Social Influences on Nonverbal Communication
|
In this chapter, some of the topics addressed in chapter one are revisited here, discussed from a sociological perspective. They are themes that wend their way through the the book. Anthropologists, sociologists and psychologists may address the same themes, but they research them in different ways.
Human society is created by humans; in turn, it influences human behavior dramatically and thoroughly. Over time, the interactive behaviors of humans build up a dynamic collectivity, a society. Individuals born into that society may think that the society is fixed, unchanging and enduring because they do not realize that humans create, maintain and modify it. Parents and grandparents, raised under different circumstances than their offspring, behaved quite differently from them. Social change is fast-paced in modern technological societies. When structural changes occur in societies, they influence how people live and behave.
Humans are situated within their society (Carbaugh, 1996; Ellis, 1999); that is, they enact behaviors that make sense to them in terms of where they were born or grew up. Born poor, they enact behaviors that are very different from those who are born to wealth. As noted in the previous chapter, people create a sense of place, a home located somewhere in society, from which they operate and live out their lives. These places change as people move about in society.
Institutions, such as the family, peer groups, schools, religious groups and the media influence human nonverbal communication. Humans act, based on social perceptions that are rooted in their experiences. People try to act appropriately following social expectations. The clothes that people wear, their accents, the foods they eat, and their social behaviors are linked to their situation in society. Background factors, such as age, gender, ethnicity and technology influence human behaviors profoundly. The concept of identity, discussed in general, cultural terms in the previous chapter, is discussed more precisely in this chapter, as sense of self created through the influence of socialization processes (Abrams & Hogg, 1990; Giddens, 1991;Grodin & Lindlof, 1996, Weigert, 1986).
Societies are about collectivities and collective behaviors. Yet, it is about how the individual identifies herself or himself within it that is important. Humans go through life altering their perceptions as they experience new situations. This chapter points to the key factors in society that influence human nonverbal communication. The SI approach is used throughout; it was in the study of society that the main concepts behind the SI approach were developed. Although scholars within the SI approach differ among themselves about how to study society, there is a general coherence overall. Readers will find these differences and similarities described in chapter nine.
A point should be made concerning the differences between a culture and a society. There are no sharp differences but there is a matter of emphasis. Speaking generally, anthropologists have traditionally focused on broad features of a milieau, such as religion, technology, kinship systems, beliefs, languages and thoughtways. Their work was often performed in oral pre-literate societies. Sociologists have tended to focus on human identity achieved through socialization processes. Their emphasis is upon the nature of human groups, institutions, social inequality and the use of power by social elites (Stryker, 1980, 1981). Their studies focus on topics, ranging from the individual in society to the structural elements of a society.
Humans vary considerably in the ways that they conceive of themselves, in the ways they act, and in the ways that they interpret the behavior of others. Yet, they share intersubjectively in behaviors that are common in their society; otherwise it would not be possible to take part in social networks. The everyday reasoning and construal of the meaning of things is sometimes referred to as a logic-in-use. Although the SI approach is broadly compatible with a variety of other approaches, such as social cognition theory and other interactionist approaches, the basis of SI is the subjective experience referred to in this book as sensemaking, an interpretive process. Humans strive to make sense of their social worlds; they internalize the meanings that are generated from interaction with others; they make sense of the actions of others; they create lines of action to respond to the perceived demands of a situation. They engage in joint interactions with others. Throughout this process, humans symbolize the self, others and events through perceptual processes (Mead, 1934;Cooley, 1970; Jones, 1990). People label the objects of their social world, reflecting their perceptions. By naming things, people frame and interpret them. Human behavior becomes patterned and recognized. Indeed, there is a sociology of the emotions, different patterns of emotional display characterizing various groups in American life (MacKinnon, 1994). People try to manage their feelings, which, over a period of time reflect patterned ways of dealing with them.
Human relationships are created. For example, partners in a dyadic relationship define their relationship as a kind of symbolic baby. The relationship is something they created together, existing separately from each of the parties. People identify relationships based on their meanings. A special boyfriend treats his special girlfriend differently from the ways that he treats his friends. They respond mutually in terms that they have created, drawing upon their tacit knowledge of expected romantic behavior. It may not be obvious, but each party in a relationship has an implicit set of rules, a definitional frame for that relationship. People sort out what kind of relationship they have with others, which influences how they will behave.
Framing Interaction Ritual
Erving Goffman, a dramaturgist who influenced the growth and development of symbolic interactionist theory, studied the ritualistic nature of human interactions focusing on daily life. He unmasked everyday behavior. He stressed that people have reasons to behave; they performed 'face-work' in their relations with others, exhibiting deference and demeanor. He believed that people try to avoid embarrassment, to meet the perceived expectations of others and the perceived demands of the situation.
Humans may isolate themselves from interaction, developing behavioral and mental symptoms that separate them from others. People may simply withdraw from others, taking the risks involved. Not all people have an 'interaction consciousness' that tells them when an interaction is going well. They can lose "other-consciousness" by being distracted, the result being an unfocused interaction. (Goffman, 1967) Goffman developed the dramaturgical metaphor in his analysis of human behavior. Humans were on stage, acting in front of an audience, following scripted lines.
Human behavior is both creative and adaptive but it is their definition of the situation that influences how people will behave. Sociologists who study everyday 'natural' behaviors from an SI perspective (Denzin, 1971; Weigert, 1997) attempt to make relevant that which is often obscure. They analyze everyday life, unmasking it, following a logic of implicature, uncovering the deeper meanings to be found in ordinary human events. That which seems to be routine or unimportant to many people may be a rich source of information for the insightful sociologist or analyst.
As mentioned, symbols are created by humans; yet, they may take on a life of their own, used again and again over long periods of time by different members of a society. They are intersubjective, interpretive tools although they may not convey exactly the same meaning to each individual. (Duncan, 1968; Stevens, 1998). People are practical semioticians; they symbolically construct the self (Hewitt, 1999); they symbolically construct community (Cohen, 1989). It is because humans are fairly predictable about their use of symbols that society has an integrity. For example, the national elections for the president of the United States are predictable because demographers know about the symbolic patterns of the voters, the patterned semantics of being Republican or Democrat.
Framing the Importance of Symbols
Humans act in a social world that has been constructed symbolically. Without shared symbolic representations, humans could not interact successfully. That is, all humans create individual meanings for the objects in their world, such as cars, the stock market, schools, families and so on but it is in the intersubjective aspects, the shared aspects of this symbolization, that human interaction is possible. Symbols, by themselves, do not have meaning; the meaning is attached to the symbol by the individual. New symbols are created to represent new says of thinking about everyday matters. Language, of course, is inherently symbolic. Long ago, Burke (1945) described language as symbolic action. Humans symbolize all activities in their lives. They create and share meanings. they engage in an interpretive, sensemaking process.
