A powerful example are the consequences for a new born baby in being ‘sexed’ as a boy or a girl at birth for his or her entire life and it is by these consequences, behaviours, rules, roles and expectations which she or he becomes a man or a woman. This cultural lens through which these behaviours and practices are filtered overlays gene selection and hormonal influences in shaping human sexual behaviour and by that showing the perspectives’ strength of taking into account the historical and cultural situation of human beings through meaning-making and communication of intensions, for explaining gender differences. Social constructionist argue, that an individual’s behaviour cannot be directly explained by their biological, reproductive sex status alone and is partly achieved by a process known as Social Identity Theory SIT (Henri Tajfel, 1978) by which people come to identify with particular groups and separate themselves from others as gender is one of the most important and powerful of social categories. Evidence for that claim would be the many forms and interpretations, gender roles can take in different cultures and during a life span of an individual. One of the most important factors in identity building is language and discourse, playing a central role in constructing identity as illustrated by Cooper and Kaye (2003). The example of the school as a powerful place in providing highly differentiated discourses about gender-appropriated positions and behaviours for girls and boys, incorporated in every aspect of life, provides valuable insight in that ‘mechanism’. Other than the biological perspective, which claims that gender differences in academic subject achievement and occupational choice are due to brain lateralization like visuo-spatial abilities, sense of smell and other skills, social constructionist suggest that these differences are due to the design of the curriculum, the specific aims of learning and education, the organization of the schools and the regulated interaction, producing and sustaining particular forms of masculinity and femininity. An explanation for certain gendered behaviours at school e.g. the harassment of female teachers in primary and secondary school is provided by social constructionists through the fact that most teachers at these levels are female and that boys fail to identify with the source of authority and that rebellion or rejection of authority becomes in this way a from of masculine identification. Experiencing power in relation to women is one way in which boys’ masculinity is produced and sustained in schools. Also the tendency to see academic achievement as linked to femininity is explained by social constructionists through the girl’s increasing academic success. On the bases of these examples, social constructionist provide valuable explanation that bodies and brains may become gendered over a lifetime of use where as the biological perspective offers a rather ambiguous explanation through brain lateralization. However, the failure to explain the origins of these gender differences is a weakness of social constructionism.
A big challenge and difficulty about comparing these two perspectives is the different questions they pose on the research topic and by that, giving different insight into it. Whereas the biological perspective poses the question about what effect biological processes like physiological, cellular, biochemical or molecular have on behavioural differences between men and women, social constructionist examine how knowledge about sex and gender has been constructed within particular historical and social contexts.
Also the different principles of scientific and hermeneutic they are based on, seeking empirical evidence to provide direct proof versus interpretation of meaning, result most likely in coexistence and in some part complementary to explain how the different influences interact to produce the specific behavioural differences of men and women.
The biological perspective does not tell us much about what it is to be a man or woman. There is very little explanation through establishing sex differences at birth, brain lateralization which attributes different cognitive functions to men or women and through the fact of reproduction. There is neither insight through human experience nor an explanation of the psychology of sex and gender. By taking into account the environment and everyday life of the individual as suggested by the social constructionists, the examples in how gender differences are constructed e.g. by social significance attributed to physical change like e.g. the experience of a girls menarche, we can start to anticipate what it is, to be a man or a woman.
Neither of the two perspectives can give us a full explanation of the different behaviours, the experiences or development of men and women. Neither the biological perspective, by focusing on the biological processes, nor the social constructionist approach, by examining how knowledge about sex and gender has been constructed within particular historical and social contexts. It is more then just combining hormonal change and social meaning. Only by including the dimension of psyche as shown by the example of ovulation where the biological factor of an early period and the social meaning of an early period combined with the psyche of a girl, the inner meaning of body, gender and sexuality result in a unique meaning to her, to begin to tell us what it is to be a man or a woman.
(1597 words)
References
Cooper, T. and Kaye, H., (2003) Language and meaning, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Hollway, W., Cooper, T., Johnston, A. and Stevens, R., (2003) The psychology of sex and gender, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Hyde, J. (1990) ‘How large are cognitive differences? A meta-analysis using w2 and d’, in Nielson, J.M. (ed.) Feminist Research Methods: Exemplary Readings in the Social Sciences, Boulder, CO, Westview, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Money, J. and Erhardt, A. (1972) Man and Woman: Boy and Girl, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Tajfel, H., (1978) Differentiation Between Social Groups: Studies in the Social Psychology of Intergroup Relations, London, Academic Press, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
A qualitative study of how attachment and separation affects the life course of individuals
Abstract
There are two key assumptions in attachment theory. One assumption is that individuals tend to have characteristic styles in relationships, reflected in behaviour towards others and that these styles have their origins in previous relationships as infants with their caregivers.
John Bowlby developed a concept of ‘internal working model’, explaining how infants’ relationships affect their adult attachment and studies show some validity of this theory. This qualitative thematic analysis aimed to show through semi structured interviews how experiences of attachment and separation supported the attachment theory of Bowlby and found some validity, but showed also that individuals can change and improve during their life course, emphasising the importance of life events.
Introduction
A long debated issue not only in psychology but also in society in general is about the role of parents and peers, influencing children’s development. Developmental psychology is concerned whether our experiences during childhood with our parent figures (vertical relationship, child – adult) do influence in some way the patterns in our later relationship as adults. Research suggests that children’s peer relationships have some kind of primary importance in this respect but that vertical relationships have an equally significant impact on the development of individuals. People develop in terms of ‘internal’ as well as ‘external’ factors and the study of human development suggest certain developmental pathways along which individuals are likely to travel with an increasing probability, the further down they go such a pathway. It is helpful to think of development as a transaction between individuals and their environment, influencing each other and affecting the developmental path followed.
For peer and parental relationship we also refer to attachment, relationships that are ongoing and involve emotional bonds, usually with a small number of people important and close to us, defining for many of us what we are in a very real sense. We seek proximity to them and use them to feel secure and comfortable in the world surrounding us. Problems in such close relationships can and do affect other aspects of our lives like e.g. productivity at work or performance at school and shows how much our psychological well-being is connected with our ongoing connections with others.
Based on the two key assumptions in attachment research,
· Individuals tend to have characteristic styles in relationships that are reflected in the way they behave towards others, and
· These styles have their origins in peoples’ previous relationships, most particularly in their first relationships, as infants with their caregivers
there are categorical and trait approaches to describe attachment. In the 1980’s, Mary Main put emphasis on previous and current relationships of individuals with their parents as a core feature of their attachment style and described three basic positions which they take during an interview. Her research has led to the questioning of the idea that childhood attachment styles are enduring states that will inevitably affect future relationships in designated ways.
John Bowlby, the key figure in the development of attachment theory formulated the idea of an internal working model built up by infants on the evidence that there may be some enduring bonds between parents and their children extending well into adulthood. The central idea was that human infants have a biological drive to achieve security through a mother figure, a primary attachment relationship. His view that the establishment of a healthy internal working model is essential for later mental health, future relationships and socially responsible behaviour contradicts the findings of Mary Main. She also views the definition of a ‘healthy’ internal working model as culturally defined.
This qualitative report addresses the theme of attachment and separation by analyzing extracts from a married middle-aged couple through a combination of condensation and categorization so that the material can be understood as simply as possible (Kvale, 1996) and poses the research question ‘how do Tony and Jo think their experiences of attachment and separation may have affected them, and how does this relate to Bowlby’s theory of attachment?’
Method
A qualitative thematic analysis was carried out on pre-existing, detailed transcripts of semi structured interviews with a married middle-aged couple called Jo and Tony. The interviews were conducted by three different people. First by Jane, who knows the couple for quite a long time and right afterwards by Dan, who is meeting them for the first time. Jane and Dan were interviewing them on the topic of identity and what has made them into the people they are. A third interview was conducted by Carol who was asking Jo and Tony about how they experienced the two previous interviews. This transcript was used as additional material for the analysis.
For this project the topic of ‘attachment and separation’ was chosen and the corresponding passages on the transcripts were marked by reading the transcripts of the interviews by Jane and Dan extensively and by doing so the material was condensed to three basic themes. In addition the video tape of the interview was studied several times and remarks of behaviour, body-language and other reactions and observations were noted at the corresponding place on the transcript.
The transcripts and video tape of the interview were used with the permission of the publisher. The ethical guidelines on doing research into private lives in respect of confidentiality and comfort of the interviewees were strictly followed.
Analyses
In reviewing the two interview transcripts of Jane and Dan and taking into consideration the research question three main themes were identified.
One of the first and very strong comments of both Tony and Jo is about the theme of childhood
Tony comments
I had a very disrupted childhood (line 24)
Our fathers were taken away from us because of the war (lines 90-91)
and Jo
I went to school in Leeds ‘til I was just eight and then I was evacuated. Which I found quite traumatic like everybody else (lines 45-46)
When for Jo it was the war, disrupting her quite stable life, for Tony it was the war and illness
I was taken ill when I was eleven and didn’t go to school much before I was eleven because of the war and being moved around the country (lines 24-26)
For both, this had consequences and impacts for their childhood e.g. they both went to boarding schools
Tony
… in a boarding school in Sussex (line 35)
Jo
And then I was then I went to boarding school for the next ten years (lines 46-47)
No, I remember that the when Dunkirk was there and I was at school and I was left at school, after the during the holidays. And it was the period of whether he would get home (lines 93-96)
The interviewees refer on several occasions to the theme of parental influence and values influencing their life course
Tony
It’s part of our background, it’s the Victorian work ethic (line 54)
……… Jo’s mother was brought up as a Methodist and my father was as well. And I think Methodist principles were fairly entrenched (lines 63-65)
Jo
Our parent’s influence (line 59)
And mention the impact of these on their lives
Tony
And yes I think that has, that makes us to a certain extent the sort of people we are (lines 65-66)
I have to say that I think that one’s parents’ experiences and aspirations certainly entered into it as well (lines 81-82)
The participants refer also to the theme of parent – children relationship and influence. Much reference is to their childhood and from Jo’s side there is some gendered component
Jo
Whereas our children, you know one family we knew there was a separation and our children got quite frightened didn’t they? Where we going to do the same thing (lines 96-99)
…, if you want to nurture and encourage your children, then some one or other has got to stay, perhaps hold back a little to give as much as you can to your children (lines 145-148)
No. but don’t you think that it’s the base that you create as being the stability because children like stability. And it’s the stable base that you make around them that matters more and who you bring into that stability (lines 153-156)
Tony
I, I think that that life has moved on or changes have taken place so rapidly that our children are not going to be awfully influenced by our lifestyle in our early in our early years (lines 150-152)
Discussion
The aim of this research was to see how the experiences of attachment and separation influence the life course of individuals and how this relates to the theory, namely to Bowlby’s theory of attachment. It should be noted that this is a personal interpretation of the available material and may differ from other researchers.
