It is easy for us to hear the bell ring when it is hit and we notice the bell go silent. But in between, the bell is constantly changing. Listen for the constant change.
This is like our everyday life. It is constantly changing. Every moment is different. If you are having a rough day, week or semester, the next moment is different. Let yourself be born anew in this present moment.
In the opening pages of her 1993 masterwork Parable of the Sower (public library) — the first part of her oracular Earthseed allegory — Octavia Butler (June 22, 1947–February 24, 2006) writes:
All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
Is Change.
God
Is Change.
And from Tiny Buddha:
“No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.” ~ Hal Borland
I have the great privilege of teaching a mindfulness class each week for Huntsman Cancer Institute. The class takes place at Salt Lake City’s gorgeous Red Butte Garden. I recently bought a new 85mm macro lens for my Nikon d7500. Red Butte Garden is the perfect place to play with the lens after class. I love the elaborate detail that emerges when I shoot things close up. Sometimes when a particular plant really shines through my lens, I think about different ways I might approach it the following week. Then the next week rolls around and often that flower is gone, only to be replaced by some other gorgeous bloom. Going to the garden is a weekly reminder of the truth of constant change.
A group of meditation teachers once asked Suzuki Roshi, author of the mindfulness classic, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind, to sum up meditation in one sentence. His answer: “Everything changes.” It’s easy to see the truth of constant change in our lives. We can observe the evolution of our bodies throughout our lives. We can reflect on changes in our preferences and habits. What I enjoyed in my 20s is vastly different from what I enjoy now. Sometimes the cycles of constant change can be challenging. It can be hard to let go of things we love. At other times, we welcome change. CONSTANT CHANGE IS NOT A CHOICE
The changes that characterize our lives are often beyond our control. For example, we can’t stop the aging process. Relationships change, often without our input. Friends, family and animal companions come and go. We can’t stop these changes from happening. But we can choose how we respond. We can choose whether or not constant change throws us off balance—which it most certainly will at times. Or we can remember that the difficulties we experience in response to change will themselves change at some point.
When we’re happy with the conditions in our lives, we often wish they wouldn’t change. When they inevitably do change, we suffer. Have you ever taken a vacation and wished it would never end? Wanting your situation to be different keeps you from enjoying where you are.
When we’re not so happy with what’s happening in our lives, we respond with aversion. Have you ever gotten angry at being stopped by a stoplight? Have you ever sat in your car, stewing about it until the light changes? This is how we add unnecessary suffering onto a basically neutral situation. It may not be our preference to have to stop, but is it worth getting worked up?
These responses are natural, but they can sometimes layer even more angst onto the situation. Our choice then becomes whether we react with clinging or aversion, or whether we recognize that our present situation is temporary and relax into it as much as possible.
The situations I cited above are relatively easy. Of course, there are pleasant and unpleasant situations that are much more challenging in our lives. But we can practice moderating our responses in these less challenging times, so that when bigger challenges arise, perhaps we can respond more skillfully. That’s what practice is about. HOW MINDFULNESS HELPS US TUNE IN TO CHANGE
We can also practice moderating our responses in meditation. In the same way my macro lens reveals tiny details in the flowers I shoot, mindfulness gives us an intimate look at constant change.
Try this: Place your hands together. You can interlace your fingers, place your hands in Anjali Mudraor touch your fingertips together—whatever you prefer. Now tune into the sensations in the hands. What do you feel? Maybe there are sensations of warmth, coolness, pressure, pulsing or vibration, or something else entirely. Do these sensations stay constant, or do they continuously change? Practice this inquiry for at least 3 to 5 minutes.
When we look closely at what appears to be constant contact between our hands, we can begin to see that the sensations are actually constantly changing. Contact between our hands is not just one thing; it’s a panoply of changing sensations.
This is a microscopic look into what is happening all the time in our lives. In mindfulness practice, we can observe sensations coming and going at very subtle levels. Eventually, we become less reactive as we become more comfortable with the inevitability of change. When we practice mindfulness, we rest in the flow of constant change in our bodies. It becomes familiar enough that we no longer see change as a problem, but rather simply as the natural state of our lives.
Practicing mindfulness is kind of like a musician practicing scales. You practice scales and arpeggios so that you develop facility with combinations of notes that you will likely encounter when you play music. When we learn to rest in the flow of constant change, we become better able to respond skillfully to the bigger changes we experience every day of our lives.