Recently, the Zia Indians in the Southwestern United States, have taken steps to have their sun symbol removed from use by non-native commercial advertisers. The sun symbol is sacred to the Zia but it has been used as a commercial logo by various companies. In short, the Zia native Americans believe that their sun symbol is desecrated when it is used commercially (Auther, 1999, Sept. 4).
Most people in the United States are not born into affluent situations where access to money may be taken for granted. Most people, born into a work-a-day world, need a job to make ends meet. People are situated economically in society. In like manner, they are situated politically, religiously, by gender and ethnicity and by age. Money and influence go hand in hand. Ethnicity, gender and age are embedded in networks of power, or the lack of it.
Power is unequally distributed in the United States, as it is in all countries. The powerful members in society tend to yield their influence on governing boards of major corporations, including the media. They are situated in very different locations in society than is the everyday person. It is this situationism that influences how people think and act (Carbaugh, 1996). The very wealthy members of society can make choices that are not available to the poor members as in the choices of automobiles, the clubs one joins, the travel that one enjoys and so on. In short, people enact behaviors in keeping with their standpoint in society.
A good illustration is to be found in the history of women and minorities in the United States. They have had less access to power than men have had. In recent years, many women have tried to make up the power difference by collectively creating political and economic organizations that will enable them to present a united front. Women present themselves in accordance with their interpretations of the social situation (Deegan, 1991; Gilligan, 1982, 1988). Similarly, members of ethnic groups enact communicative behaviors that arise from their situation in society. Their unique social history means that they construe life differently from mainstream Whites. The contexts and social codes influencing the ways they think are different from those of mainline white groups.
For example, Cuban Americans in Little Havana in Miami, have a highly politicized Cuban background. They consider themselves to be political exiles from a hostile Cuba. Many of them were forced out of Cuba or voluntarily fled the country. Their political and economic views and how they make sense of their social worlds, arise from a history that is very different from that of most Americans who were born and raised under calm conditions. Their identity is highly politicized. The Chinese, the Navajo, Blacks and Cubans have had unique historical experiences that influence how they think and act, as discussed in chapter seven. Their self-identities have been constructed based on their experiences. Their social behaviors arise from their standpoint in society.
As mentioned in the previous chapter, people create a sense of place reflecting their situation in society. They have a hometown, a college that they attended, favorite experiences that they remember and the comforts of knowing where they belong. In a broader sense, the concept of place refers to the geography of being. That is, people will claim national heritage, meaning that they associate themselves with a country, which, in turn is part of a geographic hemisphere. To be American is to be proud of a heritage that is unique in the world. Or, they may be proud of the fact that they were raised in the deep south or some other part of the United States.
The gist of the concept of place is that people create meanings for the places where they have grown up and they are deeply influenced by their sense of place (Gallagher, 1993). Humans are affected by night and day, by temperatures of regions, by urban-rural backgrounds and other factors, all of which are associated with the concept of place. Place, of course, varies greatly for different people, some of whom are mobile, while others are fixed in a geographical area. Some people are cosmopolitan in outlook; others tend to be insular. Thus, for example, one's sense of place may be associated with a small town in Alabama, not far from a large urban setting, which in turn is associated with a southern region where identifiable ways of behaving occur. Context is imbedded in context, each with identifiable social markings.
Humans act agentively and dramaturgically. That is, they act on their own behalf as though they were performers on a stage. Just as vocalized language rests on a symbolic labeling process, nonverbal communication rests on a symbolizing process. People think about what they will say to an audience in a speech class; they also think about how they will dress or appear in front of that audience. Thus, verbal and nonverbal activities rest on a common interpretive process. (1)
The Chicago School of SI emphasizes agentive role-taking behavior. For example, a student takes notes in class, studies and takes tests; as part of social life, the student may join a fraternity or sorority or sing or dance in a performance. The teacher, on the other hand, probably will do none of the above although, as a student she probably did the same things. Perceiving her role to be professional and authoritative, the teacher provides expert knowledge to the student, separating her out from the students. Faculty members may or may not mix with students, depending on how they construct their relationships with students. In short, students and faculty engage in very different nonverbal role-taking behaviors reflecting their self perceptions and their perceptions of the role they will play in the educational system. Role-taking is a key aspect of SI . The ability to take the role of the other person in interaction is what builds social patterns, groups and institutions.
Framing Society
In the final analysis, any society is built up by the joint interactions of people. Society is really the result of ongoing human interaction. It is constructed by humans; it is maintained by humans; it is changed by humans. Humans engage in joint interactions for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they compromise in one situation; perhaps they pursue goals in another; perhaps they stand aside as others interact, and merely watch. But, social patterns, small and large, stable and dynamic, form society. It is through persisting daily interaction that society is built up (Blumer, 1969).
Roles are not fixed and invariant. They are general and dynamic. Students or faculty members can choose how they will perform the roles, giving it the shape that they prefer. Some faculty members lecture; others engage interactively with students in the classroom. The main point is the faculty member acts as her own agent in the role performance. Roles may be continuous and ongoing or they may be short-lived and terminal.
All people engage in multiple role activities, as students, as parents, as workers, as friends and so on. Humans carry with them the experiences of the past which influence how they interpret and discharge their roles. The demands of the situation are interpreted differently by each individual. For example, one may perceive the role of parenting as a protective one, setting about to protect the child from harm; another may perceive the role as a nurturing one, tending to assist the child in the tasks of childhood. The point, once again, is that the perception of the role to be performed governs how that role will be performed; the baggage, positive or negative, brought from the experiences of the past influence how roles are discharged.
People take into account the many social influences that affect their behaviors in role playing. For example, most students are aware that they should not appear in class naked. Most parents know that they should not beat their children. In short, the underlying social codes, usually not written down, inform people about appropriate role playing behavior. People catch on to the rules. Appearing in class naked will get attention; it may also lead to a sense of embarrassment. The perception of appropriateness is part of the sensemaking process. People model and imitate the performances of others in role-taking behavior.
The ways that humans enact or act out their lives both verbally and nonverbally has been called dramaturgical, a metaphor used by Erving Goffman. He observed that people act as though they were on a stage, the stage of life, and as though there were an audience observing them. Humans interact with others, acting out behaviors, and they receive appraisals, good or bad, from their observors or fellow participants in the interaction. Humans attempt to influence others by their nonverbal behaviors. For example, the phrase "She was dressed to kill" is a dramaturgical notion understood by most people. The actor may deliberately "dress to kill" to affect or influence others in a particular way, or she may simply have been ignorant of the social expectations of others. As Goffman pointed out, embarrassment usually results from being ignorant about social expectations.
