RA "No sense of place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior"

No sense of place by Joshua Meyrowitz argues that the accessibility of electronic media has led to the blurring of social distinctions. Since social rules are based largely on context and electronic media removes much of that context, social rules and roles are also broken down.

Some examples of context. For the speaker on TV program: who is the audience? For the TV audience: what rules govern my response or even interest in the privacy of my home?

Given that the publisher is Oxford University Press, the audience is more scholarly, but it seems also addressed to the layman, rather than a specialized group of PhDs.

The author introduces himself informally by recounting a personal experience. Then he follows with a couple of social theories which, despite strengths, he felt did not entirely succeed in describing social change. He proposes a synthesis of those theories. So at once, the author is presenting himself as an academic, but also an approachable everyday college graduate.

Being a full length book, I did not have time to review the entire argument. However, from the brief description of the introduction the arguments and topics seem typical of sociology/psychology (gender roles, socialization and power structures are the three main applications of his theory.) The book does have a chapter on applying the theory, and comparing the results.

The conclusion argues that the development of a placeless culture (as result of the electronic media) generates a culture more similar to that of nomads. Interesting, although it seems a stretch. (Then again, much of sociology seems that way to me, so...)

Since the book was published in 1985, it would be interesting to compare his predictions with a society that now has in addition to television the developments of e-mail, cell-phones, and youtube.

Published by Oxford Press.

RA "Testing Huntington"

Testing Huntington is four professors' inspection of the consequences of Hispanic immigration on American identity. The basic structure of the argument comes down to this: Hispanic immigration does not threaten the American national identity because Hispanic immigrants, even by the most recent data from the most Hispanic areas demonstrate a generational assimilation into mainstream American culture and language.

The article structures much of its argument refuting a book by Samuel Huntington which asserted that Hispanic immigration posed a threat to American identity. Note that, with the exception of one professor (Kathryn Pearson,) all writers are from UC Berkeley whereas Samuel Huntington is from Harvard. Also Mr. Huntington is in his eighties, versus the younger doctoral candidate status of two of the authors. Both culture, academic tradition, and age separate the two groups. This is evident as they introduce the argument: they take care to quote the words "Anglo-Protestant" and "heaven on earth" on the first page.


The article contains a fairly thorough evaluation of data sources. The US census is criticized for changing its surveys from one census to the next making it difficult to compare changes over time. Other surveys and sources are referenced and evaluated. The weaknesses of each survey are briefly discussed. The reasoning argues that while the number of immigrants has grown beyond expectation, the patterns of acculturation have not changed: third generation from immigrants seem to be more similar to mainstream culture than to their grandparents' culture.

To make their argument complete the article acknowledges that some of Huntington's concerns may prove correct in the future: however the current data do not support it. Instead they point to mainstream culture embracing multiculturalism which would mean much the same thing, however as a cause of the "embrace of multiculturalism among elites." While perhaps true, the argument is more on the side of pathos here than logos.

The rhetoric is relevant to the topic, as well as seeming typical of academic writing. (Actually it seems much chattier than most academic papers, but much more toned down than most rhetoric for which Poli Sci professors are renowned, especially coming form Berkeley. It is complete in that it considers both sides of the issue while presenting one side in the stronger light. The authors acknowledge that their data do not accurately reflect the Hispanic population in the USA as the data excludes the illegal immigrant population. However they discount this population as being relatively secluded and non-voting hence non-important to overall cultural change.


It's a good article, good reference point to find data sources and arguments.

FW Continued

Fireplaces are natural magnets for small boys. The large wood stove at home was a great example. Dad had welded steel pipes and a fan into it to blow out hot air. The dryers at the swimming pool were generally too high for me to reach and even when I got Dad to hit one for me the air didn't really reach me either. But this wood stove: at my size you could stand in front of it and get hair, swimsuit and everything else dry all at once. You could even flick water on it and watch it skitter and pop across the top. The stove had one problem: for short arms the doors were too hot and too heavy to open without getting burned.

The fireplace at Grandpa's farmhouse on the other hand had only a screen to keep the sparks from jumping out onto the carpet. One morning there after breakfast I wandered into the living room. The fireplace was still glowing and, what was better, no one was around to shoo me away from it. After a little while I discovered that the poker, while heavy, made a good sword and the bellows were good for getting flames from the coals. A mysterious knob stuck out above the fireplace just within arms reach with a bench. But the knob only made a quiet metallic scraping sound. The girls sounded like they were starting something in the kitchen so I wandered outside before I could be conscripted into running errands.

A little while later I returned to see the girls all standing outside with towels and wet hair and a haze around the house. And something smelled horrible. While they had been doing perms I had stoked up the fire, then closed the damper (effectively closing the chimney) before wandering outside. At that point Grandpa was inside checking things out.

Sometime later I sat down in an overstuffed chair placed in the middle of the living room at one end. Grandpa was at the other end standing in front of the fireplace with a stern look on his face. Grandma was sitting to one side saying "Now, Fred, don't be too hard on him." Which really didn't help but terrify me the more. My memory ends there (nothing interesting followed I suppose.) And that is how I got into trouble with everyone at the farm.

