Saturday, July 28, 2007
PATTERNING
Patterns are stored algorithms of responses we use in order not to lose too much time when responding to some stimuli
Again something that came through GOOGLE ALERTS and made me think a bit for a while. Author quotes some basic ideas of Tom Gieryn. I will pick up only two of his rules and will try to discuss them a bit. Here you can read the blog of the author.
First law says: People act differently
Second law says: All societies are unequal
I can fully agree with the second law, but I cannot fully agree with the first law. Humans are organized in groups, societies, and it really does not matter whether the sing that demonstrates one’s membership to that particular group is a language, nations, states, or it can be color of skin, shape of face, quality of hair, but also acquired skills like all doctors of medicine or all lawyers, or all teachers. Such a sign can be also a broader group, like proletarians, or intelligentsia, or nobility, or so called new money or old money.
If we pick people from the same group then, the probability of getting the same or at least extremely similar response to the same or very similar stimulus. I have really experienced people belonging to the same group saying exactly the same sentences, regardless what kind of group they belonged to. So demonstrated acting is very often group specific, which means people act similarly, which in turn means that the first law cannot be accepted fully. I might have some validity if we add that we consider people from different groups.
There is one more problem to this law. Sometimes the displayed reaction might slightly differ, but the substance of the reaction is usually the same, only the form of appearance might slightly differ.
The second law is correct. People from different groups are different but inside of particular group they act in similar ways, they have similar reactions.
The reason is quite simple: patterns, every group develops certain way of responding to stimuli, and every member of the group is expected to act according to these patters. Patterns enable fast reaction without using “hard” logical thinking. Like car driving, playing basketball or tennis. The same patterning occurs at the social level and the result is that different groups of humans have different types of responses, and therefore groups, societies are not equal.
Again something that came through GOOGLE ALERTS and made me think a bit for a while. Author quotes some basic ideas of Tom Gieryn. I will pick up only two of his rules and will try to discuss them a bit. Here you can read the blog of the author.
First law says: People act differently
Second law says: All societies are unequal
I can fully agree with the second law, but I cannot fully agree with the first law. Humans are organized in groups, societies, and it really does not matter whether the sing that demonstrates one’s membership to that particular group is a language, nations, states, or it can be color of skin, shape of face, quality of hair, but also acquired skills like all doctors of medicine or all lawyers, or all teachers. Such a sign can be also a broader group, like proletarians, or intelligentsia, or nobility, or so called new money or old money.
If we pick people from the same group then, the probability of getting the same or at least extremely similar response to the same or very similar stimulus. I have really experienced people belonging to the same group saying exactly the same sentences, regardless what kind of group they belonged to. So demonstrated acting is very often group specific, which means people act similarly, which in turn means that the first law cannot be accepted fully. I might have some validity if we add that we consider people from different groups.
There is one more problem to this law. Sometimes the displayed reaction might slightly differ, but the substance of the reaction is usually the same, only the form of appearance might slightly differ.
The second law is correct. People from different groups are different but inside of particular group they act in similar ways, they have similar reactions.
The reason is quite simple: patterns, every group develops certain way of responding to stimuli, and every member of the group is expected to act according to these patters. Patterns enable fast reaction without using “hard” logical thinking. Like car driving, playing basketball or tennis. The same patterning occurs at the social level and the result is that different groups of humans have different types of responses, and therefore groups, societies are not equal.
# posted by Dalibor @ 8:42 AM 