Although there is not a whole lot of material to draw on and much is left to interpretation concerning the relation of the two interviewees, Jo and Tony, towards their parents, there is emphasis on the difficult childhood they had because of the war and in Tony’s case an illness, which separated them from the family for most of their childhood (lines 24, 45–46, 90–91, 93-96). The apparent lack of a firm primary attachment relationship would explain in Bowlby’s attachment theory the difficulties and almost resistance of Jo and Tony, to establish a shared identity. Bowlby’s view was that the particular working model a child had formed, has a major effect on how children approach subsequent relationships with other people. Jo and Tony, through their difficult and traumatic separation form the family during childhood may have developed to an insecure, anxious and avoidant type of infant attachment classification, posing problems in later life to form close relationships and shared identities (lines 110–118) also displayed by the seating position and non verbal interaction between the two interviewees. Bowlby’s emphasis on the continuing influence of early attachment was not proven in longitudinal research where it was found that infant attachment type was not a good predictor of adult attachment type. Instead it was found that life events had a significant influence.
The comment of Jo (lines 96–99) about the reaction of their children regarding separation does suggest some influence of adult attachment on infant attachment type. However, the influence of the above mentioned adult attachment type on infant attachment type was found low by research, around 35 to 40%.
The confidence and comfort Jo and Tony display both verbally and by observing their gesture and behaviour suggests, that they were able to move on after a difficult childhood supporting the concept of autonomous adult attachment called ‘earned security’ (Main and Goldwyn, 1984) and questioning the idea that childhood attachment styles are enduring, inevitably affecting relationships in designated ways as Bowlby views it.
The fact of the difficult childhood of the interviewees during times of war, their separation form the family for a big part of their childhood, the known facts of problems in building a shared identity, separation difficulties of the own children and some major parental influence gives some validity to the concept of internal working model and attachment styles. However, it is only part of the picture. Life events such as the illness of Tony have an equal or greater effect and people do change during their life course.
Reflexive analysis
Qualitative research interviews are a very important way to get views and experienced of individuals on research themes by ‘seeking buried treasures’ through the right questions asked or embarking on a journey of mutual discovery, influencing and changing along the way (Kvale, 1996). It is by such means, we capture best the multi facetted, interactive and complex situations of everyday life and lifespan, and compare them to existing theories, resulting in new knowledge and theories. However, it also has its difficulties. These findings and conclusions are usually culturally specific and can’t be generalized as a whole. Nevertheless, by the principle of probability we can draw a path, which an individual might travel during the life course like we see by the early separation of Jo and Tony form their families. By having access to the audio and video material of the interview, it wasn’t such a big handicap, having to use pre-existing material. With the script only, it would have been more difficult because there were some interesting clues by non verbal action from Jo and Tony, adding to the understanding and interpretation of the verbal comments e.g. on several occasions, Jo was on the verge of answering a question first but refrained from doing so, making Tony’s comments look like unchallenged and in agreement if only the script were viewed. The third interview by Carol Tindall showed clearly, that a personal relationship between interviewer and interviewee is not necessarily an advantage and doesn’t add to the depth of an interview. Future research should focus more of its analysis on the influence of life events, to further analyse the impact on life courses and existing knowledge and theories of attachment.
(2170 words)
References
Ainsworth, M.S., Blehar, M.C., Waters, E. and Wall, S. (1978) Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation, Hillsdale, NJ, Erlbaum, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Hamilton, C.E. (1994) ‘Continuity and discontinuity of attachment from infancy through adolescence’, Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Science, vol. 55, (2-A), p.217, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Wood, C., Littleton, K., Oates, J., (2003) Lifespan development, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Pike, G. (2003) Methods Booklets 3, Experimental Project, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Goodley, D., Lawthom, R., Tindall, C., Tobbell, J. and Wetherell, M. (2003) Methods Booklets 4, Understanding People: Qualitative Methods, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Banister, P. (2003) Methods Booklets 5, Qualitative Project, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Kvale, S. (1996) Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.
On Methodist principles: www.godrules.net/library/wesley
There are two key assumptions in attachment theory. One assumption is that individuals tend to have characteristic styles in relationships, reflected in behaviour towards others and that these styles have their origins in previous relationships as infants with their caregivers.
John Bowlby developed a concept of ‘internal working model’, explaining how infants’ relationships affect their adult attachment and studies show some validity of this theory. This qualitative thematic analysis aimed to show through semi structured interviews how experiences of attachment and separation supported the attachment theory of Bowlby and found some validity, but showed also that individuals can change and improve during their life course, emphasising the importance of life events.
Introduction
A long debated issue not only in psychology but also in society in general is about the role of parents and peers, influencing children’s development. Developmental psychology is concerned whether our experiences during childhood with our parent figures (vertical relationship, child – adult) do influence in some way the patterns in our later relationship as adults. Research suggests that children’s peer relationships have some kind of primary importance in this respect but that vertical relationships have an equally significant impact on the development of individuals. People develop in terms of ‘internal’ as well as ‘external’ factors and the study of human development suggest certain developmental pathways along which individuals are likely to travel with an increasing probability, the further down they go such a pathway. It is helpful to think of development as a transaction between individuals and their environment, influencing each other and affecting the developmental path followed.
For peer and parental relationship we also refer to attachment, relationships that are ongoing and involve emotional bonds, usually with a small number of people important and close to us, defining for many of us what we are in a very real sense. We seek proximity to them and use them to feel secure and comfortable in the world surrounding us. Problems in such close relationships can and do affect other aspects of our lives like e.g. productivity at work or performance at school and shows how much our psychological well-being is connected with our ongoing connections with others.
Based on the two key assumptions in attachment research,
· Individuals tend to have characteristic styles in relationships that are reflected in the way they behave towards others, and
· These styles have their origins in peoples’ previous relationships, most particularly in their first relationships, as infants with their caregivers
there are categorical and trait approaches to describe attachment. In the 1980’s, Mary Main put emphasis on previous and current relationships of individuals with their parents as a core feature of their attachment style and described three basic positions which they take during an interview. Her research has led to the questioning of the idea that childhood attachment styles are enduring states that will inevitably affect future relationships in designated ways.
John Bowlby, the key figure in the development of attachment theory formulated the idea of an internal working model built up by infants on the evidence that there may be some enduring bonds between parents and their children extending well into adulthood. The central idea was that human infants have a biological drive to achieve security through a mother figure, a primary attachment relationship. His view that the establishment of a healthy internal working model is essential for later mental health, future relationships and socially responsible behaviour contradicts the findings of Mary Main. She also views the definition of a ‘healthy’ internal working model as culturally defined.
This qualitative report addresses the theme of attachment and separation by analyzing extracts from a married middle-aged couple through a combination of condensation and categorization so that the material can be understood as simply as possible (Kvale, 1996) and poses the research question ‘how do Tony and Jo think their experiences of attachment and separation may have affected them, and how does this relate to Bowlby’s theory of attachment?’
Method
A qualitative thematic analysis was carried out on pre-existing, detailed transcripts of semi structured interviews with a married middle-aged couple called Jo and Tony. The interviews were conducted by three different people. First by Jane, who knows the couple for quite a long time and right afterwards by Dan, who is meeting them for the first time. Jane and Dan were interviewing them on the topic of identity and what has made them into the people they are. A third interview was conducted by Carol who was asking Jo and Tony about how they experienced the two previous interviews. This transcript was used as additional material for the analysis.
For this project the topic of ‘attachment and separation’ was chosen and the corresponding passages on the transcripts were marked by reading the transcripts of the interviews by Jane and Dan extensively and by doing so the material was condensed to three basic themes. In addition the video tape of the interview was studied several times and remarks of behaviour, body-language and other reactions and observations were noted at the corresponding place on the transcript.
The transcripts and video tape of the interview were used with the permission of the publisher. The ethical guidelines on doing research into private lives in respect of confidentiality and comfort of the interviewees were strictly followed.
Analyses
In reviewing the two interview transcripts of Jane and Dan and taking into consideration the research question three main themes were identified.