The important point is that humans often plan to present themselves in specific ways to accomplish specific goals or tasks. They can feign friendship; they may smile to hide deceit; they can smile to attract others; they can smile to impress others (Jones, 1964; Leary, 1996). They can "dress to kill". The body "shines" or gives off cues to others; people can choose to direct their presentations in specific ways. People engage in impression management, in self presentation. On occasion, humans act in Machiavellian ways, performing acts to gain an advantage, regardless of the effect on the other parties.
The patterned nature of social behavior seems to be game-like when observed from a third-party perspective. For example, the romantic relationship discussed above would appear to be guided by hidden rules and expectations, not unlike the rules of games, such as chess. From a transactional perspective, different from, but not incompatible with SI, a psychiatrist analyzed human behaviors in game terms, suggesting that humans play games in marriages, in sexual relationships, in parties, and in other situations. From this perspective, people put on a game-face and enact roles based on that identity. For example, the female may play the role of a mother and the male may play the child, defining the relationship as a mother-child game, even though two adults are playing the game.There are good games and there are bad games. (Berne,1964).
Games were important to Mead, the founder of what is now Symbolic Interactionism. Mead believed that childhood games were microcosms of later adult life. (Mead, 1934, 1938). That is, he believed that the play of the child contained within it an early understanding of life's rules, expectations and so on.
In the playing of games, children create social relationships which may or may not be healthy (Lutfiyya, 1987; Maccoby, 1998). For example, it has been suggested in the media that bully behavior on the part of male adolescents may be traceable to the ways that children played games in early childhood. This is probably a common view at a time when adolescent male bullying seems to be on the rise. Games, of course, have boundaries and rules; people develop skills in playing them whether the result is positive or negative. Some people engage skillfully in interaction with others; others act awkwardly, perhaps suffering embarrassment. People engage in joint activities, in interaction rituals, in ceremonies and in episodic events, seemingly playing the social games of life.
It is safe to say that all nonverbal communication or behavior is learned through the processes of socialization. Children are directly and indirectly socialized. Few topics have occupied the attention of sociologists as much as the study of socialization processes. People get their values, beliefs, attitudes, behaviors and expectations from early socialization experiences. True, people will modify and re-interpret their experiences as they age, but the basic patterns are rooted in socialization. How much human behavior is influenced by pre-birth conditions is not clear. For example, it may be that the emotions of a preborn child are influenced by the emotional condition of the mother. An anxious mother may unwittingly pass her anxieties to her unborn child, just as an alcoholic mother may inflict biological harm on the child. Research about these influences is recent and results are unclear. What is clear is that the socialization process is active immediately after birth. The American way of birth is distinctive compared to birthing in earlier societies.
Framing Birthing Patterns
"A survey of birth postures in tribal and ancient societies reveals that squatting, not lying, is the natural delivery position for our species. Even the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic for birth shows a squatting woman with a baby's head emerging from below her body. The same is true in ancient Babylon, Greece, and in the pre-Colombian peoples of Central America. In ancient Rome, they made use of special birth chairs. These chairs had cut-away seats that permitted the baby to emerge downward while the mother clung on to handles fixed to the front of the chair arms. These devices remained popular in Europe for centuries and were still in use in some regions right up to the beginning of the twentieth century" (Morris,1992, p 11). Apparently this type of birth is easier for women. There is still pain but the process is faster and easier than what modern hospitals do.
Biology certainly plays a key role in human behavior. Sociobiologists vary in their interpretation of how much the biology and chemistry of the body influences the behavior of the child. The nature-nurture controversy continues. It is argued that any trait that enables humans to survive, to find water, air, food and shelter is likely to influence human behavior substantially (Wilson, 1992). Precisely how the nature-nurture interaction works is not known.
Although children are born with predisposing "biological hardware", they are not 'hardwired' as are most lower order animals. In short, they can create their own sense about the body. Most lower order animals, excepting perhaps chimps and dolphins, do not appear to be able to make sense of themselves; although this, too, is debated. In their situation, biology appears to determine their behaviors. In humans, however, biology is not totally determinative of behavior. People learn to behave. Learning is achieved through socialization processes. Children catch on to the meaning of things, of events in their lives. They model and imitate their parents, siblings, peers and heroes. Joint social interactions form the foundation for the growth of the child.
Clearly, the human body is a physical organism, having an obdurate character. As mentioned, however, people overlay the body with meaning, symbolizing it. Yet the body appears to grow and change along fairly predictable lines, almost without regard to how humans think about their bodies. However, at each physical growth stage there are companionate social stages (Erikson, 1980, 1985). For example, the verbal part of the child's communicative reportoire emerges only after the nonverbal part has emerged. Infants learn to control muscles from the top of the body downward; first learning to use their heads, mouth and eyes, then sitting up and finally standing and walking (Haslett & Samter, 1997). Neonates are sensitive to loudness, to the tone of the human voice from early on. In short, early socialization may loaded on the side of the physical body.
People gradually learn about their bodies; they affix meaning to the bodies as they are influenced by various socialization processes. They create body identities. Those who follow Freud's psychoanalytic thinking, might argue that much, pehaps most, nonverbal communication is influenced by unconscious processes; others might argue that underlying, hidden mechanisms, such as the emotions, influence human behavior. But, in the final analysis, it is clear that humans make at least a sketchy sense of their own behaviors and the behaviors of others through the gradual processes of socialization.
Through imitation and modeling, a child may learn to act like his father, a girl like her mother. Cetainly modeling and imitative learning is not linear; rather, it is complex, usually indirect. By seeking out peers later in their lives, children reinforce who it is they think they are. Their self-identity is formative and telogenetic. Throughout their lives, though the various stages of life, individuals attempt to validate who they are, trying to come to terms with their identity.
Framing the Growth of Children
Research over the past 30 years shows that, starting as a newly born baby, a human has a strong orientation to others, to their voices, and even to their smells (Messer, 1994.) At four months, a child can stick out its tongue in response to the mother and at about 15 months the child can imitate facial expressions of the mother and open its hands in response to adults. Even the facial gestures of the child are influenced by mimicry; happiness, sadness and surprise can be imitated by the young child. It has been noted that even sightless children smile, suggesting perhaps that this activity is innate; however, in sighted life, mimicry plays an influential part.
Modeling involves paying attention to key persons; children see their parental behaviors as examples to be followed. Later, of course, the child will enact her or his own stylized way of communicating nonverbally; yet, the early influences will still be there. Walking, eating, speaking and other important life enhancing activities are given an early push thorugh the modeling process, essentially an interactive process (Wywicka, 1996).
Although children act creatively, they are influenced to act in patterned ways, too. Young teenagers, for example, learn how to preen and dress for special occasions, following the lead of their peers. The stuff that becomes internalized is heavily influenced by modeling. Schools, television, play and other processual, ongoing activities serve to influence the child. The child learns to express nonverbal behaviors by taking account of the social exhibits of others. Gradually, the child creates personal schematic lines of action that work successfully in interactive situations.