Baldwin reflects on the stubborn light that must have blazed in his own parents’ eyes in order for them to survive what they survived, in order for him to exist, and adds:
This is why one must say Yes to life and embrace it whenever it is found — and it is found in terrible places; nevertheless, there it is.
[…]
For nothing is fixed, forever and forever and forever, it is not fixed; the earth is always shifting, the light is always changing, the sea does not cease to grind down rock. Generations do not cease to be born, and we are responsible to them because we are the only witnesses they have.
The sea rises, the light fails, lovers cling to each other, and children cling to us. The moment we cease to hold each other, the moment we break faith with one another, the sea engulfs us and the light goes out.
As we learned in our last lesson, humans are born to be nurtured. We are social beings born into communities of other people. Macro-communities (larger than face-to-face) of people who share meaning in everyday life form a culture. So as babies, we are born into a culture. Because culture is so omnipresent, it surrounds us before we are even born. And so, similar to how a fish has never known what it is like to live out of water, humans have been surrounded by culture their whole lives. Thus, culture is the first force of socialization, or nurture, that we are influenced by.
In the fishbowl metaphor, the baby is born into the bowl surrounded by both material and nonmaterial culture.
Culture Shock
Because we are so ingrained in culture, when we experience a different culture, it can affect us emotionally. When we are exposed to a culture we have not lived in, we can experience culture shock. In the example of the fishbowl, imagine bringing a fish home from a carnival or a pet store. When you dump the fish into the new bowl, it might be a shock - imagine how you feel when jumping into a cold swimming pool.
One example of culture shock from my life was discovering the Japanese toilet. At first, the experience can be a culture shock as the traditional Japanese toilet is very different from ours:
In the case of the Japanese toilet, not only does it look and function differently from ours, but it also represents fundamentally different non-material culture. The Japanese are very germ conscious and they try hard not to spread germs. They also do not have a lot of furniture - they do not sit on furniture in their houses so why would they sit on a porcelain throne in a bathroom? And finally, they are used to sitting and squatting in positions difficult for westerners.
What is the shared meaning behind the Japanese toilet? Materially: what is it?
Non-materially: How to use it? Why use it?
The Japanese do have a "Western style" toilet that is more like the toilet that Americans are used to, however, it still represents differences in both - its material and non-material culture.
In either case, the point is that there is nothing "natural" about culture. In other words, there are no weird ways of doing things that come quite natural to us. There are only different ways of doing things. And material culture, although physically different, often represents a different non-material culture, such as a different way of thinking about the world.
Ethnocentrism
If we are not in shock about the cultural difference, sometimes we judge other cultures by our own standards. This is called ethnocentrism. For example, an American might travel to another culture and think, "Why would they want to squat to use the toilet? Isn't that uncomfortable? They should use a toilet the way we do - it's much better because it's more comfortable." That would be ethnocentric. In the fishbowl metaphor ethnocentrism is a person outside of the bowl looking in and judging the fish. "Why doesn't the fish go in the castle? That's what a castle is for."
Cultural Relativity Instead of judging other cultures, sociologists seek cultural relativity or trying to understand a culture from that culture's own standards. This will help us to understand people better and be more empirical and less judgemental. Below is a graphic image called the Iceberg of Culture, originally printed in a 1984 American Foreign Service Handbook (cited by sociologist Robin DiAngelo, 2016 and digitally designed by Dr. Robert Sweetland on his website for educators.)
Cultural Universals and Human Nature
Although the first glance of a new culture might lead us to an emotional response like culture shock or ethnocentrism, when sociologists (and anthropologists) take a step back, they find many general aspects of culture are similar around the world. These similar cultural traits are called cultural universals. Many of the components of the iceberg above can generally be considered cultural universals even though the expression of those universals are different. Because culture universals are ubiquitous among humans, they might be considered innate, or part of our human nature. Many of these relate to the interaction between humans. It is in our human nature to be nurtured. We need others to survive so we are wired to connect with other people.
3. When engaging in cross-cultural study, what should we be mindful of?
4. Instead, how should we approach culture?
Cultural Differences and Human Nurture
Although cultural universals might be similar to humans around the world, the specific way we express these universals might be different. These differences begin even before birth as the cultural norms of one group of people affect the expecting mother (and her baby). This results in different influences on us based on our culture. And that difference continues throughout our lives as we learn the shared meanings of our culture. For example, what does it mean to bath or "be clean"? To eat or have "food"? To get ready to go out or wear "clothes"? All of these have different meanings based on your culture, so individuals are nurtured differently depending on their culture.