One of the first and very strong comments of both Tony and Jo is about the theme of childhood
Tony comments
I had a very disrupted childhood (line 24)
Our fathers were taken away from us because of the war (lines 90-91)
and Jo
I went to school in Leeds ‘til I was just eight and then I was evacuated. Which I found quite traumatic like everybody else (lines 45-46)
When for Jo it was the war, disrupting her quite stable life, for Tony it was the war and illness
I was taken ill when I was eleven and didn’t go to school much before I was eleven because of the war and being moved around the country (lines 24-26)
For both, this had consequences and impacts for their childhood e.g. they both went to boarding schools
Tony
… in a boarding school in Sussex (line 35)
Jo
And then I was then I went to boarding school for the next ten years (lines 46-47)
No, I remember that the when Dunkirk was there and I was at school and I was left at school, after the during the holidays. And it was the period of whether he would get home (lines 93-96)
The interviewees refer on several occasions to the theme of parental influence and values influencing their life course
Tony
It’s part of our background, it’s the Victorian work ethic (line 54)
……… Jo’s mother was brought up as a Methodist and my father was as well. And I think Methodist principles were fairly entrenched (lines 63-65)
Jo
Our parent’s influence (line 59)
And mention the impact of these on their lives
Tony
And yes I think that has, that makes us to a certain extent the sort of people we are (lines 65-66)
I have to say that I think that one’s parents’ experiences and aspirations certainly entered into it as well (lines 81-82)
The participants refer also to the theme of parent – children relationship and influence. Much reference is to their childhood and from Jo’s side there is some gendered component
Jo
Whereas our children, you know one family we knew there was a separation and our children got quite frightened didn’t they? Where we going to do the same thing (lines 96-99)
…, if you want to nurture and encourage your children, then some one or other has got to stay, perhaps hold back a little to give as much as you can to your children (lines 145-148)
No. but don’t you think that it’s the base that you create as being the stability because children like stability. And it’s the stable base that you make around them that matters more and who you bring into that stability (lines 153-156)
Tony
I, I think that that life has moved on or changes have taken place so rapidly that our children are not going to be awfully influenced by our lifestyle in our early in our early years (lines 150-152)
Discussion
The aim of this research was to see how the experiences of attachment and separation influence the life course of individuals and how this relates to the theory, namely to Bowlby’s theory of attachment. It should be noted that this is a personal interpretation of the available material and may differ from other researchers.
Although there is not a whole lot of material to draw on and much is left to interpretation concerning the relation of the two interviewees, Jo and Tony, towards their parents, there is emphasis on the difficult childhood they had because of the war and in Tony’s case an illness, which separated them from the family for most of their childhood (lines 24, 45–46, 90–91, 93-96). The apparent lack of a firm primary attachment relationship would explain in Bowlby’s attachment theory the difficulties and almost resistance of Jo and Tony, to establish a shared identity. Bowlby’s view was that the particular working model a child had formed, has a major effect on how children approach subsequent relationships with other people. Jo and Tony, through their difficult and traumatic separation form the family during childhood may have developed to an insecure, anxious and avoidant type of infant attachment classification, posing problems in later life to form close relationships and shared identities (lines 110–118) also displayed by the seating position and non verbal interaction between the two interviewees. Bowlby’s emphasis on the continuing influence of early attachment was not proven in longitudinal research where it was found that infant attachment type was not a good predictor of adult attachment type. Instead it was found that life events had a significant influence.
The comment of Jo (lines 96–99) about the reaction of their children regarding separation does suggest some influence of adult attachment on infant attachment type. However, the influence of the above mentioned adult attachment type on infant attachment type was found low by research, around 35 to 40%.
The confidence and comfort Jo and Tony display both verbally and by observing their gesture and behaviour suggests, that they were able to move on after a difficult childhood supporting the concept of autonomous adult attachment called ‘earned security’ (Main and Goldwyn, 1984) and questioning the idea that childhood attachment styles are enduring, inevitably affecting relationships in designated ways as Bowlby views it.
The fact of the difficult childhood of the interviewees during times of war, their separation form the family for a big part of their childhood, the known facts of problems in building a shared identity, separation difficulties of the own children and some major parental influence gives some validity to the concept of internal working model and attachment styles. However, it is only part of the picture. Life events such as the illness of Tony have an equal or greater effect and people do change during their life course.
Reflexive analysis
Qualitative research interviews are a very important way to get views and experienced of individuals on research themes by ‘seeking buried treasures’ through the right questions asked or embarking on a journey of mutual discovery, influencing and changing along the way (Kvale, 1996). It is by such means, we capture best the multi facetted, interactive and complex situations of everyday life and lifespan, and compare them to existing theories, resulting in new knowledge and theories. However, it also has its difficulties. These findings and conclusions are usually culturally specific and can’t be generalized as a whole. Nevertheless, by the principle of probability we can draw a path, which an individual might travel during the life course like we see by the early separation of Jo and Tony form their families. By having access to the audio and video material of the interview, it wasn’t such a big handicap, having to use pre-existing material. With the script only, it would have been more difficult because there were some interesting clues by non verbal action from Jo and Tony, adding to the understanding and interpretation of the verbal comments e.g. on several occasions, Jo was on the verge of answering a question first but refrained from doing so, making Tony’s comments look like unchallenged and in agreement if only the script were viewed. The third interview by Carol Tindall showed clearly, that a personal relationship between interviewer and interviewee is not necessarily an advantage and doesn’t add to the depth of an interview. Future research should focus more of its analysis on the influence of life events, to further analyse the impact on life courses and existing knowledge and theories of attachment.
(2170 words)
References
Ainsworth, M.S., Blehar, M.C., Waters, E. and Wall, S. (1978) Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation, Hillsdale, NJ, Erlbaum, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Hamilton, C.E. (1994) ‘Continuity and discontinuity of attachment from infancy through adolescence’, Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Science, vol. 55, (2-A), p.217, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Wood, C., Littleton, K., Oates, J., (2003) Lifespan development, in Cooper, T. and Roth, I., (eds), (2003), Challenging Psychological Issues, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Pike, G. (2003) Methods Booklets 3, Experimental Project, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Goodley, D., Lawthom, R., Tindall, C., Tobbell, J. and Wetherell, M. (2003) Methods Booklets 4, Understanding People: Qualitative Methods, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Banister, P. (2003) Methods Booklets 5, Qualitative Project, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Kvale, S. (1996) Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing, Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage.
On Methodist principles: www.godrules.net/library/wesley
Two perspectives in psychology and the ways in which they study learning.
Ideas are innate, what appears to be learning is actually the ‘recollection’ of innately specified ideas. With this definition of the Greek philosopher Plato on the topic of learning we can see, that it has been a long studied subject.
Today’s psychology defines learning as a process by which humans and other animals acquire knowledge or skills over the course of their lifetime, enabling them to cope better with the environment through responding to experience with change.
This essay will explain and illustrate the perspectives of conditioning and sociocultural within the subject matter of learning, and by pointing out similarities and differences explain the complexity and the need and beneficiary of understanding them as complementary, each enriching our understanding about learning in its own way.
In contrast to evolution, which is a slow process over generations, learning occurs over a lifetime of an individual. As with many other psychological phenomenon, learning is a complex matter and can be defined by different perspectives leading to different theories with different insights. One of the most important differences between the perspectives of learning within psychology is about the best way to study learning e.g. from a behavioural point of view or through an interpersonal and institutional context.
A well-known approach focusing on behaviour is the comparative approach, initially closely associated with the American psychologist John Watson. This approach originates from the early 20th century out of the need for more objective observation and measurement in psychology on the base of legitimate data, comparable to other sciences like biology, physics or chemistry. It constituted a break away from introspective methods where to much emphasis on ‘innate’ or ‘instinctive’ factors was given and the role of environmental factors was neglected.
An important theory in the comparative approach perspective is classical conditioning. By experiments with dogs, Ivan Pavlov presented food (stimulus) to a dog which triggered in response salivation, a secretion of digestive juices. By pairing a stimulus with a neutral stimulus like a bell or a light, after a number of pairings, the neutral stimulus on its own triggered salvia and was not neutral anymore. It was termed conditional stimulus. Pavlov’s experiment was the first kind of conditioning to be studied scientifically and therefore termed classical conditioning and it proved learning arising from pairing of events outside the control of the animal.
Another form of conditioning is termed instrumental conditioning in which the outcome depends on the animal’s behaviour. In an operant situation, in a Skinner box, a rat (operant) is rewarded with small pellets of food by pressing a lever. The experiment is conducted with the shaping procedure. The rats freely emitted behaviour, being spontaneous, is reinforced by gaining food with the frequency of pressing the lever, termed as positive reinforcement, hence, more likely to happen again.
Psychologists have gathered evidence, that there is more then one type of change involved by conditioning. By placing the dog in a different room, at the sound of a can opener (conditional stimulus) not only a reflex of salvia is triggered but also expectancy, which guides the dog’s behaviour. The experiments proved, that animal learn stimulus-response association and about the ‘what’ e.g. the location of the food. They can make inference and learning involves ‘something in the head’ as well as change in behaviour.
Another perspective is the sociocultural perspective, which considers how particular contexts, and situations constrain or offer opportunities for learning. The focus of this perspective is neither on the mental nor on the physical activity but on the ‘surrounding’, the environment that supports and sustains learning. By the example of the approach on solving math problems, sociocultural theorists say that cognitive activity is fundamentally affected by the use of tools and technology, a key feature of a sociocultural approach on learning. According to Säljö (1999), the concept of mediation is important as it emphasizes that learning is a process that occurs in the interplay between the learner and the tools or technology used, embodying a history of human activity, often referred to as ‘cultural tools’ e.g. language. Observational studies on talk, show learning as a creative process of meaning making, but meanings originate and have their significance in the culture in which they are created or in other words, how to use particular forms of ‘educated discourse’ is as important as learning the specifics of the matter in hand.
What do these two perspectives have in common? Both approaches contribute to the understanding of learning. Sociocultural theorists are interested in the institutional and interpersonal context of learning and the comparative approach focuses on general and specific features of behaviour of different species of animals. Both perspectives confine themselves to the study of observational events. The comparative approach proves through experiments e.g. the Skinner box, that learning can arise from a pairing of events outside the control of the animal and that expectancies are formed in the process. In contrast, from a sociocultural perspective there is no clear separation between what is learned and how knowledge is learned and used. It emphasizes on the particular institutional and cultural context in which it occurs because they either constrain or afford particular opportunities of learning. Sociocultural theorists researched in observational studies that people, consciously or unconsciously, pick up relevant jargon, imitate behaviour and gradually start to act in accordance with the cultural norms in order to fit in and make sense of the rituals, routines and expectations e.g. created by studying or working in a specific environment. From a sociocultural perspective there is no clear boundary between the subject matter of cognitive psychology and social psychology.
On the practical side, conditioning provide the basis for therapeutic treatments like e.g. phobias and sociocultural knowledge leads to new forms of learning e.g. CPT (computer based training) or new organization of learning environments.