Children learn to play early in life. It has been said that play is work to the child. Whether it is playing with their food, pretending that a doll is real, or engaging in sport, as mentioned, a child's play is a microcosm of what is to come. In play, children learn to sort themselves out in a form of gender segregation (Maccoby, 1998). A budding style of play emerges for each gender. The young girls learns not to be too aggressive; young boys learn to be somewhat aggressive or agonistic. Children learn to take the role of the other in play, seeing that role in the actions of others. They make friends (Rubin, 1965, 1980) that deeply influence their behaviors.
As in primate and other animal behaviors, the newborn is gentled, touched, and cared about so that it can form a trusting bond with its mother (Bowlby, 1969;Montagu, 1971). The baby does its part by responding with coos and cries, interacting jointly and intersubjectively with its mother. Although other creatures, such as goslings, form a bond with the object nearest to it at birth, a human child forms an attachment that is more mentative and less hard-wired. Fondling and gentling by the animal mother is demonstrated in nearly all mammalian, four legged and higher order animals (Eibl-Eibestadt, 1975, 1979). It also characterizes human, mother-child relationships. Gentling and bonding by touching and cooing form attachments at a critical and fragile stage of development for the child. The early attachment styles of newborns are affected directly by the presence or absence of this mutual bonding process, (Jones & Brown, 1996); as mentioned, young children who lack a gentle and caring mother, who may suffer from physical and emotional abuse, may develop dysfunctional attachment styles.
It is in this early process of mutual bonding between mother and child that the child begins to sense the importance of its body and of itself. The mother, father and key others begin the socialization process that will lead to identity for the child. In short, the self is not a given; rather, it is forged by learning activities, constructed in interaction with others. Mutuality and intersubjectivity are part of the sharing process. The child learns about meanings, about itself and its importance, about appropriate behaviors and so on. Later, the child is able to label, or symbolize, the world because of its early experiences (Bruner, 1990; Moore & Dunham, 1995). At a later time, adults remember their childhood experiences, especially the touching behaviors of their parents, whether good or bad (Jones & Brown, 1996) and they tend to treat their own children as they have been treated.
As mentioned, humans are members of the animal kingdom; but, unlike other primates and lower order animals, humans are consciously aware of themselves, taking themselves as objects of their own thought. As a human, a person can say, "I am Johnnie" or "I am Suzie" and have specific ideas in mind about what the name means. Humans construct their identities, achieving a sense of self, which, although it is flexible, contains fairly enduring characteristics. The body, of course, is a critically important part of human identity.
Framing the Self and Identity
Following Mead and others who developed his ideas further, the self is created in interaction with others. People treat themselves as objects and talk about themselves with some certainty. Although the concepts of self and identity have many different interpretations, varying considerably between and among scholars, in this text, a symbolic interactionist view is taken. Identity and self, essentially the same concepts, arise in social interaction; they are involved in all human interactions and performances. "As we communicate toward self we are able to see ourselves in the situation, to recognize who we are in relation to others and vice versa, as well as to evaluate our own action in the situation. We are able to judge ourselves and to establish an identity" (Charon, 1995, p 86).
Although very early on both genders attach themselves to parents, gender segregation gradually occurs and children gradually become relatively independent. It is said that the colors pink and blue, used at birth to distinguish males and females, sets the tone for later gender development (Gilligan, 1982). Through the various stages of life, nonverbal behaviors become genderized (Wood, 1992,1994). Part of the accepted "Me", the object part of the self, is the image of the somatic self that the child gradually learns.
In this book, cultural, social and psychological views of the self are presented. Self, self-concept, identity, self-construal and other terms are used to describe the meaning of the body; they are used nearly interchangeably, although it may be argued by various scholars that critical distinctions should be made for the purposes of research. SI scholars maintain that the self and self-identity are constructed by individuals who take account of the perceptions of themselves by others, internalizing that thinking and incorporating it into a cluster of thoughts, mulling it about in various circumstances, refining it, adding to it, altering it over time. The achievement of identity, of a sense of self, is a dynamic process (Hewitt, 1999; Weigert, 1986).
Although the concept of identity seems to connote an integrity that is played out over a lifetime, some research suggests that the formation of identity may be negatively influenced by a society that is heavily mediated, especially by television (Gergen, 1991). From this view, the influence of television and other modern media, including the internet, appear to confuse and fracture identity to be discussed in Chapter Eight. Born with a body, the individual must learn how to make sense of the body and the self; it is more difficult in modern times, some scholars assert.
Thus, through interactions with others, the child learns the meaning of her or his own body. Through praise and criticism, parents reinforce how their children see their own bodies. Saying to the child, "Oh, you are beautiful" is very different from saying "Why don't you dress up more?" implying that the child is less than attractive. Thus children learn about their bodies gradually. If a child learns that his genitalia are dirty, he may become overconcerned about them. Body images, body concepts, body schemes, body attitudes, and body experiences are phrases used to suggest the symbolic nature of the body. (Fisher, 1986). The young lady, seeing herself as too fat, believes that others see her as too fat, and acts accordingly. She engages in a type of self-fulfilling prophecy. She attempts to avoid embarrassment, sensing that her body does not measure up in a society that "worships" thinness. Severely under duress, she may become anorexic.
Social themes influence body perception as well. A very religious person might say that the body is the temple of God, or built in the image of Christ. The Amish downplay the role of the body, dressing it simply without adornment. In more secular ways, a child might learn that black is beautiful or that being thin and tall is the desired body shape. Young black males may learn how to saunter or swagger as a sign of their identity. Clearly, the "looking glass self" is a powerful metaphor (Cooley, 1970). People look into society as they would look in a mirror and find symbols of identification.
Humans go through relatively patterned growth periods, labeled by a number of scholars in varying ways. Clearly, human nonverbal communication changes as humans mature, although behaviors from earlier stages persist. Humans can and do change the way they think about the events in their life. Thus, the gerontological age, for example, is viewed as problematic by some people while it is viewed as an opportunity for further growth by others. People can continue to learn new ways of communicating nonverbally. See Chapter Seven for a discussion of the aging process and how it influences nonverbal behaviors.
The stages of life seem to be fairly predictable in American life and a variety of stage-type theories exist. Although stages are not truly fixed, they are somewhat predictably patterned so that children move from early childhood into pubescence and then into adolescence in varying but fairly routine ways, predicated on physiological development, body changes and so forth. The social and physical growth of the child are intertwined . For example, the child is not able to lift a fork to its lips until its motor skills are developed. A child begins to understand what eating means when its linguistic and cognitive skills are developed. From eating with its hands, the child gradually emerges into full-blown maturity, able to perform complex nonverbal tasks, such as hosting a dinner party or eating in a fashionable restaurant without embarrassing herself. The child learns how to act through a complex interactive set of activities with her parents (Conte & Castellofranch, 1995). Stage theories are complex, some very popular and well researched; others very hypothetical. A recent approach to the aging process suggest that tie-signs, which are remembrances of experiences, become more and more important to people as they age, as discussed in the Chapter Seven. In every situation, at whatever stage, humans try to interpret and make sense of their status; in many cases, rites-de-passage mark a stage, such as coming out parties, or retirement parties.