FW Nostalgia and Perspective

The farmhouse. North behind the house the ground slopes down into a gully. The frog pond sits stagnant at the bottom. Five minutes walk up the road brings you to the dairy. West from the house are the lilac bushes, the tool house, and the corral. South sits the potato cellar, another corral, and the huge gas tanks for the machinery. East the driveway leads out to the single road where a pinto pony stands, made of welded barrels and a mailbox for a head,painted all white and black. And in every direction miles and miles of fields grow to the horizon.

The place is nostalgic in my memories a vanished place of childhood. Now everything has shrunk. A taller perspective and a couple of decades have somehow stolen away the wonder. Climbing the horse gate is no challenge anymore. But in memory it's still a wondrous place. With memories comes the wonder of perspective: how in teh world did I not get into more trouble for everything I got into? The realization that being the first grandkid gets you rather spoiled. Having three teenage aunts who love having you around and always help cover for you doesn't hurt either.

Still what in the world was I thinking when I clogged the sink with cheese curds? Vicki my youngest aunt and favorite babysitter was kinda exasperated with that one. Putting Maria's* plastic cup in the oven and cranking it up to high? Was that to warm up the water or because I couldn't reach the sink and thought it would clean it? In any case it didn't turn out the way expected. Standing eye-level with the glass in the oven door we watched it melt down and envelop the rack before somebody noticed the smell and came running. The only thing that I really got in trouble for though was the fireplace incident. (To be continued...)

*Maria was my baby sister, followed me everywhere and was never quiet, not even for a second.

TA Brainstorming areas to look at for media paper

Media and technology

media and society

media and stories and culture

media and customs: influence on manners from year to year and decade to decade

media and families: communications, traditions

media and politics: youtube

sub areas:

publishing
books, magazines, news, braille, rebel newspapers in China
radio
news, opinion,
TV
news, opinion
cinema
documentary, narrative, art
Theater (again is this media?)
Art
painting, installations, architecture (is that really media?)
music
recording, iTunes, classical and pops live performance,
gaming
driving the research in computer science and simulation, multiplayer, role-playing, simulation
internet
youtube, blogs, news, reference, wiki, collaboration, Picasa/Photobucket
Cell Phones
texting, photographs, rings...
Financial Exchanges
Stock Market, Business, Effects of internet on functioning

Other areas of interest
How media affects opinion and portrayal of other areas (research, politics, business)
Taxes, refunds
Attitudes towards knowledge and social networks
Trust

RA ADD and Marriage

Source: http://www.adhdmarriage.com/node/80

WATCO dealing with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) in marriage?

Audience: spouse(s) interested in dealing with ADD in their marriage. Generally a couple that is experiencing stress due to ADD in one form or another, and is reading about this on the internet blog. (Or a student that needs to do an rhetorical analysis, and thought it looked interesting.)

Argument's introduction begins with a definite contract, a set of questions to be addressed: how to get my non/ADD spouse to admit/deal with the problem.

Ethos of argument: the author is an implied expert (the site appears to be a counseling site, although the author is not given a title.) She does introduce her topic by mentioning that last night she gave a talk on ADD, and was answering questions.

She describes potential scenarios for each spouse, and how each spouse might feel, to help the audience feel that she understands them. Admits in some scenarios that she doesn't know the best way.

Pathos: Presents things in a logical step by step manner designed to help the audience feel confident in following the suggestions.

Logos: Notes that the important thing in treatment be that it works: it should not be important how. Recommends learning more about ADD on both sides, and being patient.

The points presented boil down to three or four things:
First, to learn about the disorder.
Second, to do something about it.
Third, to resolve issues in an unemotional/peaceful way.
Fourth, to be patient with impatient/ un-understanding spouse.

The argument is sufficient in addressing the questions and potential obstacles or objections to her suggestions. The suggestions are typical in form of psychology / counseling advice: very nonabrasive, suggesting common sense toneto it. The usual manner of addressing things for I have no real way of judging accuracy, other than observing that her suggestions seem reasonable. The arguments seem simple enough to motive readers to some sort of action, based on their initial inclination to find out more.

FW Little bit of film analysis

Somebody told me that I am Legend was about this zombie plague that swept earth. Ummm, yeah. Didn't sound like something I wanted to see. Somebody else said Will Smith was acting. Pursuit of Happyness was pretty good. So I went.

Legend is about loneliness. True, the film creates plenty of suspense. The camera's point of view seems like the point of view of somebody external to Neville (the main character.) Because he is the last sane inhabitant in a mostly abandoned New York, you keep expecting the camera to see something that Neville doesn't. Something startling to crank up the suspense. But you never do. Instead you gradually see more and more of the picture through successive flashbacks. But while the suspense mounts for the audience, that tension is coming to understand Neville's position rather than setting you up to watch him get it. The shots, while having a creepy third person feel, are a reflection of how Neville feels watched rather than you knowing something he doesn't.

At one point you see Neville fearfully searching for his dog in the dark. There's evidence that something else is there but he pushes on. Eventually you realize Neville doesn't fear for his life. Rather he is terrified of losing his last friend in the world.