Levine and Wolff published an article about different ways that social scientists researched time in various cultures. See the article called Social Time here.
Using the article, please answer these questions:
5. How did the author conduct cross-cultural research about time in the U.S. and Brazil? 6. What did he find quantitatively and qualitatively? 7. What does the social construction of the shared meaning of being "late" reveal? 8. What other data did researchers use to study time around the world?
What are norms?
Norms are the shared expectations about behavior - the meaning applied to how we interact with a group of people. Norms vary around the world. One example of this is the norms centered around time, as in the article you read for homework. How do people from different cultures think about time differently? What do they consider late or early? These are norms.
Why are norms important?
There are two important general lessons from norms:
When interacting with other cultures, recognizing norms is important because if we fail to acknowledge these differences, we run the risk of offending someone or even a whole culture of people.
Second, norms help us see that we have been shaped to behave a certain way; they are an illustration that we are socialized by our nurture. Norms an example of the shared meaning that we learn as we grow up.
And this graphic explains varying norms from around the world for business travelers:
Norms that are less important are called folkways. Folkways are not crucial to the order of society and if you were to violate a folkway people would not necessarily judge you. A folkway in the United States might be addressing adults by "Mr" or "Ms" or driving the speed limit. A folkway at a dinner party might be not putting your elbows on the table.
Mores (pronounce mor AYS) are norms important to the order of a society. If you violate them, it will cause a disruption in the social setting. It is worth noting that these mores, although very important to the society, are not necessarily laws. Similar to the ideas of time being a social construct, they are just the way that people operate and even though they are not written into laws, they are important to the function of society. The more of how to cross a street can be found in lots of videos on youtube. Watch this video of an intersection in India and think about who has the right of way? There may not be a law about it, but those drivers know what they are doing. Would an American know the more of how to cross the street? Note how the person crossing the street is aware of the norms of traffic and so the pedestrian successfully crosses without getting hit.
When I was in Italy, it took me six days to figure out how to cross the street. There were scooters and cars swerving everywhere and honking. Every time I tried to cross the street, cars would screech to a stop and swear at me in Italian. Then I figured out how to do it. Just walk a steady pace across the street and let them avoid you - and it worked! This knowledge of how to cross the street is an important norm, what sociologists call a more.
Another example of being shaped by place and crossing the street is when I was in London. I was almost hit by a car because I looked the wrong way on a street! Luckily, officials in London have a sociological imagination because they painted the street for Charlies like me:
Finally, the most serious norms are taboos. Taboos are things that you do not even want to think about because it is embarrassing to even imagine it. For example, look at this port-a-potty created by an artist in Switzerland. Would you be able to use it?
This is how it looks from the inside:
Would you be able to use a toilet if it looked like everyone could see you, even though you knew they could not? This is a taboo because even though people could not see us, the mere thought of them seeing us would make us hesitant. In other words, simply thinking about doing this is embarrassing and so we don't want to even think about it. Perhaps, that is why we have so many euphemisms for using the toilet: using the john, the restroom, the bathroom, the lavatory, the men's room, washroom, powder room?
Example of folkways, mores and taboos from a dinner date with significant other.
Example of norms from your life 9. Have you experienced a different set of norms from another culture either by traveling somewhere or by meeting a foreigner here in America? What was it like? Were there misunderstandings? Something else that you might want to inquire about is another culture's norms; where you would like to travel? What are all of the norms you should know if you travel there? Find out what unique norms exist in their culture. Here is a link to cultural etiquette around the world:
What are norms in general? How do the norms of folkways, mores and taboos differ?
Today's lesson: An ethnography of refugees; studying others to learn about ourselves.
In order to better understand the culture that we live in, sometimes it is easier to examine those in a different culture to find revelations about our own culture. Like the fishbowl metaphor, if the fishbowl is our culture, we are like the fish swimming in it. That makes it very difficult to notice the water. So, to help us become more sociologically mindful about the ways that our own culture influences us, let us examine refugees who are from a completely different culture. To do this, we will watch the documentary "God Grew Tired of Us." Here is a trailer for the documentary.
