Society: The Floating, Social Laboratory

Yesterday marked the fourth and final day of the seminars on non-violent social change with renowned civil activist Dr. Vincent G. Harding. Here at our very university, the Service and Social Action Committee, the OMA, the Student Life Committee, the Divinity School, the and the departments of philosophy, religion, and politics graciously hosted Dr. Harding for a four-day long enriching conversation about the need for our generation to be the leaders in social change, specifically in the areas of education, citizenship, economic justice, and criminal justice. Every day, Dr. Harding ended with one particular messaged that truly resonated with the very nature of anthropology and even specifically, our reading of the introduction of Coming of Age in Samoa by Margaret Mead. Dr. Harding compared society and rather the world around us as a social laboratory. Every day, he shared a saying he heard about citizenship, “I am a citizen of a country that does not yet exist”. He urged us to shape our country how we want it by treating it society as a floating, social laboratory, one whereby we had the freedom and the conditions necessary to test and try out whatever it is that we wanted to do.

It is the specific comparison of society as a laboratory and the very nature of ethnography that connected me to our reading with Mead. In her introduction of Coming of Age in Samoa, Mead treats human civilization and, more specifically, culture as an environment where laboratory conditions do exist when she asked, “What method then is open to us who wish to conduct a human experiment but who lack the power either to construct the experimental conditions or to find controlled examples of those conditions here and there throughout our own civilization?” (Mead, 1928). Her solution that very much describes the uniqueness of anthropology and the appeal of anthropology as a true discipline of social science was as follows: “The only method is that of the anthropologist, to go to a different civilization and make a study of human beings under different cultural conditions in some other part of the world” (Mead, 1928). Here, Mead alluded to the power of anthropology as a mechanism of testing ideas and understanding the complex nature of the human experience and human struggle. It is only through anthropology that the understanding and exposure to different cultural conditions to learn about previously unknown social concepts and phenomena occurs.

Both Dr. Harding and Mead compare society to experimental conditions. What this basic analogy shows is that the understanding of the complexity of the human experience and advancement of the human condition requires obtaining new knowledge through both exposure to new cultural conditions and testing various hypotheses with the conditions. Both scholars imply this unpredictability and endless possibility of both experimental conditions and potential results when using society and essential, human kind, as an experiment. With experimentation must come a sense of exploration and open-mindedness to both new cultures and the knowledge that may be obtained from such an exploration. Mead (along with her fellow Boasians) viewed society in such a manner particularly because she embraced the Boasian concepts of historical particularism and cultural relativism. Both of these terms are essentially prerequisites required to even set up and engage in a human social experiment. Both allude to the importance of understanding a cultural within their own view and imply a need for the acceptance of all cultures and people.

Both Mead and Dr. Harding look at social experimentation as a fundamental mechanism in the understanding of the human struggle and, as a result, a means to improve it. Social experimentation, according to both scholars, seems like a daunting, complex, and rather deep task that comes with its set of lessons, benefits, and even consequences. If I’ve learned anything through this seminar as well as my studies in anthropology, it is that only through constant persistence, motivation, an “inner fire”, and a desire to elevate the entire human race as a whole will such a social experimentation and rather social exploration lead to new ideas, new concepts, new behavior, and ultimate, necessary social change.

Literature Cited:

Mead, Margaret 1928 Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization. foreword by Franz Boas. New York: William Morrow. Xiii + 170 pp.

"This is a part of me, that you're never gonna ever take away from me"

The other night, I watched a documentary on Katy Perry, just because. Anyways, for those of you who may have no idea who she is, she’s a popular singer and according to Wikipedia, an American recording artist, businesswoman, philanthropist, and actress. The documentary starts off with kids, teenagers, and young adults, praising Katy and remarking on how her music and lyrics had changed their life. Their comments went along the lines of, “She made me realize that it’s okay to be weird and different, that it’s okay for me to express myself.”