That scene shifted my perspective. The film went from horror to drama: watching a man doggedly grasping what is left of his faith, his civilization and finally his family as they tear away from him piece by piece. The eerie is not eerie just to terrify the audience: rather each event becomes an obstacle to the protagonist, to be explained and overcome.

Even though the camera follows Neville, bits and pieces in the background hint at things that Neville must ignore. The camera never focuses on those hints but the audience sees them. A plaintive piece of graffiti reads "God still loves us." Newspaper clippings report mass graves. Neville traps a victim, but then is caught the same way. The climax gains a note of tragedy for the audience.

The final voice-over establishes that the point of view throughout was history looking at Neville's efforts. However "documentary" and "heroic" are a tough mix. Legend had potential to exceed the title of 'just a zombie flick' and kind of got there. It's definitely more action than a Shyamalan film but has more pathos than an action flick.

TA Issue analysis

Topic: Bilingual marriages

Potential WATCOs

WATCO bilingual marriage on social involvement in democracy?
(Exploring the idea that "diversity" and "social involvement" are often opposing forces in sociology. Still not entirely comfortable with the idea and arguments, so moving on.)

WATCO bilingual upbringing on education of children in bilingual families?

Claim: Bringing up children bilingual will be worth your efforts.

Arguments Pro (BF = Bilingual Fluency):
BF is an asset in workforce.
BF connects children to both sides of the family,
BF preserves their heritage and culture.
Effort will improve communications between spouses: studying and teaching non-native language will make parents more fluent as well.

Arguments Con:
Requires constant effort on part of parents.
May require special schooling.
May require money to pay for resources.
May require moving between countries on a regular basis.
Knowing only the dominant language wil often be enough.
Knowing two languages (in US at least) may separate child from other children.
Bringing up a child bilingual from birth can have undesirable consequences (inability to distinguish between languages initially; only those who know both can then communicate with the child. Have seen one or two instances of this.)


WATCO spouses speaking different native languages on marital success and satisfaction?

Pro:
More effort put into communication may force better communication and patience between the two.
Know some good examples of couples where have worked successfully, despite a still present language barrier even after forty years.

Con:
Friction due to cultural misunderstandings can lead to problems, divorce.

RA Diversity vs Social Capital

WATCO Swedish minority on social capital in Finland?

Audience: Swedish speakers as well as sociologists in general (the abstract has a copy in Swedish at the paper's start.)

Background:
Social capital is defined as the trust and involvement that is necessary for the operation of democratic governments (among other things.) The author notes that other researchers have found that diversity has a negative effect in general on social capital, yet that does not seem to be the case with the Swedish speaking minority in Finland.

Claim: Due to social involvement and cultural traditions, the Swedish minority is in a pretty good situation in relation to the majority, in contrast to most minority groups in the world.

Ethos:
Ms. Back immediately gives a copy of the abstract in Swedish which is more a gesture of courtesy and identification than necessity: the majority of citizens in Nordic countries speak English fluently. This will be especially true of the college-educated researchers likely to be reading the paper.

Pathos:
Among other things listed as vital to the Swedish speakers' success is their history. While this may be true, it also will be appealing to those who work to preserve their cultural identity that preserving that identity is part of what provides for their position in the world.

Logos:
The majority of the paper cites various studies, facts and figures to support the conclusions. Swedish is officially a national language of Finland, although only spoken by about 6% of the population: so in principle it should be equal to Finnish. The author then goes on to argue that tensions between the Finnish language movement and Swedish speakers are less because the movement was apparently spearheaded by the Swedish speaking class. She also argues that the tight knit social organization of Swedish speakers helps extend a network of trust that helps facilitate Swedish involvement in politics (which naturally helps protect Swedish speaking interests.)

The study is not entirely complete to me. Some facts are presented without reference as common knowledge (then again the audience is not me but sociologists in general.)

The reasoning is typical of academic papers. The author attempts to clearly define constructs and measurements, and acknowledges where there is no consensus in the field for some constructs (what exactly constitutes and ethnicity for example.)

FW

Yes is must be coherent.

No it cannot be in Russian. It is an English class.

(But what if it has good English grammar?)

English grammar requires English words.

***

Qiang, how is it that you get three times as many notes as the rest of us put together?

You call this a note? Look at this!

Let's compare the handwriting. Maybe we can see if it really was the same person.

***

Good, you spelled my name right.

***

Are you sure this is coherent?

Sure, it's as coherent as any collage of sound bites.

***

Hey, just to let you know, I found another piece of meat going bad in the fridge.

This has not been a good week.

You're lucky, you don't have a sense of smell.

No he does. He could smell when I used bleach to mop the floor the other week during clean checks.

Yeah, well, bleach is more of a sensation than a smell.

***

I wish that your car survives you learning how to drive with a stick shift.

I wish that all the wishes come true.

(I wonder if she gets tired of that, being the youngest, and having to say that every year, and not being able to make up one of her own?)

***

Good night all.

Let's pray first.

...