Download - Individuals (PPT)
Individuals
Individuals In order to coordinate and
cooperate, people need to understand each other
This requires communication
Communication Ants communicate via pheromones
E. O. Wilson Bees communicate via elaborate
dances Von Frisch
Humans communicate principally through language
The importance of common language Communication facilitated by
common language The Tower of Babel
Genesis 11 (King James Version): 11:1
And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Insufficiency of common language Shared language is essential But it is not enough
Insufficiency of common language Language offers a means of
describing objects and feelings Without common knowledge, no
understanding Cricket vs. baseball
But the meaning given to objects is variable
For example Weights and measures Currency Time (the calendar)
For example What is the meaning of a coke
bottle to you? What is the meaning of a coke
bottle to the people in the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy?”
Meaning, cont’d What is the meaning of an apple to
you? What is the meaning of an apple to
Snow White? A teacher? A Kazakh? An American?
Meaning, cont’d Meaning affects how people
behave Lack of shared meaning may
create conflicts
Explaining meaning If shared meanings matter so
much, then we need to explain them
Karl Marx
Marx What is Marx trying to explain?
Shared meaning: consciousness/ideology
Marx: Cause Men differ from animals in that
they produce their means of life What individuals are corresponds
with what they produce and how they produce it The production of ideas and concepts
flows from man’s material activity and commerce
Marx: Cause Cause: The mode of production
What we produce and how we produce it
Marx: Causal Relation Mode of Production Ideology
Marx: Mechanisms/Assumptions People are malleable
Not innately “good” or “evil” Rather, we change depending on our
material world
Marx: Draw the theoryMode of Production
Ideology
Marx: How do we know if the theory has merit? Look at the empirical world
Empirical implications Ideals of sharing should be more
pronounced in societies dominated by big game hunters than in those dominated by gatherers of salmon and berries
Groups that participate in the global economy ought to see things differently than those that engage primarily in subsistence agriculture (see work by the Norms and Preferences Network)
Emile Durkheim
Durkheim What is Durkheim trying to
explain? Religion/Beliefs
Why some objects/actors/ideas are viewed as sacred
So, Outcome = Beliefs
Durkheim, cont’d Religion involves sacred things Sacred versus profane
Sacred things Set apart by a peculiar attitude of respect toward
them Totem
Profane things Defined by their intrinsic properties
Durkheim on ritual Rites are the actions that are
performed in relation to sacred things Without knowing its beliefs, the ritual of
religion is incomprehensible You cannot understand rituals by
invoking instrumental logic Rituals are symbolic Rituals are indicative of the existence of
common values in a society
Where do notions of sacredness come from? Society
The intensity of social interactions
So, Cause = Intensity of Interaction
Durkheim: Mechanism/Assumption Social interaction produces emotion
Sense of obligation General efferverscence
People have the desire and capacity to attribute cause They attribute their strong emotions to
the divine
Durkheim Thus strong emotions generate
religious beliefs and sentiments
Durkheim In turn, beliefs affect behavior
Individuals living in moral harmony have a sense of confidence
Individuals act in accordance with their beliefs
Contradictory beliefs are held at bay
Durkheim: Draw the theory
Intensity of social interaction
Belief Individual action consistent with belief
Durkheim How do we know whether the
theory has merit? Look at the empirical world
Fleck on scientific facts Durkheim: religious and political
concepts have social roots, but scientific concepts are universal
Fleck: scientific concepts are also social constructions
Fleck, cont’d Research findings only become
scientific facts via extended social negotiation
‘thought styles’ Cf. T. S. Kuhn: ‘paradigms’ in The Structure of
Scientific Revolutions (1970)
The case of syphillis 15th c: syphillis first described.
Cause: the product of a particular astrological configuration on 11/25/1484
21st c: syphillis caused by the bacterium Spirochaeta pallida
One-sex vs. two sex model From ancient Greece to the 18th c,
men and women were regarded as having the same type -- a male type -- of body Females thought to have the same
reproductive organs as men, only turned inside out (Laqueur 1990)
18th c. onward: prominence of the ‘two-sex’ model
Fleck: Cause Networks of interaction
Fleck: Outcome ‘thought collective’ ‘thought style’
Fleck: Mechanisms Communication, misinterpretation
Because we can’t see inside each others’ heads, communication is imperfect
Furthermore, people have ideas when interacting with each other that they wouldn’t have had otherwise
Fleck: Draw the theoryNetworks of interaction
Thought style
Fleck How do we know if the theory has
merit? Look at the empirical world
George Herbert Mead
Mead Not only are ideologies, beliefs,
and scientific facts socially constructed, so is the individual
We know who we are only by understanding how others see us We take on their attitudes towards us
Mead The unity of the ‘self’ comes from
membership in social groups We can only be ourselves if we are
members of a group
Mead: The generalized other We not only take on the attitudes of
others towards us. We also take on their attitudes towards activities.
Only when people take on the same attitudes towards social activities is it possible to organize social life
Mead For Mead, the problem of social
order is like a game The problem is making sure that
everyone knows the rules of the game
Mead Example: The game of baseball
The game Once everyone knows the rules of
the game, they behave accordingly When people take on the attitudes of
the community, then in some way their behavior is dictated by the group
Note that individuals direct their own behavior because they have internalized the attitudes of the group
Mead In summary
Cause = social roles
Mead: Mechanisms People put themselves in the shoes of
the other and imagine what the other’s expectations are
People generalize those expectations People internalize those expectations
Mead Outcome
Internalized attitudes
Mead: Draw the theorySocial roles
Attitudes
Mead How do we know if the theory has
merit? Look at the empirical world
Order via meaningMechanisms:
Situational: Social and physical environment affects meaning
Behavioral Shared meaning individual behavior is
consistent with meaning, and therefore predictable.
Transformational Individual behaviors aggregate to produce social
order (coordination)
Empirical implications of meaning theories Cohen and Vandello on the different
conceptions of violence in the American South and North
Why is there more violence in the South than the North?
Southerners and Northerners attach different meanings to violence