Parents watch their children grow from the neonatal stage, through adolescence to older age. Although parents have gone through various life stages, they may be unnerved by the behaviors of young teens, whose lifestyles may be radically different from their parents. Later, the parents will be grandparents, which calls for a very different set of expectations and behaviors. All people pass through life's stages; at each stage, the individual must make sense of the social world, coming to terms with her or his identity. Their social behaviors, their interactions with others are displayed accordingly.
Recent research emphasizes the agentive role of humans, starting with children, who learn to act on their own behalf. Children are not "developed" so much as they create ways of seeing the world and ways of acting. They enact themselves, becoming quickly attuned to their circumstances (Hutchby &-Moran, 1998). Children become competent at nonverbal tasks as practical achievements, from playing ball, to later courtship activities. Parents, not usually trained experts in the raising of children, use a folk-type model to guide them (Valsiner,1997). Children learn from a type of teleogenetic process deriving meaning from small action events. For example, when a child is praised for the way she or he handles a fork or spoon, the child is likely to continue to use it in skilled ways. Eating such a thing as a boiled egg, pealing it and then consuming it can be a complex event for a young child. The child must work the mind, eye, hand and mouth together to perform what later will be a simple, routine task. Children learn to present themselves based on what they have learned. They learn to dress, finding out what dress codes are all about. They learn when to smile and when to frown. They create a reportoire of skilled competencies in a presentational style. Their gestures are used to create impressions and to influence people and their general body language becomes part of their communicative package. Studies of feral children reveal how important human socialization is to the child. "Wild" children are stunted in physical, emotional, intellectual and social growth; they cannot symbolize human events appropriately.
When humans engage in action, they usually know something about why they are doing it and what the likely outcomes will be (Vallacher & Wegner, 1985). The tasks they perform may be very simple or very complex. A simple task might include putting on the right shoes; a complex task might include walking in those shoes to make a sale as a professional staff member of a major commercial company. In each case, people attach meaning to what they are doing, symbolically. Even friendships are formed symbolically; the dyadic relationship is built upon shared activities, perceived symbolically as part of the relationship (Conville & Rogers,1998). The ability to manage relationships competently, to be accepted and to do appropriate things to maintain the relationship is the foundation of effective networking. One learns to play roles and enact lines of action, which are recognized by others and incorporated in the relationship.
One learns how to dress, how to behave appropriately and how to make a good impression on others. One learns to play roles, some of them continuous. For example, being a parent is a continuous activity; frying an egg is discontinous. Playing the part of a mommy or daddy as a child becomes a precursor to the later performance of parenting. These early enactments teach the child how to behave socially, making networking possible.
Interaction and networking form the crucible of identity formation. Interaction and networking with others is foundational to society as well, without which society could not exist. Patterns of association vary by gender, by age and by ethnicity. Modern communicative technologies offer new ways for people to network with one another, whether in work or play. Networking is profoundly influenced by the internet, providing new ways for humans to interact, as discussed in chapter eight.
It is in peer groups that boys and girls learn to identify themselves. Each person is deeply influenced by the members of groups. Young people know what is "in" and what is "out" and in the teenage years, they are careful to follow the acceptable patterns, for fear that they may become stigmatized or even ostracised from the group. Members of the group may find reason to label and ostracize a person, keeping him or her out of the group because they do not appear to fit the social paradigm.
Members of peer groups create labels for various kinds of behaviors, which become identifying keys associated with each member. For example, one member may be the brain or egghead; another may be "Miss Popularity". The references are to the style of behaviors that each person exhibits. The power of peer groups to influence how members feel and think is enormous, as it is in the workplace.
Framing Group Influences
Small and large groups are network structures, the structures created by humans in interaction. Research suggests that the communicative design of the group influences how people relate to one another. For example, when people sit in a simple circle design, equality is promoted among the members of the group; a wheel design with spokes tends to promote the leader who sits in the central position, through whom most messages must go; the Y pattern usually includes a leader at the bottom end of the Y; the chain style of group activity limits conversations except with the person on either side, or on the left or right side, depending on which end the member is sitting; the all-channel group pattern permits all people to talk to all others equally. Morale is promoted more in the all channel group than it is in the wheel or Y pattern (DeVito,1997).
Performing effectively in the workplace requires skilled nonverbal behavior. Indeed, it is in the workplace where humans present themselves with some expertise. An engineer, for example, follows lines of conduct associated with his or her discipline, as does the medical doctor. In short, the socialization process does not end at early adulthood; it continues throughout life. The manager of people in the workplace must possess a leadership reportoire. Leaders, of course, are not born; they construct themselves. Not only must the manager have the ability to lead, or manage, but she or he must appear to lead. The boss's office is usually bigger than those of her support staff. The office usually reflects power and influence, in both direct and subtle ways. For example, the leader's desk may be considerably larger than the desks of the support staff and the office may be furnished with other symbols of the leader's social status. These obvious differences are important to the maintenence of power; yet, the manager must earn the image of being a leader by doing little things to shape an image, such as displaying personal plaques and awards on the wall behind her and taking part in only limited ways in the understaff's activities, distancing herself from them. Bosses and understaff members must learn appropriate roles and behaviors to communicate successfully. Indeed, they must plan to be effective (Berger, 1997). Managers and other professional people must nurture their image to conform to professional expectations.
In face-to-face dyadic situations, people usually present themselves in the full view of the other participant. In this situation, verbal and nonverbal interactions are easily observed and when the dyadic relationships is balanced, fair play takes place. In imbalanced dyads, however, one person may try to take advantage of another. For example, the young and the old are particularly persuasible; they are easy to influence, sometimes negatively (Larson, 1983). The more powerful person in the dyad combines nonverbal acts with verbal acts, she or he can persuade the weaker party to do things. The dynamics of groups are influenced by group size.
Framing a 'Law' of Numbers
Is there a law of numbers at work in groups? Dyads, for example, consist of two persons where interactions are very different from the three person group, which is very different from much larger groupings. In a dyad one party may play a game of one-ups-manship, trying to better the other person in the dyad. In a three party group, two people can gang up against one in a coalition, which cannot be done in a dyad. In larger groups, people can create subgroups, which influence how behaviors are managed. Subgroupings can develop in 12 member groups but they cannot form in dyads. In a monad where there is but one person, the individual can hold conversations only with the self. The size of the group influences how people will behave.