Katy’s parents were traveling ministers so Katy grew up listening to their sermons of singing gospels. They censured what she watched and were very strict Penacostal Christians. Katy commented on her childhood saying that she used to believe that all families were like that and traveled and were immersed in Christianity. [Freud adolescent = universal] She had a great voice even as a young child, and she even recorded a gospel music album. One day she said she went to a friend’s house and heard a singer that wasn’t singing about Christianity but about her feelings and from then on, she started writing songs about the things going on in her own life. At 18, she moved to LA by herself and tried to start her career as a singer. Although she was signed by Columbia, she was unhappy because they were trying to change her style, change her to fit into categories of artists that were popular during that period, such as Avril Lavigne and Brittany Spears. They rejected her pleas to be herself. After multiple let downs, she was able to go to a different recording company and finally got her fame with the song, “I kissed a girl” in 2007.

When dissecting Katy’s Perry’s life, we see that Katy is able to fulfill the primary needs that Malinowski refers to. Malinowski claims that humans have seven basic biological and psychological needs that they meet through mediating culture; Nutrition, Reproduction, Bodily Comforts, Safety, Relaxation, Movement, and Growth. However, the culture and social organization that we immerse ourselves in produces new secondary needs that have just as much force as the primary biological needs - needs such as prestige, belonging, and meaning. For Katy, some of these secondary needs included leadership, fame, and being unique. More importantly, through her music, Katy is not only able to fulfill her own secondary needs, but she is able to encourage and possibly influence some of the primary and secondary needs of her fans as well! For their primary needs, some of her songs provide relaxation, while others promote movement and dance. Additionally, although this may be a bit of a stretch, some of her songs even encourage reproduction! (California girls)

However, I believe that part of the reason Katy has become so popular among her fans is because she is able to help them fulfill some very important secondary needs – needs such as attaining that sense of feeling within a society. A lot of her lyrics seem to resonate with those that may feel like they don’t fit in with everyone else, those that feel alienated, different, weird. They encourage people to be different, to be unique, to reveal their true selves and proud of it. “Do you ever feel, already buried deep, six feet under? Screams but no one seems to hear a thing. Do you know that there’s still a chance for you, ‘Cause there’s a spark in you...” Additionally, her concerts and concert outfits, from what I saw in the documentary, are also not very typical – candy dresses with rotating peppermint breasts, one-piece suits with bright light bulbs attached.

Although her unique style got her rejected early in her career, it is also what has made her so popular today. She was a deviant from the music industry, yet she is a huge part of society. Her rise to fame also exemplifies Benedict’s theories firstly about how culture and society try to mold individual personalities by rewarding some while punishing others, rendering them deviant, but then also, how deviance is relative and that societies produce deviance to reinforce their norms, and it’s important to examine deviance as well to study a culture. 

The Olympics

The Olympics occur every four years, every time in a different city and in varying countries. Lately my friends and I have been watching or commentating on the Olympics regularly. We will even turn it on and mute it while we are doing homework. The Olympics draw in viewers of all ages, nationalities and genders. People will watch different countries compete in different sports for a few weeks. Viewers can chose the sport that they will watch, along with the country they would like to pull for. Many people see the Olympics as a way for countries to come together in a peaceful manner and bring people together, but what would Benedict and Malinowski think? I have seen many people adopt views on the Olympics that are similar to that of Benedict or to that of Malinowski.

Benedict’s main theory surrounds that of culture and personality; she believes that “cultures are personality writ large”. Benedict wanted to describe entire societies with the use of psychological attributes. Furthering her work she also completed many National Character studies. The National Character Studies were eventually ended because they led to the stereotyping of entire Nations. 

While watching the Olympics many people will comment, based on the sport, what country they will believe to win. Many people hold true the unfailing idea, that unless there is a fluke: The Canadians will take hockey and the Russians will take figure skating (I am not saying that is true, just examples I have heard).  When listening to this opinion I immediately though of Benedict. Benedict’s work focuses mainly on applying attributes and ideas to cultures as a whole, and by placing the assumption that certain countries will perform better than others in certain sports one can be applying an attribute to an entire population. Benedict’s National Character Studies are considering the salient characteristics of complex societies. When people assume that a certain country will dominate an area of sport, then they too are using a characteristic of the nation and placing it on all of their Olympic contenders. By using Benedict’s theory, knowingly or unknowingly, people are pigeon-holing Olympic athletes’ and Olympic countries into excelling at one specific sport. When the US lost the Snowboard half pipe competition, people were shocked, but they were even more shocked by the actual gold medalist being Swiss. So instead of placing a psychological attribute across an entire nation, they are placing a physical attribute across an entire nation.