Learning to earn food or avoid averse stimuli clearly enables animals to fit into their environment and some universal principles, such as the law of effect do apply across situations and species. However, some universal principles do not indicating, that in order to gain insight into the diverse processes of learning, we rather view the different perspectives as complementary, each enriching the understanding of the issue in its own way. Learning takes place within the context of ‘what is already there’. So far Plato’s observation was correct. But learning is also about change, about acquiring skills and information in response to what is experienced in the environment, thus, very complex and only understood by a holistic approach, by encompassing all the components, especially our fast changing society, culture and new technologies.
(1094 words)
References
Littleton, K., Toates, F., Braisby, N. (2002) Three approaches to learn, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Säljö, R. (1999) ‘Learning as the use of tools’, in Littleton, K. and Light, P. (eds) Learning With Computers: Analysing Productive Interaction, London, Routledge, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Skinner, B.F. (1948/1990) Walden Two, London, Collier Macmillan, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Today’s psychology defines learning as a process by which humans and other animals acquire knowledge or skills over the course of their lifetime, enabling them to cope better with the environment through responding to experience with change.
This essay will explain and illustrate the perspectives of conditioning and sociocultural within the subject matter of learning, and by pointing out similarities and differences explain the complexity and the need and beneficiary of understanding them as complementary, each enriching our understanding about learning in its own way.
In contrast to evolution, which is a slow process over generations, learning occurs over a lifetime of an individual. As with many other psychological phenomenon, learning is a complex matter and can be defined by different perspectives leading to different theories with different insights. One of the most important differences between the perspectives of learning within psychology is about the best way to study learning e.g. from a behavioural point of view or through an interpersonal and institutional context.
A well-known approach focusing on behaviour is the comparative approach, initially closely associated with the American psychologist John Watson. This approach originates from the early 20th century out of the need for more objective observation and measurement in psychology on the base of legitimate data, comparable to other sciences like biology, physics or chemistry. It constituted a break away from introspective methods where to much emphasis on ‘innate’ or ‘instinctive’ factors was given and the role of environmental factors was neglected.
An important theory in the comparative approach perspective is classical conditioning. By experiments with dogs, Ivan Pavlov presented food (stimulus) to a dog which triggered in response salivation, a secretion of digestive juices. By pairing a stimulus with a neutral stimulus like a bell or a light, after a number of pairings, the neutral stimulus on its own triggered salvia and was not neutral anymore. It was termed conditional stimulus. Pavlov’s experiment was the first kind of conditioning to be studied scientifically and therefore termed classical conditioning and it proved learning arising from pairing of events outside the control of the animal.
Another form of conditioning is termed instrumental conditioning in which the outcome depends on the animal’s behaviour. In an operant situation, in a Skinner box, a rat (operant) is rewarded with small pellets of food by pressing a lever. The experiment is conducted with the shaping procedure. The rats freely emitted behaviour, being spontaneous, is reinforced by gaining food with the frequency of pressing the lever, termed as positive reinforcement, hence, more likely to happen again.
Psychologists have gathered evidence, that there is more then one type of change involved by conditioning. By placing the dog in a different room, at the sound of a can opener (conditional stimulus) not only a reflex of salvia is triggered but also expectancy, which guides the dog’s behaviour. The experiments proved, that animal learn stimulus-response association and about the ‘what’ e.g. the location of the food. They can make inference and learning involves ‘something in the head’ as well as change in behaviour.
Another perspective is the sociocultural perspective, which considers how particular contexts, and situations constrain or offer opportunities for learning. The focus of this perspective is neither on the mental nor on the physical activity but on the ‘surrounding’, the environment that supports and sustains learning. By the example of the approach on solving math problems, sociocultural theorists say that cognitive activity is fundamentally affected by the use of tools and technology, a key feature of a sociocultural approach on learning. According to Säljö (1999), the concept of mediation is important as it emphasizes that learning is a process that occurs in the interplay between the learner and the tools or technology used, embodying a history of human activity, often referred to as ‘cultural tools’ e.g. language. Observational studies on talk, show learning as a creative process of meaning making, but meanings originate and have their significance in the culture in which they are created or in other words, how to use particular forms of ‘educated discourse’ is as important as learning the specifics of the matter in hand.
What do these two perspectives have in common? Both approaches contribute to the understanding of learning. Sociocultural theorists are interested in the institutional and interpersonal context of learning and the comparative approach focuses on general and specific features of behaviour of different species of animals. Both perspectives confine themselves to the study of observational events. The comparative approach proves through experiments e.g. the Skinner box, that learning can arise from a pairing of events outside the control of the animal and that expectancies are formed in the process. In contrast, from a sociocultural perspective there is no clear separation between what is learned and how knowledge is learned and used. It emphasizes on the particular institutional and cultural context in which it occurs because they either constrain or afford particular opportunities of learning. Sociocultural theorists researched in observational studies that people, consciously or unconsciously, pick up relevant jargon, imitate behaviour and gradually start to act in accordance with the cultural norms in order to fit in and make sense of the rituals, routines and expectations e.g. created by studying or working in a specific environment. From a sociocultural perspective there is no clear boundary between the subject matter of cognitive psychology and social psychology.
On the practical side, conditioning provide the basis for therapeutic treatments like e.g. phobias and sociocultural knowledge leads to new forms of learning e.g. CPT (computer based training) or new organization of learning environments.
Learning to earn food or avoid averse stimuli clearly enables animals to fit into their environment and some universal principles, such as the law of effect do apply across situations and species. However, some universal principles do not indicating, that in order to gain insight into the diverse processes of learning, we rather view the different perspectives as complementary, each enriching the understanding of the issue in its own way. Learning takes place within the context of ‘what is already there’. So far Plato’s observation was correct. But learning is also about change, about acquiring skills and information in response to what is experienced in the environment, thus, very complex and only understood by a holistic approach, by encompassing all the components, especially our fast changing society, culture and new technologies.
(1094 words)
References
Littleton, K., Toates, F., Braisby, N. (2002) Three approaches to learn, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Säljö, R. (1999) ‘Learning as the use of tools’, in Littleton, K. and Light, P. (eds) Learning With Computers: Analysing Productive Interaction, London, Routledge, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Skinner, B.F. (1948/1990) Walden Two, London, Collier Macmillan, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
An attempt to explain what is meant by the term ‘social construction’ relation to further our understanding of the concept of identity.
Social construction is a theory about how we understand the world, that our understanding is not just ‘natural’, but constructed between people in their everyday interactions, and it is one of several theories that try to explain human behaviour.
I first will first briefly explain the constructionist approach in general by focusing on the two terms ‘social’ and ‘construction’. Through examples, which illustrate important arguments of the theory, especially language, and by highlighting differences to other theories and emphasizing the holistic approach of social constructionism towards people’s identities, I will show how social constructionism has been used to further our understanding of the concept of identity and conclude by emphasizing the importance of this theory in contemporary debate.
Social constructionism is a relatively new tradition, focusing on the study of language and culture within psychology. It is an important perspective in contemporary psychology. The term ‘social construction’ consists of two parts. The way we understand the world around us does not come ‘natural’, it is constructed as the example of housework by Ann Phoenix (Ann Phoenix in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., 2002) shows. This attitude about homework existed because it reflected, how it was usually handled for as long as we can remember but as the example further demonstrates, a view can be altered and differently constructed by e.g. feminists, arguing for equality with men. The other part, ‘social’, is a reference to how this construction takes place namely through social relations, interactions with other people and treatment of particular groups of people by our society.
In contrast to the psychosocial theory of identity developed by Erikson (Erikson, 1968), where the achievement of a core identity is the central task of adolescence hence, rather fixed from this point on, social constructionists view identity as multiple, de-centred, provisional, dynamic and historically and culturally specific, shifting over time and from context to context. The many ways, individuals can look at the same thing or understand the same issue, that our identities are socially constructed, is the perspective of social constructionism.
The example of Nelson Mandela, who was for some people a terrorist and for others a freedom fighter illustrates that perspective rather well. It also shows that language is fundamental to the process of social construction, simply because we think, talk and generally communicate through it. In the above mentioned example it shows that trough the power of the language, the white apartheid regime had eventually to abandon its terrorist construction of Mandela due to the ever growing support for the other view, portraying him as a freedom fighter, displaying the power relations constructed through language in our society. In other words, by talking or writing we actively construct ways of understanding things and actively construct our identities. This perspective of social constructionism helps us understand the concept of identity.
As society changes over time, our relationships and identities change, influenced by our histories, social position, experience and social and technical change in general. A good illustration would be the example of US psychologist Kenneth Gergen (Gergen, 1999) who showed that by being aware of gaining an advantage in doing certain things, behaviour like writing exclusively with a pen can become an identity and through technological change, this identity will have to be newly constructed and changes. It also illustrates the argument of the theory, that our social histories and positions influence the availability of identities to individuals. The way, how the individual in Gergen’s example choose to tell his story, constructs his identity again confirming the claim of social constructionists, that language is central to the construction of our identities. However, it is difficult to prove that we construct autobiographical narratives and some would see this as a shortcoming of social constructionist theories of identity. The majority of people also tend to think of rather one core identity then multiple, de-centred identities and remember their identity stable for as long as they can think. Social constructionist would argue that in order to fulfil the need of some degree of continuity in our identities, we reconstruct the past in ways helping us understand the past, present and our expectations of the future.
As shown by the above illustrated examples, social constructionism focuses on how identities are constructed in everyday life through a network of social relations and language, affected by the discourses available within society, furthering our understanding of the concept of identity.
Another way of considering the contribution of social constructionism to our understanding of identity is by thinking about the methods used. While social identity theory uses an outsider viewpoint to look at psychological processes within groups in order to understand people’s identities, social constructionism and other theories use insider accounts. People’s accounts of their experiences of their own identities. Analysis of everyday discourses, the process by which people construct meanings through ways of thinking and talking about current issues of our culture, is another method of producing data and giving insight on the concept of identity by e.g. disclosing that identities are constructed differently in different cultures.
