Society, Culture & Writing
For students and teachers of
Society & Culture
Philosophers have interpreted the world, the point is to change it!
Karl Marx
What makes things happen in this world we live in? Why do people behave in certain ways? Why do people form groups? At what point do people decide to act differently from the group? Are we all "connected" or do we just inhabit a common environment? Are we "born this way"? What's the difference between our private and public experiences? Where does one culture end and another begin? Where is humanity headed?
Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister in the 1980s once said there is no such thing as society. Just individuals and their families. What did she mean and why did many people disagree? Why does it matter?
These are just some of the questions that drive the Society and Culture course.
Recommended reading:
Chapter 2, Society & Culture (textbook) 2002, Howitt & Julian, Heinemann
Culture: p139-145, Introducing Sociology, 2004, Osborne & Loon, Icon Ltd
Intro to sociology: p3-83, Introducing Sociology, 2004, Osborne & Loon, Icon Ltd
Uncertainty reduction Theory: relate to ‘communication’, University of Twente website
What's so important about Society and Culture, the subject?
If we have the tools to understand and communicate our understanding about human action we can help change the world for the better. The first thing to interrogate is how we know what we know.
Palestinian writer Edward Said wrote that “facts get their importance from what is made of them in interpretation… for the interpretations depend on who the interpreter is, who he or she is addressing, what his or her purpose is, and at what historical moment the interpretation takes place.”
This is what we mean when we use the word "subjectivity" , try to manage our own biases and identify the biases in others.
This relates to Toni Morrison’s idea from her book “Beloved” (read it!) – “Definitions belong to the definers, not that of the defined”
The problem is that just because someone is educated and "expert" we cant assume their interpretation will be right.
Audra Simpson says in Ethnographic Refusal, (2011, junctures org)
“…When I started to do my work on a topic that simply matters to the Mohawks of Kahnawake– the question of who we are, and who we shall be for the future – I found that anthropological histories on the Iroquois and analytics used for cultural analysis were exceedingly ritualistic and procedural, and so much so that they privileged particular communities and peoples in ways that stressed harmony and timelessness even where there was utter opposition to and struggle against the state. Again, this is more than a representational problem, or a superficially representational problem. The people that I work with and belong to do care deeply about ceremony and tradition, but hinged those concerns to nationhood, citizenship, rights, justice, proper ways of being in the world, the best way to be in relation to one another, political recognition, invigorating the Mohawk language – they did not talk about the usual anthropological fare that dominated the prodigious amount of research upon them. They clearly had and have critiques of state power, hegemony, history and even one another that made them appear anomalous against the literature written upon them.”
In other words, indigenous anthropologist Audra Simpson says that colonial representation of indigenous people simplifies their identity to ritual and continuity (“timelessness”) leaving our their social and political concerns.
In this way, indigenous people have their power taken away by the people that study them.
This relates to a few other useful quotes:
Cultural Worker from Western Sydney’s “Sweatshop” cultural organisation, Peter Polites, summarizes the postcolonial conflict theorist Franz Fanon, stating “the colonised man is handicapped in establishing contacts with his environment through complexes and feelings of security; by and by he becomes, in Fanon’s phrase “the prisoner of an unbearable insularity” - Any possible way out of this solitude inevitably leads him into the white world.”
What this means is that historically marginalised voices (like indigenous people, queers, women and people of colour) are judged by standards belonging to the mainstream - "insulated" like a person screaming from within a sound proof studio!
All of this means that sociological and critical cultural studies are crucial for understanding and intervening in our complex world.
Categories for Societies
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Gemeinschaft /community (Tonnies)
People in society are oriented towards shared beliefs and values
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Gesellschaft /society (Tonnies)
People in society are oriented towards allowing individuals to pursue their own goals, and champions the right of individuals to their own beliefs and values.
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Mechanical – solidarity based not on structure but on values and beliefs (Durkheim)
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Organic – solidarity based on a functional society of integrated parts (insitutions like family, church, school, welfare, law) support continuity, just as organs work together to support life. (Durkheim)
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Status (Maine) people authorised (given authority) to play particular social roles
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Contract (Maine) people carrying out social roles voluntarily
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Militant (spencer) individuals are forced to conform by state forces – army, military, prisons
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Industrial (spencer) individuals conform to society for economic reasons – so society can function for everybody’s sake
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Pre-industrial (Marx) agricultural (farming) or even preagricultural as in hunter-gatherer societies.