Malinowski is a psychological functionalist. Malinowski suggested that individuals have physiological needs (reproduction, food, shelter) and that social institutions exist to meet these needs. There are also culturally derived needs. He believes that all institutions have function, and no institution would exist if it did not, in some way, meet the necessary needs of the people. Culture is used in order to help meet the needs of the individual by transforming them in to cultural needs.

Malinowski, hands down, would believe that the Olympics have a function as do all institutions. He would believe that the Olympics function to meet the basic needs of humans. The Olympics prepare the athletes for reproduction, growth, and bodily movement. The Olympics help to further each athlete in life, by giving them a higher chance of survival by meeting their basic needs. The Olympics also meet secondary cultural needs like prestige in honor within a society. Other viewers of the Olympics who take a view similar to Malinowski see that the Olympics aren’t simply about the competition between countries, but the furthering of individuals who compete in them. People who take a psychological functionalist view see the Olympics about the individual and individual success, and how that success not only provides for the basic needs of the athlete, but also the secondary cultural needs of furthering that person in society. 

To Drink or Not to Drink....That is the Rebellion

"Salute!" and the clink of wine glasses tinkled through the cozy kitchen of Isa and Roberto's house in Campagno di Roma. While abroad in Venice, I traveled with a friend to visit her family outside of Rome. Her family doted upon us with homemade pasta that the chef showed us how to cut as well as homemade ragu. The antipasto consisted of freshly made bread drizzled with homemade olive oil in which the hint of olives could still be tasted. A bottle of wine from a family friend's vineyard accompanied the meal. While Isa was showering this wealth of food and alcohol on us, she also poured a glass of the red wine for her 10-year old nephew, Barto. No side glances were cast between other family members. Wine, such a commonplace beverage, is coupled with most dinners in Italy. Italian parents and children alike consume the alcohol because the body of the wine complements the meal. The emphasis on fresh ingredients of local origins increases the wine's appeal as well. These differing attitudes toward alcohol consumption struck me, and upon my return from Italy, I found myself juxtaposing American and Italian cultural messages to teenagers about alcohol. When I was near Barto's age, I was at a family party with my grandmother. I remember hearing the adults inanely chatter as the sound of wine being poured echoed in the room. Not fully knowing any better, I asked if I could try the wine. Several adults noticeably blanched at my query, and my grandmother carted me off to the kitchen where my mouth was promptly washed out with soap for my sass and improper questions.

 When reading about Mead's work in Samoa, I was reminded of my own experiences. Mead's relevance to my opposing sociocultural experiences with alcohol can be seen in her purposeful use of her data to dispel certain American notions about experiences in adolescence. Her work, foregrounded as it was to inform western society, illustrated to the American public that a tumultuous adolescence was not a universal concept. Her model used sexual permissiveness for adolescent girls in Samoan culture to illustrate how another society constructs the process of maturation, and the result, according to Mead, was a more peaceful transition within adolescence. She built her data set of pertinent cultural experiences through participant observation in Samoa, and then she employed a method of controlled comparison in order to apply information gleaned from a "simple" society to the more complex American society. By showing the peace associated with more sexual freedom on Samoa, Mead looked to sexually repressive norms within the United States as a specific cause for a more difficult, tumultuous period of adolescence within our culture.

In the US, alcohol, not just sex, can be characterized as an experience that matures and if abused, makes our teenage years tumultuous. The cultural norms I was exposed to as a child always portrayed alcohol as a forbidden pleasure that was exciting in part because of its illicit nature. My early prohibitive experiences  with alcohol caused me to seek access to and experiment with alcohol later in my teenage years as a form of surreptitious rebellion. Friends of mine developed a dependence on alcohol, which had been cultivated in the shadows of friends' basements as opposed to the dining table. Until I held open discussions with Italian university friends in Venice, I thought that such behavior must be the norm among Italian teenagers as well. Media of different varieties has contributed in recent years to the reclaiming of such universalizing ideas about the experience of being a teenager. However, my Italian friends' responses illustrated the point that Mead was driving at through her work with Samoan girls. Cultural experiences differ, and your culture constructs your experiences. My Italian friends never saw alcohol as a form a rebellion, and they rarely scapegoated alcohol in our discussions as a reason for messy situations as a teenager. Additionally, drunkenness was a goal that we thought to strive for in Venice, when in fact the city showed us how much disdain they have for people who cannot recognize their limits.