Psychologists have different perspectives on psychological issues e.g. identity and use different methods and data for their theories. It is important to understand, that no one answer, or theory, can provide the answer or the ‘truth’. Theories provide different views on issues, different ways of thinking and by that inspiring new questions and theories.
By putting emphasis on multiplicity and fluidity, social constructionists explain changes in our embodied identities. Their argument that identities are actively constructed and negotiated e.g. as understanding of disability changes, allows for changes to identity throughout life and by doing so, linking the theory of social constructionism to contemporary society with its rapid changes and constant movement, furthering our understanding of the concept of identity and its complex interactive and multiple dimensions. The example of Nelson Mandela, constructed on one side as a terrorist and on the other side as a freedom fighter showed impressively the importance of language and the power dimension. It reveals how identities are constructed in language and how they are affected by the discourse available within society by linking it to ‘real’ events of our everyday life, furthering our understanding of the complex concept of identity.
(1059 words)
References
Erikson, E. (1968) Identity, Youth and Crisis, New York, W.W. Norton & Co.
Gergen, K. (1999) An Invitation to Social Construction, London, Sage in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Phoenix, A. (2002) Identities and diversities, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
I first will first briefly explain the constructionist approach in general by focusing on the two terms ‘social’ and ‘construction’. Through examples, which illustrate important arguments of the theory, especially language, and by highlighting differences to other theories and emphasizing the holistic approach of social constructionism towards people’s identities, I will show how social constructionism has been used to further our understanding of the concept of identity and conclude by emphasizing the importance of this theory in contemporary debate.
Social constructionism is a relatively new tradition, focusing on the study of language and culture within psychology. It is an important perspective in contemporary psychology. The term ‘social construction’ consists of two parts. The way we understand the world around us does not come ‘natural’, it is constructed as the example of housework by Ann Phoenix (Ann Phoenix in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., 2002) shows. This attitude about homework existed because it reflected, how it was usually handled for as long as we can remember but as the example further demonstrates, a view can be altered and differently constructed by e.g. feminists, arguing for equality with men. The other part, ‘social’, is a reference to how this construction takes place namely through social relations, interactions with other people and treatment of particular groups of people by our society.
In contrast to the psychosocial theory of identity developed by Erikson (Erikson, 1968), where the achievement of a core identity is the central task of adolescence hence, rather fixed from this point on, social constructionists view identity as multiple, de-centred, provisional, dynamic and historically and culturally specific, shifting over time and from context to context. The many ways, individuals can look at the same thing or understand the same issue, that our identities are socially constructed, is the perspective of social constructionism.
The example of Nelson Mandela, who was for some people a terrorist and for others a freedom fighter illustrates that perspective rather well. It also shows that language is fundamental to the process of social construction, simply because we think, talk and generally communicate through it. In the above mentioned example it shows that trough the power of the language, the white apartheid regime had eventually to abandon its terrorist construction of Mandela due to the ever growing support for the other view, portraying him as a freedom fighter, displaying the power relations constructed through language in our society. In other words, by talking or writing we actively construct ways of understanding things and actively construct our identities. This perspective of social constructionism helps us understand the concept of identity.
As society changes over time, our relationships and identities change, influenced by our histories, social position, experience and social and technical change in general. A good illustration would be the example of US psychologist Kenneth Gergen (Gergen, 1999) who showed that by being aware of gaining an advantage in doing certain things, behaviour like writing exclusively with a pen can become an identity and through technological change, this identity will have to be newly constructed and changes. It also illustrates the argument of the theory, that our social histories and positions influence the availability of identities to individuals. The way, how the individual in Gergen’s example choose to tell his story, constructs his identity again confirming the claim of social constructionists, that language is central to the construction of our identities. However, it is difficult to prove that we construct autobiographical narratives and some would see this as a shortcoming of social constructionist theories of identity. The majority of people also tend to think of rather one core identity then multiple, de-centred identities and remember their identity stable for as long as they can think. Social constructionist would argue that in order to fulfil the need of some degree of continuity in our identities, we reconstruct the past in ways helping us understand the past, present and our expectations of the future.
As shown by the above illustrated examples, social constructionism focuses on how identities are constructed in everyday life through a network of social relations and language, affected by the discourses available within society, furthering our understanding of the concept of identity.
Another way of considering the contribution of social constructionism to our understanding of identity is by thinking about the methods used. While social identity theory uses an outsider viewpoint to look at psychological processes within groups in order to understand people’s identities, social constructionism and other theories use insider accounts. People’s accounts of their experiences of their own identities. Analysis of everyday discourses, the process by which people construct meanings through ways of thinking and talking about current issues of our culture, is another method of producing data and giving insight on the concept of identity by e.g. disclosing that identities are constructed differently in different cultures.
Psychologists have different perspectives on psychological issues e.g. identity and use different methods and data for their theories. It is important to understand, that no one answer, or theory, can provide the answer or the ‘truth’. Theories provide different views on issues, different ways of thinking and by that inspiring new questions and theories.
By putting emphasis on multiplicity and fluidity, social constructionists explain changes in our embodied identities. Their argument that identities are actively constructed and negotiated e.g. as understanding of disability changes, allows for changes to identity throughout life and by doing so, linking the theory of social constructionism to contemporary society with its rapid changes and constant movement, furthering our understanding of the concept of identity and its complex interactive and multiple dimensions. The example of Nelson Mandela, constructed on one side as a terrorist and on the other side as a freedom fighter showed impressively the importance of language and the power dimension. It reveals how identities are constructed in language and how they are affected by the discourse available within society by linking it to ‘real’ events of our everyday life, furthering our understanding of the complex concept of identity.
(1059 words)
References
Erikson, E. (1968) Identity, Youth and Crisis, New York, W.W. Norton & Co.
Gergen, K. (1999) An Invitation to Social Construction, London, Sage in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Phoenix, A. (2002) Identities and diversities, in Miell, D, Phoenix, A., Thomas, K., (eds), (2002), Mapping Psychology 1, Milton Keynes, Open University.
What local practices and spaces of regulation have contributed to social changes in the nature of the ‘self’?
Ordering and reordering of social space is one of the main ways in which ‘selves’ are changed and regulated. This essay will first explain ‘the nature of the self’. By moving forward along the time line from the sixteenth century to contemporary society, it will then illustrate the contribution of ‘civilizing self’ and of spaces like closed institutions and the family with their corresponding local practices to social change in the nature of the self over time. It will conclude, that many practices and spaces are contributing to social change in the nature of the self, connected and interdependent.
What is meant by the nature of the ‘self’? Erving Goffman (1997) distinguishes the self as successfully performing and staging a character and by taking cues and interacting with other ‘actors’, inferring an inner self, and a psychobiological set of impulses, affects and moods. This set forms an inner motivational core, affected by performing this character, learning, taking pleasure and experiencing anxiety at the possibility to not coming across as intended. The ability to play and move between different roles is crucial to the successful staging of the self. It occurs in different spatial settings like home, work, school etc. and changes to one role should not affect the others. The ‘normal’ self autonomously manages, controls and makes changes in a number of different circumstances.
Both Elias (1994) and Foucault (1965) argue that social change in the nature of the self originates in detailed, localized and deliberate social practices, initiated by various authorities, suggesting a link between civilizing selves and disciplining bodies. A good example in which individuals control their emotions and regulate themselves, civilizing selves, and how practices change over time is the quote in Elias (1994) on the use of the serviette, which is quite different from contemporary use and behaviour. Also if we think about the content of fridges now and some decades ago, we realize significant social changes in the nature of the self behind alleged small variations, e.g. growing concern over food safety and animal cruelty or regulated conduct like holding a healthy diet and maintaining a good level of fitness.
The other part of the link, the regulation of conduct through disciplining bodies, enclosed institutions, by various practices like removal of property and civilian clothing, changing the full name for a number, and thus social changes in the self, started in the sixteenth and seventeenth century in Europe, called ‘the Great Confinement’ by Foucault (1965). The breakdown of feudal relations produced a class of vagabonds and ‘masterless man’, left homeless and without a socially recognized space and status. It was through these poor and marginalized populations which were ‘locked away’, where experimentation and innovation in the regulation of the self where conducted in enclosed institutions like monasteries, prisons and asylums. The applied practices intended for the individual, to loose the self-image and relations to others and the capacity for role-scheduling through confined and separated space. This ‘identity trimming’ demolished the individual’s sense of personal identity then rebuild it to suit the requirements of the institution.
At the end of the eighteenth century, through the emergence of liberal political institutions and early capitalism, the enclosed institutions gradually developed specialised knowledge and applied it to various confined populations e.g. in prisons, workhouses and asylums. This was an attempt to not only regulate the character, the self, of these populations like in the above described practices used to fit into the institution, but to reform it in order to ‘fit’ into society. ‘Imprisonment’ is until today the generalized system of punishment for all criminal and ‘abnormal’ behaviour and an important space of regulating and contributing to social changes in the nature of the self, aligning behaviour trough self-responsibility with the conduct and society of the time. A specific ‘closed’ institution and social space in the late nineteenth century in this context was the workhouse, where the poor received assistance within it, and only if the economically responsible had died, the women and children were given ‘outdoor’ public relieve.
The disciplinary power of such enclosed institutions e.g. the practices of disciplinary techniques like the mortification of the self, in the formation of conduct and the application of manners and forms of civility, creates a certain type of individual who is obedient, productive and self-governing with self-control and a conscience, by providing a controlled environment in space and time. These spaces of regulation with their local practices not only contributed within their ‘walls’ to social changes in the nature of the self. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the enclosed institutions not only have become specialized places for reforming conduct of certain classes of populations, through their deterrent functions, they had also become techniques for regulating the conduct of the populations outside, making them more self-responsible e.g. to prefer the independence of wage labour and self-support over state-provided and controlled welfare assistance. Self-responsibility is now expected of the majority of the contemporary society and occurred through e.g. the generalization of the public education. This development is evidence for the effect of enclosed institutions on the majority outside population through their ‘radiation’ of new regulations, gained through new and combined knowledge, ‘implemented’ in new behaviour and conduct, and by their symbolic value.