This documentary is an ethnography of sorts where you get to follow Sudanese refugees to examine all the ways that they have to adjust to American culture. Pay special attention to the values that are so difficult to adjust to.
When I was in undergrad here at Loyola, I took Sociology 125 where we got to meet with Lost Boys and hear about their struggle. Here is a website dedicated to the Lost Boys of Sudan in Chicago. This movie wasn't out yet though. But then, a few years ago my mom happened to meet and talk to one of the lost boys in the film and she recommended it to me for sociology. I'm so thankful to her for that. Anyway, in the movie we see numerous cultural differences.
To speak about culture in a more distinct way, think in terms of the way sociologists might explain all the components of culture; culture is made up of material culture as well as the nonmaterial: gestures, language, norms, mores, folkways, taboos, values.
Watch the documentary
With all of those cultural components in mind, especially values, watch the documentary at one of the sites below and then answer the questions in the Google Form.
NOTE: The first 10 minutes gives background into the Sudanese civil war. Although brief, some of the scenes are upsetting. But the rest of the movie is not like that.
Part 1: Beginning to finding work in America. Please focus on the cultural differences that the boys must adjust to, especially, norms (folkways, mores, taboos) and language.
1. Describe some of the norms that the Sudanese men are used to that are different from American norms.
2. Describe some of the material culture that is different for them.
3. Although the men speak English, what is some language (words, phrases) that they learn in America?
Part 2: From work to their Sudanese Ingroup
For the second half of the ethnographic documentary, please turn your attention toward the cultural values that are shaping the boys' lives in America.
4. How is life in America different and difficult?
5. In what ways was the refugee camp easier/healthier for them?
6. How do they turn to their Sudanese in-group to find meaning?
Other Resources:
This post explains more about immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers and the 2017-2023 crisis at the border.
March 2016 South Sudan Faces Another Civil War Sudan broke apart into two nations; Sudan and South Sudan. South Sudan is where the Lost Boys in the movie returned to. Unfortunately, South Sudan faces a new civil war within itself.
Duop Reath, NBA player for the Portland Trailblazers, was born in Sudan before moving to the Kakuma refugee camp when he was young due to the war. He talks about growing up in the camp and his journey in basketball.
As we wait for students to show, please complete 20 statements about yourself; completing the statement, "I am _____ ."
Do this quickly, without thinking too much about it. Simply complete the the statement with the first 20 answers that come to mind. Work quickly and individually.
We are Arborescent- What goes Unseen Is at the very Root of ourselves. Distance can Distort our deepest Sense Of who We are, Leave Us Warped & wasted As winter's Wind. We will Not Walk From what We've borne We would Keep it For a while Sit silent & Swinging on its branches Like a child Refusing to come Home. We would Keep. Knowing how We would Again Give up Our World For this one.
1. What does Gorman mean by "We are arborescent"? 2. What are some things that "go unseen" that are "at the very root of ourselves"?
To begin this unit, this lesson will first examine evidence about how humans are programmed by their DNA and biology. If we are programmed to grow/be/act a certain way then that is not social structure, that is biology. Let's begin with an examination of biology v. society or nature v. nurture so that we can separate out what is social influence on people.
Like Gorman explains in her poem, people are like trees; We have a genetic programming, but that nature relies on our surrounding environment, or nurture. Tree roots under the soil are hidden but they are affected by the composition, nutrients, and water of the soil. All of us have been influenced in countless ways that we cannot see - ways that we were raised and interactions with other people.
Human Nature is to be Nurtured
Humans are deeply interdependent on other humans to survive. In other words, it is human nature to be nurtured. Humans need to be cared for, and that is why we are born with a biology and a psychology designed for social interaction.
There is lots of biological and scientific evidence for the connection between nature and nurture and the human social connection:
Biological, Scientific and Medical data about Human Nurture
Blueprint by Nicholas Christakis
Nicholas Christakis is a sociologist and medical doctor. In his 2019 book, Blueprint, he explains that humans are born with a nature that makes us be nurtured. This is what Christakis calls the "social suite:"
“At the core of all societies, I will show, is the social suite:
(1) The capacity to have and recognize individual identity (2) Love for partners and offspring (3) Friendship (4) Social networks (5) Cooperation (6) Preference for one’s own group (that is, “in-group bias”) (7) Mild hierarchy (that is, relative egalitarianism (8) Social learning and teaching”
Watch Christakis briefly summarize his book on youtube here or on the embedded video below:
For more info., Christakis has a 30 min interview with the RSA here that explains how his work can inform us during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Newborn horses can stand within an hour of birth. Baby wood ducks leap from a nest to splash down in a pond a day after hatching. Alpaca babies usually walk and nurse within 30 minutes of being born. Yet human babies, as well as the young of many other species of mammals and birds, require months or years of care before they reach full mobility and sensory function, let alone maturity.