As a result of her research, Mead had a tendency to advocate for a less sexually repressive American society, in the hopes of reducing the difficulty of maturing within the U.S. In a similar fashion, many social scientists as well as myself advocate for the reduction of the legal drinking age here in the hopes of creating a more open society where wine and other alcohols are simply other beverages to enjoy and not a form of resistance. 

Spring Break: An Analysis

The final weeks of February not only contains the promise of warmer weather, but it also brings about the inevitable countdown carried out by nearly every college student for one special week of relaxation: spring break. 

Spring break is the mid-semester hiatus that every student waits for with eagerness and expectation, and it is often the light at the end of the tunnel after a week of stress with midterms and papers. But spring break, in both popular culture and the media, has become a phenomenon in and of itself, one that is very risqué and sometimes dangerous. Movies and television have portrayed spring break as the annual propagation of debauchery, lewd behavior, and not to mention the abuse of alcohol, all located on the sunny beaches of Florida or other coastal towns. Of course, not every student does these things, but someone unfamiliar to American culture would probably think the majority of them participate in the insanity of the stereotypical spring break based on how pervasive the stereotypes are in our culture. One such recent example is the film “Spring Breakers” which depict the antics of a few girls who decide that decide early on that spring break will fulfill all their desires that their bleak life at school cannot and will do anything for this short vacation.

The idea of the typical spring break and why it occurs can be better analyzed using the concepts put forth by our theorists we have studied so far, like Sigmund Freud, Max Gluckman, and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown. Freud offers psychological ideas which could explain why the event occurs, and Gluckman offers some societal reasoning stemming from Durkheim’s concept of solidarity and his own idea of rebellion. A.R. Radcliffe-Brown, as a structural-functionalist, offers some insight into the function and purpose of the event through the lens of its benefit to society. 

Freud, based on his theories about the human psyche, would probably attribute the culture of spring break as that of the id running rampant among a group of people. Expressing the id is a way for spring break participants to express these wild desires in a place where others are doing the same, and where these wild impulses are not frowned upon. Also, the excuse of being intoxicated help to make the wild actions of the masses more acceptable. Freud would probably go further to say that the constraints of college and its stressful atmosphere manifest themselves in this week of catharsis which takes the form of spring break. Once this break is over, individuals retreat back into the world of the superego and rule-following behavior.

The idea of catharsis and release in the analysis of an event is also important in the work of Max Gluckman. In his work, Gluckman discussed the ritual of rebellion, and how the rituals provide a way of liberating social discontent in an acceptable fashion. Spring break, being an annual event where normal societal rules are broken (as well as actual laws on some occasion), would definitely constitute one of these rituals of rebellion. Gluckman discusses how these rituals do not become actual revolutions, and as a result strengthen social authority. Similarly, spring break is not an actual rebellion, as it is only a week out of the year, and afterwards students return to their universities and regular lives which are places of order. The media reports on the negatives and extremes of this event, such as deaths and abuse of alcohol, which cause people to place a higher value on order and the rules of society. Ultimately, spring break being a ritual of rebellion increases solidarity among the population overall, as it shows the benefit of societal order.

Deviating from the idea of catharsis and rebellion are the theories of Radcliffe-Brown. Radcliffe-Brown, a structural-functionalist, would try determine what the purpose of spring break is to society, unlike Freud and Gluckman who focus on the purpose for individuals. People participating in this affair often travel to coastal places and vacation areas where tourists provide the main source of monetary profit. In this way, spring break as a reliable annual event benefits society because it introduces money from students all over the country to these places which rely on tourism to sustain themselves. This benefits society overall since it helps communities thrive. Although this economic aspect of spring break is not often discussed, it is nonetheless an important result of the event.