Joint interactions are the glue of society. Their continuous flow make up the structures of the wider society, which, when formed, influence the individual. Thus, it is a circular process. The wider society is formed by the micro-enactments of small groups, which, in turn, influence the individual. As mentioned; even romantic relationships, which appear to be free-floating to the individuals involved, are deeply influenced by underlying social codes; lovers in American society follow fairly scripted behaviors as they enact their relationship, their symbolic baby, as it were (Duck, 1992; Knapp & Vangelisti, 1992).
Group dynamics pressure members to conform. As mentioned, nonverbal behaviors may become stigmatized or shunned if they do not conform. Many youth groups, for example, shunned by mainline society, form negative images, continuing as identity groups. Skinheads, religious cults, gangs and other types of groups create identities to make a statement to the wider society. Interestingly, these groups, appearing to be nonconformist, often require strict conformity from their members. Further, their relationship to the wider society is somewhat predictable. Riding a motorcycle with black jacket, long dirty hair and dark glasses is almost a guaranteed way to be arrested in many places in the United States.
The family is an example of a small group which, as in the spoked wheel example, can be highly structured and authoritarian, or it may be flexible, as in the all-channel example. Varieties of family styles exist and the communication patterns vary by type of family (Arliss, 1993). Size of the family influences relational patterns as well. Modern families may have dinner in front of the television set thereby limiting their conversations. This is but one example of the mediating influence of television, as discussed in chapter eight. Families are small communities constructed symbolically, Family members create meanings that they share intersubjectively, binding them together, some loosely, others tightly.
Families are co-constructed by the members; it is heavily influenced by the wider community as well. In recent America, the diverse forms of the family seem to be increasing. for example, there are: first-marriage families, single-parent families; stepfamilies; cohabiting couple families; geographically separated families; extended families; and, binuclear families in which two nuclear families share their lives with one another. The situation in which women breed children by artificial insemination or in which two people of the same sex marry and adopt children is emerging. In short, American families have new forms (Arliss, 1993). The family, of course, is influenced by social, religious, political and economic processes in American society. For example, elderly people, formerly attached to their family through a kinship ethos are now more likely to live by themselves or in homes for the elderly than they are to live in the extended family.
The family, of course, is the main influence on the behavior of the child. Face-to-face interactions, deeply formed feelings, rules and expectations, and other influences are designed to help the child become an adult in an appropriate way. Yet, the family is itself undergoing major changes in American society and in other technologically developed countries. Traditional family dinner patterns are giving way to discursive patterns of behavior. The laissez faire family seems to be an emergent form in contemporary American society. The patterns of interaction found in traditional families are far different from those found in laissez faire families. Many families in the United States are fractured, resulting in new and different pressures on the family members.
Framing the American Family
A recent University of Chicago survey says that only one in four American families is considered to be traditional, down 45 percent from the early 1970's. Single earner families, where parents are married and together, are now the exception. The survey found that:
Making the changing family work is a difficult task in American life. (CNN Online, Nov 24, 1999).
Sex and No Wedding
It appears that romance and marriage are out but casual sex and low-commitment relationships are in among young Americans, a Rutgers University study suggested. They are concerned with "Sex Without Strings. Relationships Without Rings" Apparently young people:
Americans have torn up the script for the nuclear family, directly and indirectly affecting the lives of the children. In place of the relatively stable family where there are two parents and their children, modern America now has large numbers of single parent families, of second marriage familes and the stepchild status that comes with it, of co-habiting but unmarried families, geographically separated families and communal families, although the latter are fewer in number.
Given the rapid changes in society and the consequent changes in the family in the United States, the processes of identification for children, who are often "stepchildrenized" ,may be disrupted and dysfunctionality may be unwittingly promoted. Children must define themselves in the light of new situational and structural influences, as families dissolve, divorce, or separate. For example, parents with small children who divorce go through stages of dissolution in which "grave dressing" acts influence children, whose loyalties to one parent or the other are shaken (Arliss, 1993). Regrettably, the grief of parents in divorce affects how their children perceive the family. Infants, of course, form emotional bonds of attachment. When these are disrupted, children may become anxious, ambivalent or avoidant, carrying these emotional feelings into future situations and relationships (Bowlby, J. 1969; Weber & Harvey, 1994).
Humans create relationships. They maintain them symbolically, as noted in the frame below.
Framing Relationships
To maintain relationships, humans go through daily rituals. Partner interaction becomes somewhat routinized on a daily basis. Couples may shop on Mondays, go out to dinner on Fridays, visit friends on Saturdays and so on. They may create special events or special holiday practices, such as family reunions, Christmas festivities, or birthday celebrations on a regular basis, as a couple. Couples create places for privacy, such as the bedroom, and places for public interaction, such as the family room. They also create rules of engagement, scripts for undertaking situations of disagreement, for interacting with each other's friends, and so on (Wood, 1995).
Romantic relationships embody distinct notions, different from other relationships. The behaviors that earmark romance are lodged in the sense of romance that Americans share. The old fashioned idea of a knight on a white horse who rescues a forlorn damsel no longer applies; however, romance embodies notions about sharing that other dyads do not share. The level of intimacy that characterizes romantic relationships is itself governed by implicit rules of touching, which are governed by the experiences of the couples. Conservative, religious people may decide that sexual consummation is to be withheld until the couple is joined in marriage; other, less conservative young people, may plunge into the sexual act on the first night. The rules of the dyadic relationship must be defined. However they decide to act, as mentioned, they create a symbolic "baby", the relationship. Underlying, often hidden, codes of conduct influence all relationships. People may agree or disagree about how these codes are to be interpreted, but they must admit their presence and their influence on human behaviors. Male-female relationships will be discussed in more detail in Chapter Five.
The presentation of self and the concept of face and script have been dealt with in a previous chapter. It is important to reinforce the ideas behind the concept of face, noting that the concept plays a part in all human behaviors. Because the presentation of self is often conceived of as basically dyadic or small group experience, a way of displaying personal identity to others, it is easy to overlook the fact that it is involved as well in routinized patterns of behavior and in public activities.
As people age, they return again and again to behaviors that have been used successfully before. Lines of action that have served well in the past continue to be used. One does not have to learn how to shake hands after learning it the first time, although one may have to learn about greeting habits in other cultures when traveling between cultures. When nonverbal activities become routinized, they can be performed with little attention required. People may brush their teeth or brush their hair but be thinking about many other things, perhaps planning the day. As mentioned, humans tend to ignore the fact that routines are achieved. Yet routinization is foundational to the creation of society.
Framing Routine Performances
Clearly, humans conduct their activities using simple gestures and complex lines of action. Because they are so common, people tend to overlook their value to society. People drive on the right side of the road in the United States; to do otherwise would be to undermine the road rules. Not only do people avoid accidents by using a shared road code, but they obey the established laws, which themselves have been socially constructed. Further, the driving venture is part of an interaction ritual that is known to most people in the United States. Driving a car successfully is but one ritualized activity, an example of the multitudes of rituals that form the basis of society. Everyday rituals and routines are full of meaning (Goffman, 1967; Schegloff, 1986).