“A left-cradling bias arises from the right hemisphere advantage for social processing, for example, visual recognition of infant facial expressions,” the authors of the first study write. “The position of an infant on the mother’s left side may optimize maternal monitoring, by directing sensory information predominantly to the mother’s right hemisphere.” Allow us to translate. You probably learned in biology class that the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body and that the opposite holds true too. So if you’re holding baby on the left, your right hemisphere—the one responsible for processing emotion, making sense of what you see and facial recognition—is fully engaged. Your parenting muscles, in a sense, are fully flexed.
The Good Life; Lessons From the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness by Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz
a longitudinal research endeavor that started in 1938
The authors cover the evolving nature of our relationships through the course of a lifetime and give examples of how early childhood experiences are not always predictors of future relationships.
The chapter on social fitness outlines a key theme of this book. Like physical health, social health and relationships take nurturing. The authors propose that we take an inventory of who is in our life and characterize the quality of these relationships (eg, depleting vs energizing). They offer a workbook, sold separately, for readers to reflect on these relationships.
One avenue for cultivating our relationships is through our focused attention. Without this curiosity of others, we miss the opportunity to understand and be empathetic. The authors warn the reader about the negative impact of social media and smartphones on our ability to be mindful in our relationships.
“good relationships keep us happier, healthier, and help us live longer” (p. 278)
Dr. Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States, recently wrote: “Loneliness and weak social connections are associated with a reduction in lifespan similar to that caused by smoking 15 cigarettes a day”.
Social relationships—both quantity and quality—affect mental health, health behavior, physical health, and mortality risk. Sociologists have played a central role in establishing the link between social relationships and health outcomes, identifying explanations for this link, and discovering social variation (e.g., by gender and race) at the population level. Studies show that social relationships have short- and long-term effects on health, for better and for worse, and that these effects emerge in childhood and cascade throughout life to foster cumulative advantage or disadvantage in health. This article describes key research themes in the study of social relationships and health, and it highlights policy implications suggested by this research.
Social connections like these not only give us pleasure, they also influence our long-term health in ways every bit as powerful as adequate sleep, a good diet, and not smoking. Dozens of studies have shown that people who have social support from family, friends, and their community are happier, have fewer health problems, and live longer.
Dean Ornish's Reaserch
Dr. Dean Ornish, a cardiologist who found through research that patients with medical issues, including surgeries like bypass surgery or mastectomies, healed quicker and more thoroughly if they had meaningful relationships in their lives.
At the Heart of Healing: Connection... there isn’t any other factor in medicine – not diet, not smoking, not exercise, not stress, not genetics, not drugs, not surgery – that has a greater impact on our quality of life, incidence of illness and premature death from all causes than loneliness and isolation.
Love and intimacy — our ability to connect with ourselves and others, is at the root of what makes us sick and what makes us well, what causes sadness and what brings happiness, what makes us suffer and what leads to healing.
We are creatures of community. Those individuals, societies, and cultures who learned to take care of each other, to love each other, and to nurture relationships with each other during the past several hundred thousand years were more likely to survive than those who did not. Those people who did not learn to take care of each other often did not make it. In our culture, the idea of spending time taking care of each other and creating communities has become increasingly rare. Ignoring these ideas imperils our survival.
Awareness is the first step in healing, both individually and socially. Part of the value of science is to increase the level of awareness of how much these choices matter that we make each day. Not just a little, but a lot, and not just to the quality of life but also the quantity of life – to our survival. When we understand how important these issues are, then we can do something about it. These include:
• spending more time with our friends and family
• communication skills
• group support
• confession, forgiveness, and redemption
• compassion, altruism, and service
• psychotherapy
• touching
• commitment
• meditation
When we increase the love and intimacy in our lives, we also increase the health, joy, and meaning in our lives.