So far we have seen how enclosed institutions have changed from spaces of confinement for the dangerous and idle, to specialized disciplinary institutions of reform and rehabilitation for the management of those, who represent a risk to the norms of the community and by their practices, contributing to social change in the nature of the self both for the ‘inmates’ of these institutions and the majority of the population outside, by being a deterrent symbol of control and power.
The theory of Goffman on ‘total institutions’ (1961) reaches its limits at this point because it isolates ‘total institutions’ from society and obscures historically differentiated forms of knowledge, practices and techniques, invented, borrowed and adapted to be applied in diverse sites for different purposes where as Foucault’s theory of ‘Governmentality’ (1991), to be understood in the broad sense of the technique and procedures for directing human behaviour, is in alignment with the understanding that social change is inherently multiple and diverse.
Through the increased capacity of self-regulation by civilizing self and disciplining bodies, a new approach of regulation, ‘liberal’ regulation, emerged. This regulation was based on knowledge and techniques of social, biological, psychological, demographic and economic processes, found in different spheres of spaces of society by various actors and authorities in the social and political field and was a renunciation of exclusive state knowledge. This new approach, by which individuals are rather governed through their own capacities for self-regulation than by the earlier authoritarian approach to policing, is best illustrated by the example of the family, by focusing on that space and the various practices, causing social change in the nature of the self. By becoming a private, non-political sphere separated form the government, the family was not subject to summary police powers anymore and constructed as a space of intimacy and mutuality, care, consumption and aspiration (Donzelot, 1979). Through the aspirations of the family and various agents like doctors, hygienists, social workers and teachers, often working together with the mother, norms and standards of living were promoted, changing society and selves. Another closely linked practice, for families that cannot look after themselves or particular family members, was and still is the system of professionals and institutions who link them into a network. Through this network, the state reserves the right to intervene in those families that cannot provide for their members, often becoming criminals or causing disorder. Examples for such interventions are the juvenile and family courts and the proliferation of social work and psychiatric knowledge and practices. These regulations occur in distinctive social spaces like the home, the school or the prison and change or establish new norms e.g. of self-regulation, contributing to social change in the self.
Today, this social intervention, combined with the emergence of mass parliamentary democracies and mass labour, guaranteeing minimum standards of provision in education, health, security against the risks of unemployment, poverty, illness and many more, is called into question from the viewpoint of the regulation of the self by social movements such as feminism and from different social and political positions, because it encourages a uniformity of provisions, removing autonomy, creating dependency on social benefits. It is also conflicting, like in the case of social security, were the regulation of the self is simultaneously about facilitating and forcing selves. The critique, caused by the creation of selves with interest in maintaining and strengthening their capacities for self regulation and demands of choice and reward for enterprise, provoked a renewed emphasis on ‘governing through freedom’, opening a myriad of different agencies and authorities, using different techniques and practices like e.g. self-help literature, health-promotion and risk management for the regulation of the self.
This essay started out with the description of closed institutions and their associated authoritarian methods and practices like mortification, attempting to regulate the self. Gradually, a sense self-responsibility was built through civilizing selves and disciplining bodies. Further attempts were made to govern through open social spaces, aspirations and desires of e.g. families and individuals ‘guided’ by liberal-democratic institutions. Foucaults’ theory of Governmentality proves a very important means of illustrating the development of self-responsibility and showed the limits of Goffman’s work on ‘total institutions’. Today, a variety of social spaces and practices contribute to social changes in the nature of the self e.g. the interaction between various agents with their knowledge and the family, together with a network of institutions where the state controls and reinforces self-responsibility and self-regulation.
The multiple, varied and multi-faceted nature of social changes of the self seems more closely connected to Castells’s theory of the network society than to Foucauldian theory, which does not acknowledge the connection between types or levels of regulation.
(1648 words)
References
Dean M. (2002) The regulation of the self, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Donzelot, J. (1979) The Policing of Families (trans. R. Hurley), New York, Pantheon, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Elias, N. (1994) The Civilizing Process (trans. E. Jephcott), Oxford, Blackwell, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Foucault, M. (1965) Madness and Civilization (trans. R. Howard), London, Tavistock, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Foucault, M. (1991) ‘Governmentality’ in Burchell, G., Gordon, C. and Miller, P. (eds) The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality, London, Harvester Wheatsheaf, pp. 87 – 104, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Goffman, E. (1991) Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, Garden City, NY, Doubleday, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Goffman, E. (1997) The Goffman Reader (ed. C. Lemert and A. Bannaman), Oxford, Blackwell, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Jordan, T. and Pile, (2002) Social change: introduction, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
What is meant by the nature of the ‘self’? Erving Goffman (1997) distinguishes the self as successfully performing and staging a character and by taking cues and interacting with other ‘actors’, inferring an inner self, and a psychobiological set of impulses, affects and moods. This set forms an inner motivational core, affected by performing this character, learning, taking pleasure and experiencing anxiety at the possibility to not coming across as intended. The ability to play and move between different roles is crucial to the successful staging of the self. It occurs in different spatial settings like home, work, school etc. and changes to one role should not affect the others. The ‘normal’ self autonomously manages, controls and makes changes in a number of different circumstances.
Both Elias (1994) and Foucault (1965) argue that social change in the nature of the self originates in detailed, localized and deliberate social practices, initiated by various authorities, suggesting a link between civilizing selves and disciplining bodies. A good example in which individuals control their emotions and regulate themselves, civilizing selves, and how practices change over time is the quote in Elias (1994) on the use of the serviette, which is quite different from contemporary use and behaviour. Also if we think about the content of fridges now and some decades ago, we realize significant social changes in the nature of the self behind alleged small variations, e.g. growing concern over food safety and animal cruelty or regulated conduct like holding a healthy diet and maintaining a good level of fitness.
The other part of the link, the regulation of conduct through disciplining bodies, enclosed institutions, by various practices like removal of property and civilian clothing, changing the full name for a number, and thus social changes in the self, started in the sixteenth and seventeenth century in Europe, called ‘the Great Confinement’ by Foucault (1965). The breakdown of feudal relations produced a class of vagabonds and ‘masterless man’, left homeless and without a socially recognized space and status. It was through these poor and marginalized populations which were ‘locked away’, where experimentation and innovation in the regulation of the self where conducted in enclosed institutions like monasteries, prisons and asylums. The applied practices intended for the individual, to loose the self-image and relations to others and the capacity for role-scheduling through confined and separated space. This ‘identity trimming’ demolished the individual’s sense of personal identity then rebuild it to suit the requirements of the institution.
At the end of the eighteenth century, through the emergence of liberal political institutions and early capitalism, the enclosed institutions gradually developed specialised knowledge and applied it to various confined populations e.g. in prisons, workhouses and asylums. This was an attempt to not only regulate the character, the self, of these populations like in the above described practices used to fit into the institution, but to reform it in order to ‘fit’ into society. ‘Imprisonment’ is until today the generalized system of punishment for all criminal and ‘abnormal’ behaviour and an important space of regulating and contributing to social changes in the nature of the self, aligning behaviour trough self-responsibility with the conduct and society of the time. A specific ‘closed’ institution and social space in the late nineteenth century in this context was the workhouse, where the poor received assistance within it, and only if the economically responsible had died, the women and children were given ‘outdoor’ public relieve.
The disciplinary power of such enclosed institutions e.g. the practices of disciplinary techniques like the mortification of the self, in the formation of conduct and the application of manners and forms of civility, creates a certain type of individual who is obedient, productive and self-governing with self-control and a conscience, by providing a controlled environment in space and time. These spaces of regulation with their local practices not only contributed within their ‘walls’ to social changes in the nature of the self. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the enclosed institutions not only have become specialized places for reforming conduct of certain classes of populations, through their deterrent functions, they had also become techniques for regulating the conduct of the populations outside, making them more self-responsible e.g. to prefer the independence of wage labour and self-support over state-provided and controlled welfare assistance. Self-responsibility is now expected of the majority of the contemporary society and occurred through e.g. the generalization of the public education. This development is evidence for the effect of enclosed institutions on the majority outside population through their ‘radiation’ of new regulations, gained through new and combined knowledge, ‘implemented’ in new behaviour and conduct, and by their symbolic value.
So far we have seen how enclosed institutions have changed from spaces of confinement for the dangerous and idle, to specialized disciplinary institutions of reform and rehabilitation for the management of those, who represent a risk to the norms of the community and by their practices, contributing to social change in the nature of the self both for the ‘inmates’ of these institutions and the majority of the population outside, by being a deterrent symbol of control and power.
The theory of Goffman on ‘total institutions’ (1961) reaches its limits at this point because it isolates ‘total institutions’ from society and obscures historically differentiated forms of knowledge, practices and techniques, invented, borrowed and adapted to be applied in diverse sites for different purposes where as Foucault’s theory of ‘Governmentality’ (1991), to be understood in the broad sense of the technique and procedures for directing human behaviour, is in alignment with the understanding that social change is inherently multiple and diverse.