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Post-industrial (Marx) production is en mass, e.g. in factories. This is significant because it means nothing can be made in isolation from society. The working class produces everything society needs and therefore has social power.
More from Marx: primitive (hunter-gather/indigenous/less structural) Asiatic and ancient (different versions of master-slave and democratic models) feudal (monarchies, serfs) capitalist (bourgeois and proletarian classes)
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Open/closed – whether the society allows change and hybridisation either by cultural or state authoritarian modes.
Types of Societies reading
http://www.sociologyguide.com/basic-concepts/Culture.php
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List all the types of societies described here.
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What type of society do we live in here?
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Try to think of a society for the other types.
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Choose one of the categorisations Marx made for society. Research and define it.
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How does a “closed society” resist change? Research an example
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How are humans different to animals? Why is this important in understanding culture?
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Human collectivity is the sum of all humans together. How is talking about human collectivity different to talking about individual persons?
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Why is “M.J. Herskovits” in brackets? What does this tell us?
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How does culture help humans adapt to nature? (E.g. it is a “screen between man and nature”)Can you think of an example?
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Do you agree that biology alone cannot explain human behaviour? Use one of the examples listed her to explain. (e.g. Maoris rubbing noses)
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If culture is the “fabric of society” – what happens when this “fabric” is stretched or torn?
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If culture is cumulative, what have you taken from past generations? What will your generation add to the “cultural reservoir”
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What is more valued by your generation? Stability or “continuity” or progress/change? Give examples.
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Which aspects of change are most criticised today? Consider what older generations say about your generation.
*When you answer an exam question, think about the fundamental concepts. Eg:
society - many types - collectivistic, individualistic, modern, globalised, westernised, militaristic, open/closed
culture - things people create and share - beliefs, attitudes, values, laws, arts - do people tend to prefer individual freedom or harmony? Continuity or change?
persons - conditioned by their society through process of socialisation - see society. Subjectivity.
environment - urban/rural/ agricultural/industrial/post-industrial (Marx)
time - we say things change over time but why? What processes? Industrialisation (changing the way things are made) modernisation (change from irrational to rational/scientific thought) westernisation (taking on key ideas of the secular, modern, scientific, capitalist West) globalisation (increasing connectivity between groups due to expansion of corporations, free trade and neoliberalism)
power - every theoretical perspective examines the uneven distribution of power in society. For Marxists, power is imbued in capital: the bourgeois exploit value from the proletariat in the form of capital. The united proletariat however has the power to stop making capital: to strike, and to redistribute value back to society and their own class. For feminists, power is taken from women by men. For functionalists, power is broken down through interrelated institutions. This prevents power being concentrated into the hands of individuals who may misuse their power. For postmodernists, there are as many ways of looking at power as their are subjectivities*! (*individual persons with their own personal views)
authority - how is authority distributed? In a status society (Maine) people are born into roles which have certain expectations. In a contract society (Maine) people strive to attain desired roles in society and the authority attached to those roles. In both types of society authority is unevenly distributed across society.
gender - socially constructed. Are roles static (staying the same over time) or changing, if static, why? What function do these roles serve? If changing, what are the agents (persons/groups/institutions) making them change?
technology - socially engineered - who makes the technology and for what purpose? What does it change? Who benefits?
globalisation - how does globalisation impact your example? Who benefits? What is the social cost (what is lost)
Questions:
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If there was a “magic button” to change the ways humans think and act, WHO would press it and for what purpose? What power does this agent have now?
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Make a list of all the persons and groups or institutions that have influence or power over you.
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Which are the greatest influences? Micro, meso or macro?
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Draw a pyramid with three sections (left middle and right) Fit your list into the pyramid. The most influencial of micro, meso or macro must go in the middle.
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Consider the way media and communication are controlled. How are these controlled? How do we challenge media and communications control on an individual level? How does society respond to individual challenges to existing controls?
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“Other people can be manipulated, but not me”. Are some people easier to manipulate? Do you believe your own opinions, values and ideas are self-regulated (under your own control) or vulnerable?