Another researcher, Bruce Perry, has written extensively about the importance of nurturing humans as they grow, especially empathy. Perry's research details the sad evidence that humans who are not nurtured by other humans will not grow and develop. There are numerous examples of kids who are fed and protected so that they survive, but they are isolated from other people and not shown love and caring. Humans need more than nutrition and shelter to grow and develop.
Watch both of the videos below about famous examples that are as revealing as they are sad:
This video below is about a girl named Genie who became a seminal case study in human neglect and child development. She was locked in a bedroom alone for 12 years of her life. Here is what Susan Curtiss wrote about her in her book, Genie; A Psycholinguistic Study of a Modern-Day Wild Child:
Genie was pitiful. Hardly ever having worn clothing, she did not react to temperature, either heat or cold. Never having eaten solid food, Genie did not know how to chew and had great difficulty in swallowing. Having been strapped down and left sitting on a potty chair she could not stand erect, could not straighten her arms or legs, could not run hop, jump or climb. In fact she could only walk with difficulty shuffling her feet and swaying from side to side. Hardly ever having seen more than a space of ten feet in front of her she had become nearsighted to exactly that distance....Surprisingly, however, Genie was alert and curious. She maintained good eye contact and...She was intensely eager for human contact.
Feral Kids
Some people have been found to be living with wild (feral) animals. These feral people provide more evidence that humans are influenced by their surroundings. Check out this website for examples of feral children.
Nature-Nurture Conclusion
In conclusion, there is much evidence that humans are influenced and dependent on other humans in order to become who we are. We are conceived from a community of people and we need them after we are born to nurture us in order to grow and thrive.
3. Which research did you find most compelling for the idea that human nature is to be nurtured? Why?
Socialization before birth!
The process of nurture that shapes humans is called socialization. As illustrated above, socialization from other humans is extremely important in human growth and development. There is even evidence that this process begins even before birth! While still in utero, a baby is dependent on its parents for its genes.And then, as it develops in utero, it depends on its mother to make the baby's life viable; A prenatal infant can be impacted by the stress that the mother feels as well as the nutrition she gets, and the medical care she receives.
Another example of prenatal socialization is in identical twins who have the same exact DNA and biology. Because they are exactly the same, nurses will often paint the nails of twins differently so that they can quickly tell them apart. But, often the parents of these twins can tell them apart from their earliest days because they have already started developing different personalities even before being born.
The effects of alcohol and drugs on unborn babies are one example of prenatal effects on unborn babies that are well documented. Additionally, other examples are the effects of prenatal vitamins and stress on the mother.
Yet another example of socialization happening in utero is that babies are influenced by what mothers eat during their pregnancy. One study shows that the amniotic fluid around the baby can take on the flavor and smell of certain foods or spices. Babies show a correlation to those foods after being born. See more about this study here.
There is even more recent research that has found that the experiences a grandmother has can affect the genes that she passes down to her grandchild! In other words, the nurturing or socialization process that affects you, might start decades before you are even born! This multigenerational effect on genes is known as epigenetics. Here is a link to a PBS program called The Ghost in your Genes about epigenetics. The researchers theorize that social experiences can affect the genes of a person and, more amazingly, these genes can be passed down to a generation or two. So the grandchildren may experience the effects of their grandparents' lives on their genes. How amazing is that? They call it the "ghost in your genes," explained on the BBC here.
The Self
Open the Twenty Statements Test and fill in 20 responses to the question, "Who am I?" Do this quickly, without thinking too much about it. Simply complete the the statement with the first 20 answers that come to mind.
Try to fill in all 20 statements about yourself. Work quickly and individually.
After you have answered 20 statements about yourself, proceed:
The "Self" The combination of human nature and nurture allows humans to grow into conscious beings who are aware of their own identity and able to think about themselves. The Twenty Statements Test is a survey that has been used in various studies for over 50 years. (Note: this lesson is based on Rusty Schnellinger's lesson) The test is a qualitative measurement of how people think about themselves, or who they are as a person. This conscious understanding of who we are as individuals is an example of what sociologists call a "self." Similar tometacognition and how people think about thinking, a "self" is how individuals consciously think about who they are as an individual.
Coding your responses. When conducting qualitative data analysis, sometimes sociologists will code the responses to make sense of the data. Code your responses to the Twenty Statements Test:
Amode responses: Physical characteristics.
Ex. I am blonde, I am short, I am strong.
Bmode responses: Socially defined statuses that associate you relative to a group.
