Individuals

Individuals In order to coordinate and

cooperate, people need to understand each other

This requires communication

Communication Ants communicate via pheromones

E. O. Wilson Bees communicate via elaborate

dances Von Frisch

Humans communicate principally through language

The importance of common language Communication facilitated by

common language The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11 (King James Version): 11:1

And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 11:5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 11:6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 11:8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Insufficiency of common language Shared language is essential But it is not enough

Insufficiency of common language Language offers a means of

describing objects and feelings Without common knowledge, no

understanding Cricket vs. baseball

But the meaning given to objects is variable

For example Weights and measures Currency Time (the calendar)

For example What is the meaning of a coke

bottle to you? What is the meaning of a coke

bottle to the people in the movie “The Gods Must Be Crazy?”

Meaning, cont’d What is the meaning of an apple to

you? What is the meaning of an apple to

Snow White? A teacher? A Kazakh? An American?

Meaning, cont’d Meaning affects how people

behave Lack of shared meaning may

create conflicts

Explaining meaning If shared meanings matter so

much, then we need to explain them

Karl Marx

Marx What is Marx trying to explain?

Shared meaning: consciousness/ideology

Marx: Cause Men differ from animals in that

they produce their means of life What individuals are corresponds

with what they produce and how they produce it The production of ideas and concepts

flows from man’s material activity and commerce

Marx: Cause Cause: The mode of production

What we produce and how we produce it

Marx: Causal Relation Mode of Production Ideology

Marx: Mechanisms/Assumptions People are malleable

Not innately “good” or “evil” Rather, we change depending on our

material world

Marx: Draw the theoryMode of Production

Ideology

Marx: How do we know if the theory has merit? Look at the empirical world

Empirical implications Ideals of sharing should be more

pronounced in societies dominated by big game hunters than in those dominated by gatherers of salmon and berries

Groups that participate in the global economy ought to see things differently than those that engage primarily in subsistence agriculture (see work by the Norms and Preferences Network)

Emile Durkheim

Durkheim What is Durkheim trying to

explain? Religion/Beliefs

Why some objects/actors/ideas are viewed as sacred

So, Outcome = Beliefs

Durkheim, cont’d Religion involves sacred things Sacred versus profane

Sacred things Set apart by a peculiar attitude of respect toward

them Totem

Profane things Defined by their intrinsic properties

Durkheim on ritual Rites are the actions that are

performed in relation to sacred things Without knowing its beliefs, the ritual of

religion is incomprehensible You cannot understand rituals by

invoking instrumental logic Rituals are symbolic Rituals are indicative of the existence of

common values in a society

Where do notions of sacredness come from? Society

The intensity of social interactions

So, Cause = Intensity of Interaction

Durkheim: Mechanism/Assumption Social interaction produces emotion

Sense of obligation General efferverscence

People have the desire and capacity to attribute cause They attribute their strong emotions to

the divine

Durkheim Thus strong emotions generate

religious beliefs and sentiments

Durkheim In turn, beliefs affect behavior

Individuals living in moral harmony have a sense of confidence

Individuals act in accordance with their beliefs

Contradictory beliefs are held at bay

Durkheim: Draw the theory

Intensity of social interaction

Belief Individual action consistent with belief

Durkheim How do we know whether the

theory has merit? Look at the empirical world

Fleck on scientific facts Durkheim: religious and political

concepts have social roots, but scientific concepts are universal

Fleck: scientific concepts are also social constructions

Fleck, cont’d Research findings only become

scientific facts via extended social negotiation

‘thought styles’ Cf. T. S. Kuhn: ‘paradigms’ in The Structure of

Scientific Revolutions (1970)

The case of syphillis 15th c: syphillis first described.

Cause: the product of a particular astrological configuration on 11/25/1484

21st c: syphillis caused by the bacterium Spirochaeta pallida

One-sex vs. two sex model From ancient Greece to the 18th c,

men and women were regarded as having the same type -- a male type -- of body Females thought to have the same

reproductive organs as men, only turned inside out (Laqueur 1990)

18th c. onward: prominence of the ‘two-sex’ model

Fleck: Cause Networks of interaction

Fleck: Outcome ‘thought collective’ ‘thought style’

Fleck: Mechanisms Communication, misinterpretation

Because we can’t see inside each others’ heads, communication is imperfect

Furthermore, people have ideas when interacting with each other that they wouldn’t have had otherwise

Fleck: Draw the theoryNetworks of interaction

Thought style

Fleck How do we know if the theory has

merit? Look at the empirical world

George Herbert Mead

Mead Not only are ideologies, beliefs,

and scientific facts socially constructed, so is the individual

We know who we are only by understanding how others see us We take on their attitudes towards us

Mead The unity of the ‘self’ comes from

membership in social groups We can only be ourselves if we are

members of a group

Mead: The generalized other We not only take on the attitudes of

others towards us. We also take on their attitudes towards activities.

Only when people take on the same attitudes towards social activities is it possible to organize social life

Mead For Mead, the problem of social

order is like a game The problem is making sure that

everyone knows the rules of the game

Mead Example: The game of baseball

The game Once everyone knows the rules of

the game, they behave accordingly When people take on the attitudes of

the community, then in some way their behavior is dictated by the group

Note that individuals direct their own behavior because they have internalized the attitudes of the group

Mead In summary

Cause = social roles

Mead: Mechanisms People put themselves in the shoes of

the other and imagine what the other’s expectations are

People generalize those expectations People internalize those expectations

Mead Outcome

Internalized attitudes

Mead: Draw the theorySocial roles

Attitudes

Mead How do we know if the theory has

merit? Look at the empirical world

Order via meaningMechanisms:

Situational: Social and physical environment affects meaning

Behavioral Shared meaning individual behavior is

consistent with meaning, and therefore predictable.

Transformational Individual behaviors aggregate to produce social

order (coordination)

Empirical implications of meaning theories Cohen and Vandello on the different

conceptions of violence in the American South and North

Why is there more violence in the South than the North?

Southerners and Northerners attach different meanings to violence