Through the increased capacity of self-regulation by civilizing self and disciplining bodies, a new approach of regulation, ‘liberal’ regulation, emerged. This regulation was based on knowledge and techniques of social, biological, psychological, demographic and economic processes, found in different spheres of spaces of society by various actors and authorities in the social and political field and was a renunciation of exclusive state knowledge. This new approach, by which individuals are rather governed through their own capacities for self-regulation than by the earlier authoritarian approach to policing, is best illustrated by the example of the family, by focusing on that space and the various practices, causing social change in the nature of the self. By becoming a private, non-political sphere separated form the government, the family was not subject to summary police powers anymore and constructed as a space of intimacy and mutuality, care, consumption and aspiration (Donzelot, 1979). Through the aspirations of the family and various agents like doctors, hygienists, social workers and teachers, often working together with the mother, norms and standards of living were promoted, changing society and selves. Another closely linked practice, for families that cannot look after themselves or particular family members, was and still is the system of professionals and institutions who link them into a network. Through this network, the state reserves the right to intervene in those families that cannot provide for their members, often becoming criminals or causing disorder. Examples for such interventions are the juvenile and family courts and the proliferation of social work and psychiatric knowledge and practices. These regulations occur in distinctive social spaces like the home, the school or the prison and change or establish new norms e.g. of self-regulation, contributing to social change in the self.
Today, this social intervention, combined with the emergence of mass parliamentary democracies and mass labour, guaranteeing minimum standards of provision in education, health, security against the risks of unemployment, poverty, illness and many more, is called into question from the viewpoint of the regulation of the self by social movements such as feminism and from different social and political positions, because it encourages a uniformity of provisions, removing autonomy, creating dependency on social benefits. It is also conflicting, like in the case of social security, were the regulation of the self is simultaneously about facilitating and forcing selves. The critique, caused by the creation of selves with interest in maintaining and strengthening their capacities for self regulation and demands of choice and reward for enterprise, provoked a renewed emphasis on ‘governing through freedom’, opening a myriad of different agencies and authorities, using different techniques and practices like e.g. self-help literature, health-promotion and risk management for the regulation of the self.
This essay started out with the description of closed institutions and their associated authoritarian methods and practices like mortification, attempting to regulate the self. Gradually, a sense self-responsibility was built through civilizing selves and disciplining bodies. Further attempts were made to govern through open social spaces, aspirations and desires of e.g. families and individuals ‘guided’ by liberal-democratic institutions. Foucaults’ theory of Governmentality proves a very important means of illustrating the development of self-responsibility and showed the limits of Goffman’s work on ‘total institutions’. Today, a variety of social spaces and practices contribute to social changes in the nature of the self e.g. the interaction between various agents with their knowledge and the family, together with a network of institutions where the state controls and reinforces self-responsibility and self-regulation.
The multiple, varied and multi-faceted nature of social changes of the self seems more closely connected to Castells’s theory of the network society than to Foucauldian theory, which does not acknowledge the connection between types or levels of regulation.
(1648 words)
References
Dean M. (2002) The regulation of the self, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Donzelot, J. (1979) The Policing of Families (trans. R. Hurley), New York, Pantheon, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Elias, N. (1994) The Civilizing Process (trans. E. Jephcott), Oxford, Blackwell, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Foucault, M. (1965) Madness and Civilization (trans. R. Howard), London, Tavistock, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Foucault, M. (1991) ‘Governmentality’ in Burchell, G., Gordon, C. and Miller, P. (eds) The Foucault Effect: Studies in Governmentality, London, Harvester Wheatsheaf, pp. 87 – 104, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Goffman, E. (1991) Asylums: Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates, Garden City, NY, Doubleday, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Goffman, E. (1997) The Goffman Reader (ed. C. Lemert and A. Bannaman), Oxford, Blackwell, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Jordan, T. and Pile, (2002) Social change: introduction, in Jordan, T. and Pile, (eds), (2002), Social Change, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Social divisions influence people's present and future prospects – their life chances
Social divisions are a consequence of how we as individuals construct our identities and by that ultimately shape our society.
I will first briefly explain the theory of social divisions by shedding some light on its ‘mechanisms’ and dimensions. By focusing on one dimension of social divisions, class, I will discuss the differences and inequalities within this dimension, try to explain the existing conundrum, and by that disclose the implications of class on peoples life chances. My conclusion will be that class does have a big impact on people’s life chances but each divide interacts with the others to create a complex picture of our social structure meaning, class is not necessarily the primary social division in society but one of quite a few.
According to the social identity theory of Henri Tajfel (1981), our identities, are largely composed of self-descriptions which are made up from the characteristics that we identify with the social groups, we associate ourselves with. In other words, society is divided by different groups, each with its particular and shared experiences, interests and characteristics such as e.g. class, ‘race’, nationality, gender, religion and many more, which make them different and socially divided. These groups are socially and historically constructed and belonging to one or more groups means involvement of rules and conventions. Their social character makes them open to challenge and change over time. Major social divisions like class, gender, ethnicity, age and religion have a big impact on our life-chances but it is important to understand, that they do not apply equally to all members of a group. Evidence for individual agency are working-class children reaching university-level despite the existing inequalities resulting in the educational divide but it is an exemption and in general more difficult to ‘change’ class as I will disclose.
If we discus the impact of social divisions on life-chances of individuals by putting it in relation to class it is important to notice, that especially in the social dimension of class, differences and inequalities are felt strongly on a general perception but personal class-identification and class-consciousness is rather muted as qualitative researches, in-depth interviews, suggests (Bradley,1999). Even if up to 90% of people identify themselves in class terms, as quantitative surveys of the 1980’s by the British Attitudes Survey show, it does not seem to be a strong personal or group identity. Even tough some critics say, that large numbers, up to 40% of people, the economically inactive adults, are excluded from these surveys (Duke and Edgell,1987), this development is in contrast to the growing inequalities based on class background and therefore influencing the life-chances of individuals to a great deal in recent years and I will give some explanations for this conundrum later in this essay.
One reason for increasing differences and inequalities in relation to class is the tendency towards more market orientated, even neo-liberal politics. Where as the period of state intervention led to some erosion of income and wealth inequalities e.g. through progressive taxation, the restructuring of the world economy let to more competition and less solidarity. The worldwide tendency of deregulation and privatization, realized by most of the governments, liberal and conservative, was explained and justified by an increase of opportunities through competitiveness and flexibility resulting in more wealth, jobs and higher standards of living and better life-chances but it also increased the range between the extremes of poverty and wealth, e.g. making it more difficult to find jobs for some groups of people, classes, and with the current reduction on social benefits and health care influencing their present and future life-chances.
A significant development and evidence of this tendency is the massive growth of inequality in wealth distribution. For example tax cuts for companies and individuals, in order to encourage more investment and thus ensuring economic growth, raising property values and continually raising stock markets enabled the already wealthy to accumulate and store even more wealth increasing the inequality of wealth distribution and the divide between the classes. Although some argue that there is a general increase in wealth in western society, the gap between the extremes is widening, increasing life chances for some but decreasing it for others leaving them with no real perspective in our ‘materialized’ society with its corresponding values.
Another significant development is the growing income inequalities. Through globalization and increased flexibility and mobility, an increasing gap in income between different occupational groups like professional, managerial and administrative on one side, and those in other occupations, mainly in the working class, occurred and still widens. The sky rocketing salaries of the top management also show significant differences within the occupational groups themselves. Salaries for highly specialized, well-educated individuals continue to rise showing that with access to high education, funds and cultural capital, usually by being a member of an upper social class, chances are significantly higher to profit and participate on these developments of consequent market orientation, generating a high income and further increasing class inequalities and influencing present and future life-chances of people.
Also status has an influence on income. Prestigious jobs like e.g. pilot or manager are well rewarded but the soaring salaries and especially the bonuses with the later are not well received by the people - differences and inequalities are felt strongly by people on a general perception. Evidence show, that these jobs are usually filled by the corresponding class members, as the following example by Pierre Bourdieu’s arguments about cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984), by an account of Willis in Learning to Labour (1977), illustrates. He shows how working-class children felt uncomfortable in an academic, middle class school environment and how their habitus leads them to choose a job in manual labour, restricting their future prospects and keeping them within their class. The above mentioned concept of habitus and field, people feel uncomfortable when they meet members of other social classes and therefore routinely avoid it, is more evidence for the still strong existence of class and patterned differences which influence the life-chances of people. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital comes also in play when knowledge or extra knowledge in a particular field leads to additional possibilities and rewards in another field. This knowledge and awareness exists stronger or less strong in different classes and contributes to their further distinction. The interconnection between cultural capital, the education system and the labour market contributes prominently to the inequalities and social divisions between the different classes.
Having said that and comparing it to the outcome of the surveys mentioned at the beginning, that class identification and class consciousness is rather muted in contemporary society, indicates a conundrum. The conundrum is partly explained by Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory. If people are not conscious about their class identity, they routinely continue to reproduce class inequalities, unaware of their belonging to the class and its implications. In other words, they adjust their lives around their habitus which allows them, to go about their daily lives often without reflecting.
On one side, social division in relation to class shows growing inequalities in distribution of wealth, income inequalities, human capital and health, widening the gap between the one’s who benefit and the disadvantaged. The restructuring of the world economy, erosion of social, moral and territorial boundaries, mobility and flexibility increases insecurity and creates new forms of risk.
On the other side, some argue that the increased wealth accumulation and salary increase by the already wealthy and members of the upper class through globalization and focusing on the market, brought advantages and benefit for almost all of the classes, confirming to some extent the arguments and theory, that reducing taxes on the already wealthy will generate economic growth to the benefit of all, more distinct in the northern hemisphere. The widening gap, the increased differences and inequalities between the classes created more distinct extremes on both ends of the scale of advantaged and disadvantaged people but nevertheless, produces a general improvement for the majority in western societies.
The dimension of class has no doubt a big impact on people’s life-chances but each divide interacts with the others to create a complex picture of the social structure. Place is also a very important factor of the construction, maintenance and representation of social divisions. Access to education, employment and health care are influenced by where we life and construct social divisions, very strongly influencing people’s life-chances. Patterns of ill health and life expectancy between different places (Shaw et al., 1999, Table 2.1, p. 14) are further evidence for the complex picture of the social structure involving not only one social division but several like class, gender, ethnicity and more.