These few theorists mentioned by no means have all the answers to why spring break is conducted. Ultimately, it is most likely a mix of many factors. But we must always wonder why this stereotypical vision of spring break exists and why it is propagated. I have no doubt that as the semester goes on we will discover more people who have theories that apply to this cultural phenomenon. Until then, I ask somewhat rhetorically, what will YOU be doing from March 8^th to the 15^th and more importantly, why?

Function of Beauty Pageants

Friendship is a mutual experience. Because you are friends with other individuals, you get to share in mutual experiences in which you would not have otherwise considered. This is why a Saturday night a few weeks ago, I found myself in an auditorium watching the Miss Thomasville pageant competition cheering on one of my good friends. The pageant circuit is something that I have only been privy to through such things as “Toddlers in Tiaras” or “Miss Congeniality”.  

The pageant world is an abnormality to me. Growing up, and many would say I still am, I was the biggest tomboy. My mother would have fights with me if we had to go to an event that required a dress. I would have rather been in shorts and a t-shirt riding my bike, playing basketball, or even searching for bugs in our very large backyard. Although now I do appreciate dressing up for formal occasions, odds are you will not see me walking across campus in a dress unless something important is happening. 

So when I was told that my friend would be competing in the Miss Thomasville pageant, a precursor for the Miss North Carolina, and ultimately Miss America pageants, I was dumbfounded. I wondered why would someone put themselves through such an ordeal? What is the purpose, or as some British Social Anthropologists would say, What is the function? 

A quick and easy answer is that participants are able to win scholarship money which would allow them to continue with their educational pursuits. The Miss America foundation awards $340,000 in scholarships at the National competition level, with Miss America herself walking away with a cool $50,000 (http://www.missamerica.org/news/press-kit/scholarships.aspx).

However, many would quickly say the amount of money invested is often far greater than the amount able to be won. In the Miss Thomasville pageant competition, one of the contestants evening gown dress cost over $2,000 – far greater than the award presented to the overall winner. 

Malinowski, a (psychological) functionalist, would argue that the pageants are an institution created by culture in order to meet the basic needs required by all humans. It is quite easy to take Malinowski’s interpretation and see how pageants would prepare women to have their reproductive needs met by preparing them to present themselves more favorably to any suitor, or even their intellectual growth by requiring pageant contestants to be abreast of current events in the world today. 

However, an individual like Emile Durkheim, one of the individuals setting the stage for functionalism to rise as a theory of cultural explanation, would see the pageant scene as an example of how our cultural values expressed through functions of our society on the larger scale. Beauty and sex are two major concepts that although no one would outright say we “value”, they are concepts that we as a society put great emphasis on, and incorporate into almost every part of our society 

By applying Durkheim’s idea of social facts, shared beliefs and values that shape and regulate society, it is evident that beauty and sexuality is a social fact that is ever present today. This is particularly exemplified by the media surrounding us. You can’t leaf through any magazine without seeing advertising featuring scantily clad women and men in insinuating positions. Often times, I am not even quite sure what an advertisement is selling until the end of the commercial because the commercial doesn’t even feature the product until the last few seconds!

A great example is a website that hosts a quiz which asks “Fashion or Porn?”. The quiz shows a small section of an image and you have to guess if it’s from a fashion advertising image or actually pornography. I won’t link to the website because it is very NSFW (Not Safe For Work), as it shows a lot of nudity and, as the title suggests, pornography. However, it shows how similar pornography and advertising can be, and how many are now almost interchangeable with pornography. A good example to see, without going to that particular website, would be any of the American Apparel advertising photos posted on their website (http://store.americanapparel.net/). 

Through the over-saturation of the advertising world with sexually-charged images, you can see through Durkheim’s explanation, the high value placed upon sexuality in our society and culture, and how it shapes and regulates members of society. 

Thus, it’s very easy to understand why pageants exist and are quite popular throughout America through the functionalist view. My friend thought it would be a great opportunity to practice her public speaking and modeling skills, to which I applaud her, and congratulate her on her winning Miss Congeniality. This example just shows that any activity can have many functions to different individuals and can be interpreted and explained by any number of functionalist viewpoints.