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“The key to manipulation is not force or imprisonment but language”. Do you agree? To what extent does language control society?
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“To what extent “– you will need to make a judgement here. Hint: Consider the power of the label of “slut” informing a girls decision on what to wear, compared to school rules or laws.
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Explain the difference between one-way and two-way information flows. Outline the “old” way of disseminating information compared to the modern-day mechanisms.
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Do you think society is gaining or loosing power when it comes to media and communications?
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Hint: Consider Twitter versus traditional news
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The first step in changing a person’s views is to “destabilise a persons’ sense of self”. Why is a sense of self essential to social and cultural literacy?
Summary of "The Search for Society" chapter from Intro to sociology: p3-83, Introducing Sociology, 2004, Osborne & Loon, Icon Ltd
-Society is made up of interconnected persons. Our connectedness be seen as a kind of “fabric” – when things go wrong for individuals or individuals do wrong, broader society is affected. Society shapes people and people shape society.
-Individualists, such as supporters of westernization and capitalism think individuals should be responsible for themselves. Collectivists, such a those who value working together for common goals and sharing resources think individuals should put society first.
-The sociologist Hobbes said persons in society follow a social contract – a kind of set of rules and expectations that preserve society
-Evolutionists like Compte and Spencer said society has evolved over time in a natural kind of way – like a tree. Marx said society changes depending on how work is performed, because of the relationship of production to power – eg. How society makes things and for whom.
-The project of modernity saw a shift from societies revolving around religious, superstitious and “irrational” thought to scientific evidence based (empirical) thought.
-Societies that are cohesive are those in which all the different parts – social groups, churches, school systems, legal systems, governments, the family, police etc – work together harmoniously. This is because the “social contract” (common values which bind society) is loved by pretty much everyone. When society doubts the value of one or more of these parts, conflict can occur which may lead to change.
-Postmodernism rejects the project of modernity and all its explanations of society. -Modernist sociology looks at society in it structural forms – how the parts work together. Postmodernists say the “parts” are impossible to define. Society can only be explained as billions of different perspectives, memories, values and identities.
-Sociologists have often generalized the culture of societies as the culture of the nation-state that the society lives in. Eg, people who live in Australia are defined by Australian culture. The problem with this nationalist view is that many different identities exist within single nation-states. Just look at Liverpool!
-Finally, the goal of S&C is to develop social and cultural literacy – what Mills called the sociological imagination. That means the ability to understand society not just from our personal (micro world) experiences, but also our public (macro world) knowledge. For example, we might know about racism because we have heard racist comments, but we understand it by researching how widespread racism is across society and how various parts of society are responding to this issue. Cultural literacy means we have a critical approach to the information. We are open-minded but critical of, for example, stories from peers in the micro world, and newspaper articles in the macro world.
Checkout...
Race & Intelligence: Science's last taboo (Its on Youtube!)
Documentary that highlights the need for qualitative - not just quantitative - research.
Can be viewed as a film-version of your PIP: Starts with a sociological problem - which becomes a research question; involves various primary and secondary research methodologies; involves the researcher personally; shows the story of a journey of discovery; and leads to a conclusion to the research question.
Task: A crosscultural comparison in 3 steps
Step 1
micro world investigation - about your own culture
Consider each heading.
How is your micro experience of "your culture" different from your macro experience of "your culture"? In other words, does you personal experience fit with a typical experience of your culture?*We need to generalise the experience of our culture with critical awareness of stereotypes in order to show social and cultural literacy
Secondary research: getting your case study started.
-How to find and evaluate sources
-How to organise your notes-intext referencing (Harvard method) and footnotes
-Quoting and paraphrasing
-synthesising different points of view (perspectives)
-synthesising primary and secondary research
Step 2
Case study - about a culture of interest
Here are some useful secondary sources I have come across.
There may be one here that relates to your area of research.
For each source, consider who wrote the article and for what purpose.
Where was it published?
The publication details tell you how much authority the source has - meaning how much it can be trusted.
Does the article make unsubstantiated generalisations (make an argument without backing it up with evidence?)
What kind of evidence is used? Mostly qualitative or mostly quantitative? (Consider the advantages of each)
Are there statistics I can use?
Are there quotes (from other people) I can use?
Do I want to quote this author?
