A. NATURE VS. NURTURE Postscript to Macro: What did Inglehart and Baker conclude about Marx v. Weber? ● Q: Can we quantitatively demonstrate who was better, Marx or Weber? ● Modernization, Cultural Change, and the Persistence of Traditional Values by Inglehart and Baker - Marx: The economy drives change!!! - Weber: Economics does not change traditional values. Culture is more powerful! - Grounded Theory: using existing data, authors seek to determine which position is correct - Conclusion: somewhere between. There are change-developing societies becomes more rational, tolerant, trusting, and participatory (Marx wins!). However, societies maintain a national character that often has been shaped by religion but is now independent of religion (Weber wins partially!) a. Culture change = path dependent (there is no predictable single way of culture change) b. The secularization theory (religion will decline as societies develop) has limits c. Not all modernization = Americanization d. Modernization is NOT deterministic (it might happen, might not, it might happen in different ways) Nature vs. Nurture: What is at stake in this debate and why does it matter? - If identities are or are not fixed? (e.g. LGBTQ+?) - How about criminality? What if “negative” behaviors are / or are not hard-wired? - If social roles are or are not an extension of biology? Durkheim vs. EO Wilson Durkheim EO Wilson (all human behavior driven by biological roots) Focused on nurture - Social behavior = born of biological necessity (cooperating to kill prey) - Cultural variation = phenotypic: it is a result of an interaction of the biological blueprint with the environment. It may be more like DNA - Social adaptability = genetic Key points of sources summarized in slides: McDonald, Money, Erhart, Weeks - McDonald: Partible Paternity-Reproduction could also be socially constructed ● Previous belief: men control women’s reproductive behavior and favor their own children (reproduction = nature-driven) ● South American Case: men share paternity of sexual partner’s children; children more likely to survive = woman controls reproduction >>>> Is even reproduction socially constructed? - Money and Erhardt: Gender ● A great deal of gender identity differentiation occurs in the post-natal period when a “pre-programmed disposition comes in contact with socially programmed signals” - Jeffrey Weeks ● Gay or Lesbian = political terms. Identity is not a destiny, but a CHOICE B. NURTURE William James: psychologist, predecessor of US sociology, broad definition of self (material, spiritual, social) ● Concept of self - “An individual’s self is the sum total of all they can call theirs” - Material self, social self, and spiritual self CH Cooley- Looking Glass self and primary groups @University of Michigan ● “Self and Society are Twin Born” - Society does not exist without individuals but individuals also do not exist without society. ● You are not even human until you are socialized by other human beings Looking glass- attempt to illustrate the reflected character of the self - “Each to each a looking-glass reflects the other that doth pass”: others become a mirror in which we see ourselves - 3 Elements of the Looking-Glass Self- happens all in one’s head!!, my sense of self comes from how I imagine myself, mirrored by other people a. The imagination of our appearance to the other person b. The imagination of his judgment of that appearance c. Some sort of self-feeling (gut reaction)- could be pride (positive)/ mortification (negative) ● Primary group: Family, play group of children, the neighborhood - The most important group where the intimate association characteristics of primary groups have had a chance to develop to the fullest: family, play group of children, and neighborhood = practical universal breeding grounds for the emergence of human cooperation + fellowship. - People are drawn away from individualism in this group = We become humane - Human nature does not come with birth. It can only be acquired through fellowship; it decays in isolation ( Nurture must be reinforced!! If not, people use human qualities decay ) GH Mead: Contrast to Cooley? How does self arise? Definition of reflexivity and generalized other [Quite similar to Cooley- However, Mead is more action based where as Cooley is more about internal thoughts ] ● ● What is the Social Basis of Individual Action? - Emphasizes the meaning of external interpersonal gestures and interactions - A person is a personality because they belong to a community Self arises in social experience - By responding to ourselves as others respond to us (observing) + Internal conversation + Participating in a game (learning rules) - Expressing reaction as communication “gestures” - Different selves in different situations - One can become solitary after one is formed, but socialization is necessary for formation (Nurture: one and done- once socialized, forever = human being. ) ● Self = reflexive - ● I am able to observe myself (objective self reflection) Generalized others - The attitude of the whole community (students at u of m, students from same high school) Robert Park- how is the self-constituted i.e. shaped? ● The root word for person means mask: “Everyone is always and everywhere more or less playing a role”/ Roles= determined by occupational status ● How is self constituted?