During the day, especially in novel situations, people both give and respond to others, following a contingent pattern; that is, they do something in response to what others have done, or in response to what they think others will do. People take turns enacting behaviors. A smile may create a smile in the other party. If the boss dresses in a suit and tie, the employee responds in kind. In short, people act contingently, dynamically in response to the behavioral enactments of others. In routinized behavior, however, this creative contingent element may be missing. The behavior is relatively fixed and repetitive with no need to change it. Mindful attention is not needed, as it is in novel situations.
Throughout the stages of life, people engage in public displays and ritualizations, whether they are religious, associated with work and play, or secular. Marriage, graduation ceremonies, worship services, concerts and other collective activities contain formulations of appropriate public behaviors. They contain collective scripts for people to follow. Highly symbolic, they reach into the psyche deeply to influence thought and behavior. Marriages may be performed underwater or from a dive out of an airplane, illustrating how times change; yet, there is a symbolic constancy associated with each ceremony. Indeed, a large part of human lives are played out in public ceremonies, themselves value laden, imbued with beliefs and expected behaviors and outcomes.
Until recently, SI scholars have differed in the past about how they view these processes. Some researchers have focused on the macro aspect of social processes(Stryker, 1980, 1981) while others focused on the micro aspects (Goffman, 1969). At present, there seems to be an attempt to blend the different approaches(Couch, 1997).
Micro processes refer to daily interactive experiences in dyadic or small group situations. Meso processes refer to interactions in larger settings, such as work and school activities, where many people interact. Macro processes refer to those public, society-wide processes that are ongoing, forming the essential character of a society. For example, power is distributed thoughout American society, but it is distributed unevenly. The master themes listed above are macro themes. Macro themes and processes are dynamic, not fixed, although they are somewhat stable. They pervade society at every level, from monadic, dyadic, to group and institutional levels and to national levels. They creep into daily behaviors. Indeed, every society must contend with these master themes.
Even when people engage in self conversations they wittingly or unwittingly take account of these themes. For example, females think differently about events than do males (Gilligan, 1982;Gilligan, Ward, Taylor & Bardige, 1988); members of ethnic groups think about ethnicity differently than do white males. The media, of course, display sex and gender themes continuously, as do the film and print media; even the internet is used to promote sexual themes. Communicative technologies clearly influence members of society, framing the master themes.
There are a number of master themes that influence human behavior, not discussed in this text. For example the role of bureaucracy and capitalism as they influence human lives are not discussed. (Deegan, 1989). Humans are caught up in powerful social matrices that influence nonverbal communication.
People may think of Black Americans when they use the word ethnicity. However, Whites are ethnic, too. Described as a subculture, or better as a co-culture, Black American culture contains codes of conduct that are distinct, rooted in their history. Native Americans, Cubans and Chinese are three other ethnic groups, discussed in this book; they play important roles in American society, although their roles have changed significantly over time. Members of these groups tend to construe life differently from mainline white members of society. Ethnicity is symbolically constructed; it is a dynamic concept. Ethnicity is lived. Unfortunately, social barriers are created when artificial boundaries are erected between ethnic groups (Lamont, Fournier & Gans, 1993; Lee, 1997). Economic disadvantage frequently serves to mark boundaries between ethnic groups.
In this book, in Chapter Seven, the author uses the experiences of the Navajo, the Cubans, the Blacks and the Chinese as examples of ethnic identities. Historically, except for the Cubans who immigrated to the United States in recent years, Blacks, Chinese and Navajo members were treated as strangers in a strange land. Unfortunately, the present is influenced by the past. The construal of ethnic identity in the modern bicultural or multicultural American world often carries the problems of the past into the present. Fortunately, a new awareness, an interethnic identity seems to be emerging in modern America, although there are destructive elements remaining.
The demography of the United States is changing dramatically. The 2000 census shows that Hispanics and Blacks each now represent about 13 percent of the population of the United States. To the extent that access to political, economic and educational institutions is denied them, problems are created by those who hold power. As discussed in chapter six, inter-ethnic adaptability and the creation of behaviors that reduce conflict among groups is necessary in a country that considers itself to be egalitarian.
Gender is a macro-theme that pervades every human relationship, influencing nonverbal communication. From birth, parents apply their tacit, folk-knowledge to the raising of their children. Socialization processes deeply influence gendered identities as indicated by the creation of gendered groups, such as NOW. The distribution of power equally among men and women is a point of contention, a main concern of feminine political groups because they have been denied access to the political and economic power that men have enjoyed. (Howard & Hollander, 1996;Orbe, 1998). Historically, women's voices have been muted. Clearly, the "man-thing" has held sway. For example, until recently, women were not given access to the major professions, a fact which is changing rapidly. Many women influenced the study of sociology prior to the present emphasis upon feminism. People such as Jane Addams, Beatrice Webb, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt and others made deep inroads into a profession that was influenced primarily by men (Deegan, 1991). The numbers of women entering law schools, perhaps the mainline profession that influences social policy, is expected to equal the numbers of males in the enrollment year 2001. Gender will be discussed in detail in chapter five.
There is a substantial difference between the concepts of ageism and aging. Ageism, in American life, has come to mean something quite stereotypical. The aged may be seen as outdated, dependent members of society. They are often represented as people whose cognitive functions may be imparied, whose ability to use their body is impaired, and their ability to perform complex tasks greatly reduced.
However, recent approaches emphasize the concept of successful aging (Baltes & Baltes, 1990), an active, engagment process that can help extend life, enabling people to live more successful lives in older age. The upper limits of aging that result in death are being changed by new medicines, technologies and genetic research, sometimes referred to in the popular mind as the Methuselah factor. As humans age, they can actually improve on some nonverbal.performances.
Changes in the composition of American society reflect that not only is the United States becoming multi-ethnic, it is also aging steadily. The fastest growing segment of American society is the group of people above age 85. Research is beginning to focus on the lives of older people in a country that has historically placed emphasis upon youth. See Chapter Seven.
Mediation refers to how modern communicative technologies influence the thoughts and behaviors of humans. Television, the computer and the internet, satellites, film and other media deeply influence human behaviors. Communicative tools, or media, are created by humans; although they act as extensions of the self, they are much larger than the individual, influencing the entire society. Speed, imaging, and usability characterize these media. Indeed, a new social and geographic landscape is being forged by modern communicative technologies. Virtual reality, a phrase hardly used two decades ago, indicates that reality can be simulated by the computer. The power of the media to influence human life is pervasive. Another phrase, the Cyborg phenomenon, discussed over the past few years in highly imaginative ways, appears to have become a reality. Mind, body and machine interact in novel ways, directly influencing human behavior. The role of media and media ecology are discussed in Chapter Eight.