ARABIC PARENTING:Arabic Parenting Guide - English.pdf
Page 6 is on traditional Arabic parenting styles.
CHINESE PARENTING:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704111504576059713528698754.html
This article argues that Chinese parenting styles lead to more successful children
YUGOSLAV PARENTING
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=HSy3-FLY2FcC&pg=PT125&lpg=PT125&dq=yugoslav+parenting&source=bl&ots=F3xfucdKx4&sig=Wi0VTXlh5DjTSOrGXya_giTfkMo&hl=en&sa=X&ei=JahET8aHJtCjiAe2vtCHAw&ved=0CFkQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=yugoslav%20parenting&f=false
On these pages of chapter 11, "Yogoslavian childhood: from war to democracy", the author suggests that "harsh" parenting strategies stem from the harsh environment of war
INDIAN PARENTING
http://worldmomsblog.com/2011/07/07/india-parenting-styles-east-vs-west/
This article suggests that Indian parents feel like they're not doing their job unless they're chastising their children...
So you've seen a mix of types of secondary sources: government document, news article, academic book and popular blog. Each is credible and has authority in its own ways, so long as you understand the strengths and limitations of each.
Step 3
Pull it together and compare.
Previous feedback for student work:
...not enough evidence of secondary research. Everytime you bring in a "fact" or a statistic, you need to state where you found that info. There should be 2-3 references in each chapter.Also, many bibliographies were incomplete. See examples below:
Website:Morgan, Kathryn, 2012, Yr 11 SAC Wikispace, www.missmorganlghs.wikispaces.com, accessed 12/03/2012
Book:Craig, Natasha, 2012, Student Guide to SAC, LGHS Publishing, Sydney Australia
Intro to Gender as a social construct.
(Project forward to next topic to consider Judith Butler and Foucault)
Miss Representation Extended Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5pM1fW6hNs
Concepts check:
-Consider the concepts in bold below.
-Read the stories about Joanne and Billy-Bilal. Each part of the story relates to ONE of the bold concepts.
-When you have decided which bold concepts belong to each part of the story, compare your answers with others.
-Now see if you can relate the remaining concepts to the stories. Discuss this process.
Society / culture / persons / environment / time / power / authority / gender / technology / social & cultural literacy / Community / Groups / Communication / Conflict / socialization / enculturation / acculturation / cooperation / decision-making / change / continuity / multiculturalism / citizenship / micro world / macro world
Joanne
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Joanne’s parents raised her to be accepting of other people’s cultures and lifestyles.
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...But as a teenager they began to make comments about her clothes and hobbies that made her feel that they though there was something “wrong” with her.
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...The comments were about not wearing “suitable clothes – the clothes her mum said made her look “pretty” and feminine. Her dad, who used to love taking her to sports matches, was suddenly less encouraging of her interest in football.
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...This really frustrated and depressed Joanne. She had been taught that Australian culture featured equality between the sexes. She wondered how her parents could be so celebratory of diverse ethnic backgrounds…
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…and yet so old-fashioned about gender roles. Overtime, Joanne found relief in focusing on the world outside of her family. She read widely about the experiences of famous sportswomen, as well as how women in different parts of the world experience and resist sexism.
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She became more critical in the way she read about women and observed women in the media.
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Joanne became known in her school and community as someone who would speak her mind and contribute to social debates and activities.
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This gave her a sense of belonging that made her feel she could do anything and be who she really wanted to be.
Billy-Bilal
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Billy’s real name was Bilal. But on his first day in an Australian school his teacher called him “Billy” and because he respected the teacher and wanted to fit in, he kept the name.
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As a new student he felt anxious. Although in his home country he had been a very confident student, here he was suddenly unsure of his own opinions and wanted to blend into his new surroundings.
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For the first week, Bilal studied everything the other students did and tried to make sure his behaviour was no different. He even asked his mother to give him sliced bread instead of flat bread for lunch.
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When one day he told his mother to call him “Billy” she became worried about him. She wanted him to fit in and do well in Australia, but she didn't want him to forget who he was before Australia. Bilal’s parents worked closely to devise a plan…
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…The plan was to allow their son to develop in his new home but also to encourage him to continue learning about his heritage…
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…the beliefs, customs, language and arts of his home country.