Ex. I am a student, I am Catholic, I am a quarterback, I am a daughter, I am a store clerk.
Cmode responses: Personal traits, styles of behavior or emotional states.
Ex. I am a happy person, I am competitive, I am loud. I am tired.
D mode responses: General, more abstract or existential responses.
Ex. I am me, I am part of the universe, I am human, I am alive.
After you code your responses, answer the following questions on your notes page:
4. Individually: Which type of response did you have the most of? How many? Is that surprising or does that seem right to you?
Culture And your Sense of Self
5. Without reading any further, use your sociological imagination to hypothesize how these responses might have changed over time. If you did this test in a different time, say 70 years ago, or in a different place, how might the different culture shape your responses to these?
After you hypothesize about the question above, continue reading:
Peter Kaufman explains in the book A Sociology Experiment (2019) that researchers did find a change over time in the test responses and it concerned them:
In summary, this is one example that culture shapes how we think about what is important and what we value; culture may influence us to think about our "self" in certain ways.
Erving Goffman's Dramaturgy
6. Choose one of your responses that is a mode B response.
a. Which one did you choose?
b. How do you express yourself to fit into this response? In other words, how do you dress, talk and act in order to be like _______ (B mode response)? What are the things that you do in order to be that role?
Discussion: What were some examples for your answer to number two? For number two, this is exemplifying a sociological theory called Dramaturgy by Erving Goffman. Goffman wrote The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life which theorized that people present themselves to the world based on their ideas about their "self". They create an image of how they want to be perceived. It is like being in a play, or a drama - when you go on stage you are dressed up to play your role, you have your lines and your costume etc... Goffman's theory in the form of an extended metaphor is known as dramaturgy. In Goffman's theory, every time we go into a social situation we are presenting ourselves to the world - playing a role such as sister, friend, teammate, student, girlfriend, coworker, etc... In all of these roles we talk a certain way, act a certain way and even dress a certain way.
One example might be if you answered, I am a student. You may feel that you have your own style but I bet that you can find similarities to other students here at Loyola. And you have learned to sit in the desk, raise your hand, show up to class, answer questions and do all the things that students do.
Agents of socialization
7. Regarding your answer to number 6b above, what are some of the places that you have learned to talk/dress/act like this? For example if you wrote I am a student. Where did you learn how to be a student? Where did you learn all the behaviors/habits/actions that a student does?
Discussion: Examples of where?
All the places where we learn how to act out this role are examples of what sociologists call agents of socialization, or,the most important groups that shape an individual's sense of self. (especially: family, school, peers/friends, media). For example, if you answered I am a student, I bet learning that role happened even before you went to school. You may have watched kids shows or cartoons about kids going off to school and what they do there. Kids read books about the first day of school and what students do all day. Parents tell stories about when they went to school. And if you have older siblings, cousins or neighbors, you learn by watching and talking to them about their school experiences. Then, teachers themselves tell you what they expect from you. A great deal of elementary school is learning how to do school. Classmates also socialize us by sharing their habits preferences for studying and school supplies etc... In other words, you didn't just show up and decide what kind of student you wanted to be, you were socialized by different agents throughout your life.
Charles Horton Cooley's Looking Glass Self 8. Also thinking about your answer to 6b, can you think of a time when one of the ways you expressed yourself was received positively by another person or group? Who was it? How did they react? What did they say?
For example, if I answered I am a student and one of the ways I express that is by participating in class and commenting on readings, I can specifically recall a few different teachers of mine telling me that it was a pleasure having me in class to discuss the readings and challenge them on somethings while helping to generate class discussion.
9. Can you think of a time when one of ways you expressed yourself was received negatively by another person or group? Who was it? How did they react? What did they say?
These are examples of Charles Horton Cooley’s theory called the “Looking Glass”. By “Looking Glass” he is referring to a mirror. His theory is that we learn to act a certain way because of our interactions with others and how they react to us. Their reaction to us is like looking into a mirror that reflects back on us. We learn from others' reactions to us how we are perceived in the world and this shapes our sense of self.
In Sum
We are influenced from the moment we are born (even before) by important groups around us including culture which we are born into. The process by which we are shape by these social groups is called socialization. This process not only helps us to survive but it also develops a self or our conscious way of thinking about who we are as an individual. These most important groups that socialize us are called agents of socialization.