Already mentioned, humans are situated in society, often indicated by economic and educational indices. The general principle is that the more income and education one has the more likely she or he is to be able to exercise power and influence. Sociologists study class behavior based not only on income, but on education, religions, and other forms of association (Persell, 1987).
It is generally believed that all individuals have equal rights and equal opportunities in the American democracy; the egalitarian ethos is a powerful incentive to accomplish the American Dream. However, those who exercise power are inclined to be white Americans who through achievement or inherited wealth and position wield power over the lives of others, not always directly, but in hidden ways. Most people know about the Horatio Alger rags to riches phenomenon, but that phenomenon is less likely to apply to females and ethnic Americans because of hidden, institutional factors that impede their progress. The aged in American society are often said to be past their prime in a country in which younger people hold positions of power.
The benefits of wealth and power are revealed in the ways people dress, in what they own, in their club memberships, and, in general their total life styles. Perhaps it is the choice of a Jaguar over a Chevrolet, of a world tour over a visit to Bermuda, and so on. Power and its uses are enacted; that is, power does not just sit there in society, as may have been suggested by people like Machiavelli or Marx; it is created interactively, intersubjectively, by people (Prus & Scott,1999). In short, standpoint, or situation in society, broadly and specifically influence nonverbal communication but it is in the enactment of behaviors, in response to these influences, that power is created. Going to college at Harvard or Yale can help put the "silver spoon" in one's mouth. Most other members of society must contend with money problems on a day to day basis. They do not engage in such high profile activities.
Food use is but one behavior that is influenced by region. Dress, speech, beliefs and other behaviors, are influenced as well. Indeed, buying habits, use of language, education levels, attitudes, beliefs and all nonverbal activities are somewhat influenced by the social dynamics associated with a geographic place. As discussed above, the concept of place contains rich overtones of meaning. The sense of identity is rooted in the sense of geographical place, in a familiar milieu. People tend to network and interact with other people who share broadly their outlooks and aspirations. There are people, of course, who spend considerable time trying to escape stereotypes associated with regions.
Regions, as places, influence nonverbal communication extensively. For example, it is known that southerners may speak with a drawl, more slowly than New York City residents usually speak. People from Buffalo, N.Y., are known to walk faster than do people from the Southwest. Auto purchases vary by region of the country. Fords are preferred over Chevrolets in different parts of the United States. Foods that are eaten vary considerably from place to place. Chitlins, rice and grits, by and large, are Southern foods. Where Blacks predominate in the south, one expects to find soul food; on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico and Arizona, one expects to find mutton and corn related foods; in Chinatown, one expects an amalgam of American and Chinese foods. Cubans in Miami's Little Havana are fond of black beans, plantains pork and chicken. In short, patterned eating behaviors are associated with various regions of the United States, as they are throughout the world. Regional behaviors may be very distinctive. Indeed, foodways in general are influenced by social function. For example, in Mexico, panes de meertos, or the bread of the dead is eaten at funerals; Muslims will not eat before sundown during Ramadan; Italian's put almonds in a child's coffin. Food use varies by place and by function (Brown & Mussell, 1984).
The SI approach suggests that human behavior is not determined; rather, the individual chooses to do what she or he wants to do. Thus, one may reject regional foods altogether and create a different approach to eating. Unless a person is in a highly controlled environment, such as the military, a monastery or a prison, she or he is free to decide what to eat or wear or how to act. Restrictive environments, or total institutions, prescribe what will be eaten but, in everyday life, individuals make decisions about what they will do. Foodways may serve as markers of identity.
Everyday, individuals are called upon to perform, to act as agents, to play various roles and to engage in joint interactions with others. Slowly and gradually, people learn how to act so as not to embarrass themselves, to behave according to hidden social codes. Underlying social codes influence human behavior; however, the codes are forgiving in that they permit a variety of adaptive modes of behavior. The hidden rules are not usually directly impressed on people. They are often caught rather than taught, as the saying goes. They are not obviously manifested and certainly, in an open society, they are not written in stone. Signs may say something like, "Do not litter" or "Watch your step", but most underlying rules and codes are not explicitly stated. (3)
However, there are settings in American society where codes are made fairly explicit. An inmate in a prison, a total institution, has very little freedom to make choices about the activities in his life. Inmates know at all times what the institution requires them to do. The rules are explicit. When the inmate eats, where he goes, and what he does are all controlled by prison officials. Social codes are impressed upon the inmate. In most circumstances, however, one finds a relatively fluid situation in which the expectations, prescriptions and proscriptions of behavior are open and lax.
A middle range of prescription is found in medical and legal settings where codes of behavior are clearly expressed. Judges, for example, do not wear colorful costumes, nor do doctors wear street clothes. In short, these professional settings have manifest codes understood by people who work in the setting. In other settings, of course, such as in some religious schools, one is in a clothes-controlled environment and everyone, male or female, wears the same colors and schemes. The uniform hides the backgrounds of the individuals so that both rich and poor dress the same. In brief, the examples used reveal the power of the social milieau to influence the display of nonverbal behaviors. In more relaxed settings, the individual is free to choose what to wear. Every discriminating individual takes account of the prevailing manifest codes in order to perform appropriately (Berger, 1997). Indeed, whether in a controlled or free setting, one's level of nonverbal skill depends on how she or he picks up on the demands of the situation.
Humans create their sense of self and identity in interaction with others and in conversations with the self. Born into what appears to be a fixed society, the individual learns how to take account of the influences on her or his behavior, accomplished through socialization, influencing the individual from birth to older age. Families, peers, and institutions influence human behavior. Humans are situated in society, inhabiting a space or place, which is part of their identities. Gender, ethnicity, age, technology are influences on nonverbal communication, just as are social class, power, and the dynamics of place and region.
Symbolic interaction, arising essentially from philosophy and sociology contains the dramaturgical assumption that humans are actors, self agents and performers in everyday life, their audience consisting of partipants in interactions. In the next chapter, psychological processes that influence nonverbal communication will be considered.
Questions for Thought and Discussion
Arliss, L. P. (1993). Contemporary Family Communication: Messages and Meanings. New York: St. Martin's Press.
Deegan, M. J. (1989). American Ritual Dramas: Social Rules and Cultural Meanings. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Gallagher, W. (1994). The Power of Place: How Our Surroundings Shape Our Thoughts, Emotions and Actions. New York: Harper Perennial.
Goffman, E. (1967). Interaction Ritual: Essays on Face-to-Face Behavior. Garden City, NY: Anchor/Doubleday.
Prus, M. S. (1999). Beyond the Power Mystique: Power as Intersubjective Accomplishment. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Wood, J. T. (1995). Relational Communication: Continuity and Change in Personal Relationships. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Weigert, A. (1986). Society and Identity: Toward a Sociological Psychology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
| Previous: Chapter 2 | Table of Contents | Next: Chapter 4 |