Rather then seeing social divisions as only macrostructural processes and relations, with emphasis on an economic structure and the primary divisions along class lines, I believe that social divisions in contemporary society are much more complex and better described in a sophisticated social division perspective. Identity and social divisions are closely interconnected. Dimensions of identity, a core sense of self or one's personal identity intersecting with circles surrounding the core identity lik e.g., race, sexual orientation, religion, gender and contextual influences like e.g., family background and life experiences, are constructed in relation to each other and depend on each other rather than being isolated elements like e.g. class.
This makes it very difficult for groups, which are disadvantaged in different social divisions, to improve their situation due to the fact that other groups are constructed in relation to these groups and thus being more advantaged and able to maintain the current balance of power. Social divisions do influencing the present and future proscpets of people’s life chances within the different dismension but more powerful in connection with each other.
(1611 words)
References
Bradley, H. (1999) Gender and Power in the Workplace, Macmillan, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Braham, P. and Janes, L. (2002) Introduction, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction, London, Routledge, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Duke, V. and Edgell, S. (1987) ‘The operationalization of class in British sociology: theoretical and empirical considerations’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 38, pp. 445-63, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Janes, L. and Mooney. (2002) Place, lifestyle and social divisions, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Radermacher, F. J. (2002) Balance oder Zerstörung, Ökosoziale Marktwirtschaft als Schlüssel zu einer weltweiten nachhaltigen Entwicklung, Ökosoziales Forum Europa, Wien, Austria.
Savage, M. (2002) Social exclusion and class analysis, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Shaw, M., Dorling, D., Gordon, D. and Smith, G.D. (1999) The Widening Gap, Bristol, Policy Press in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Tajfel, H. (1981) Human Groups and Social Categories: Studies in Social Psychology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Willis, P. (1977) Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs, Farnborough, Saxon House, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
I will first briefly explain the theory of social divisions by shedding some light on its ‘mechanisms’ and dimensions. By focusing on one dimension of social divisions, class, I will discuss the differences and inequalities within this dimension, try to explain the existing conundrum, and by that disclose the implications of class on peoples life chances. My conclusion will be that class does have a big impact on people’s life chances but each divide interacts with the others to create a complex picture of our social structure meaning, class is not necessarily the primary social division in society but one of quite a few.
According to the social identity theory of Henri Tajfel (1981), our identities, are largely composed of self-descriptions which are made up from the characteristics that we identify with the social groups, we associate ourselves with. In other words, society is divided by different groups, each with its particular and shared experiences, interests and characteristics such as e.g. class, ‘race’, nationality, gender, religion and many more, which make them different and socially divided. These groups are socially and historically constructed and belonging to one or more groups means involvement of rules and conventions. Their social character makes them open to challenge and change over time. Major social divisions like class, gender, ethnicity, age and religion have a big impact on our life-chances but it is important to understand, that they do not apply equally to all members of a group. Evidence for individual agency are working-class children reaching university-level despite the existing inequalities resulting in the educational divide but it is an exemption and in general more difficult to ‘change’ class as I will disclose.
If we discus the impact of social divisions on life-chances of individuals by putting it in relation to class it is important to notice, that especially in the social dimension of class, differences and inequalities are felt strongly on a general perception but personal class-identification and class-consciousness is rather muted as qualitative researches, in-depth interviews, suggests (Bradley,1999). Even if up to 90% of people identify themselves in class terms, as quantitative surveys of the 1980’s by the British Attitudes Survey show, it does not seem to be a strong personal or group identity. Even tough some critics say, that large numbers, up to 40% of people, the economically inactive adults, are excluded from these surveys (Duke and Edgell,1987), this development is in contrast to the growing inequalities based on class background and therefore influencing the life-chances of individuals to a great deal in recent years and I will give some explanations for this conundrum later in this essay.
One reason for increasing differences and inequalities in relation to class is the tendency towards more market orientated, even neo-liberal politics. Where as the period of state intervention led to some erosion of income and wealth inequalities e.g. through progressive taxation, the restructuring of the world economy let to more competition and less solidarity. The worldwide tendency of deregulation and privatization, realized by most of the governments, liberal and conservative, was explained and justified by an increase of opportunities through competitiveness and flexibility resulting in more wealth, jobs and higher standards of living and better life-chances but it also increased the range between the extremes of poverty and wealth, e.g. making it more difficult to find jobs for some groups of people, classes, and with the current reduction on social benefits and health care influencing their present and future life-chances.
A significant development and evidence of this tendency is the massive growth of inequality in wealth distribution. For example tax cuts for companies and individuals, in order to encourage more investment and thus ensuring economic growth, raising property values and continually raising stock markets enabled the already wealthy to accumulate and store even more wealth increasing the inequality of wealth distribution and the divide between the classes. Although some argue that there is a general increase in wealth in western society, the gap between the extremes is widening, increasing life chances for some but decreasing it for others leaving them with no real perspective in our ‘materialized’ society with its corresponding values.
Another significant development is the growing income inequalities. Through globalization and increased flexibility and mobility, an increasing gap in income between different occupational groups like professional, managerial and administrative on one side, and those in other occupations, mainly in the working class, occurred and still widens. The sky rocketing salaries of the top management also show significant differences within the occupational groups themselves. Salaries for highly specialized, well-educated individuals continue to rise showing that with access to high education, funds and cultural capital, usually by being a member of an upper social class, chances are significantly higher to profit and participate on these developments of consequent market orientation, generating a high income and further increasing class inequalities and influencing present and future life-chances of people.
Also status has an influence on income. Prestigious jobs like e.g. pilot or manager are well rewarded but the soaring salaries and especially the bonuses with the later are not well received by the people - differences and inequalities are felt strongly by people on a general perception. Evidence show, that these jobs are usually filled by the corresponding class members, as the following example by Pierre Bourdieu’s arguments about cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984), by an account of Willis in Learning to Labour (1977), illustrates. He shows how working-class children felt uncomfortable in an academic, middle class school environment and how their habitus leads them to choose a job in manual labour, restricting their future prospects and keeping them within their class. The above mentioned concept of habitus and field, people feel uncomfortable when they meet members of other social classes and therefore routinely avoid it, is more evidence for the still strong existence of class and patterned differences which influence the life-chances of people. Bourdieu’s theory of cultural capital comes also in play when knowledge or extra knowledge in a particular field leads to additional possibilities and rewards in another field. This knowledge and awareness exists stronger or less strong in different classes and contributes to their further distinction. The interconnection between cultural capital, the education system and the labour market contributes prominently to the inequalities and social divisions between the different classes.
Having said that and comparing it to the outcome of the surveys mentioned at the beginning, that class identification and class consciousness is rather muted in contemporary society, indicates a conundrum. The conundrum is partly explained by Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory. If people are not conscious about their class identity, they routinely continue to reproduce class inequalities, unaware of their belonging to the class and its implications. In other words, they adjust their lives around their habitus which allows them, to go about their daily lives often without reflecting.
On one side, social division in relation to class shows growing inequalities in distribution of wealth, income inequalities, human capital and health, widening the gap between the one’s who benefit and the disadvantaged. The restructuring of the world economy, erosion of social, moral and territorial boundaries, mobility and flexibility increases insecurity and creates new forms of risk.
On the other side, some argue that the increased wealth accumulation and salary increase by the already wealthy and members of the upper class through globalization and focusing on the market, brought advantages and benefit for almost all of the classes, confirming to some extent the arguments and theory, that reducing taxes on the already wealthy will generate economic growth to the benefit of all, more distinct in the northern hemisphere. The widening gap, the increased differences and inequalities between the classes created more distinct extremes on both ends of the scale of advantaged and disadvantaged people but nevertheless, produces a general improvement for the majority in western societies.
The dimension of class has no doubt a big impact on people’s life-chances but each divide interacts with the others to create a complex picture of the social structure. Place is also a very important factor of the construction, maintenance and representation of social divisions. Access to education, employment and health care are influenced by where we life and construct social divisions, very strongly influencing people’s life-chances. Patterns of ill health and life expectancy between different places (Shaw et al., 1999, Table 2.1, p. 14) are further evidence for the complex picture of the social structure involving not only one social division but several like class, gender, ethnicity and more.
Rather then seeing social divisions as only macrostructural processes and relations, with emphasis on an economic structure and the primary divisions along class lines, I believe that social divisions in contemporary society are much more complex and better described in a sophisticated social division perspective. Identity and social divisions are closely interconnected. Dimensions of identity, a core sense of self or one's personal identity intersecting with circles surrounding the core identity lik e.g., race, sexual orientation, religion, gender and contextual influences like e.g., family background and life experiences, are constructed in relation to each other and depend on each other rather than being isolated elements like e.g. class.
This makes it very difficult for groups, which are disadvantaged in different social divisions, to improve their situation due to the fact that other groups are constructed in relation to these groups and thus being more advantaged and able to maintain the current balance of power. Social divisions do influencing the present and future proscpets of people’s life chances within the different dismension but more powerful in connection with each other.
(1611 words)
References
Bradley, H. (1999) Gender and Power in the Workplace, Macmillan, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Braham, P. and Janes, L. (2002) Introduction, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction, London, Routledge, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Duke, V. and Edgell, S. (1987) ‘The operationalization of class in British sociology: theoretical and empirical considerations’, British Journal of Sociology, vol. 38, pp. 445-63, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Janes, L. and Mooney. (2002) Place, lifestyle and social divisions, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Radermacher, F. J. (2002) Balance oder Zerstörung, Ökosoziale Marktwirtschaft als Schlüssel zu einer weltweiten nachhaltigen Entwicklung, Ökosoziales Forum Europa, Wien, Austria.
Savage, M. (2002) Social exclusion and class analysis, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Shaw, M., Dorling, D., Gordon, D. and Smith, G.D. (1999) The Widening Gap, Bristol, Policy Press in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
Tajfel, H. (1981) Human Groups and Social Categories: Studies in Social Psychology, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Willis, P. (1977) Learning to Labour: How Working Class Kids Get Working Class Jobs, Farnborough, Saxon House, in Braham, P. and Janes, L., (eds), (2002), social differences and divisions, Milton Keynes, Open University.
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