How Does an Analysis of the Wider Social Context Help Us Understand Individual Actions More Fully - Essay Example

How does an analysis of the wider social context help us understand individual actions more fully? This essay explores themes of interaction between the individual and society in light of Chapter One of Security (Sociology and Social Worlds).This chapter (Security in the social) presents two case studies; one relating to the authors allotment and security issues therein and the other relating to the inner psychic World of Harry Potter and the security of the individual mind. He further outlines various theories relating to the structure of society and the individual in an attempt to create a broad synthesize between the apparently opposing viewpoints of individual autonomy and societal control. By exploring the concepts presented in this chapter it is my intention to elaborate upon the interconnectivity of the individual and society. How does an analysis of the wider social context help us understand individual actions more fully? Introduction Drawing on material supplied in chapter one (Carter et al 2008) I shall attempt to investigate this issue from several different angles. In this chapter Tim Jordan’s central theme is security in social context. In order to provide a context he takes two case examples; one relating to troubles in his allotment and the other relating to the psychic ramifications of Harry Potter. From these two cases he interlaces them with some interesting sociological reflections in order to point out to the reader the intricacies not just of security from a social context but also the dichotomy between the ‘rational choice theory’ and the wider social science viewpoint of human interdependence. In this essay I will follow a structural approach; firstly clarifying some of the theoretical considerations brought about by Jordan and then moving onto personality integration as covered by the Harry Potter case study and then the reflections about the individual and society noted in the allotment case history. Finally I will be detailing some of the deeper contextual issues of social interaction. Theoretical Considerations The intuitive model immediately brings to mind the ‘rational choice theory’ which purports that every choice we make is the rational action of an independent active individual. Sociology takes a different perspective. Jordan outlines Barnes (2000) viewpoint on the three elements which make up individuality; these are rationality, free will and agency. Rationality can be explained as actions based upon reasons; free will represent choice and agency represents the ability to act upon the choice which we have made. Jordan raises the example of the Harry Potter novels whereby the book publisher, published the book in order to make money which is the reason behind publishing it. He notes the trust placed in the PBET test in his allotment has been an example of free will and his decision to leave the allotment as an example of agency. So in summary the social scientist argument versus the ‘rational agency theory’ hinges upon the replication of functions which we only expect to see in the individual active within the greater structure of society itself. This is an argument which is repeated several times throughout this chapter. One such theory is the “Black Box” theory (Callan and Latour, 1981). They suggest that “our social World’s operate when we particularly forget the social nature of many things that we use”. So that if we think in terms of order our ability to act in the World is based upon our ability to do things without lengthy consideration. So for instance the residents of the allotment do not have to understand the PBET test in detail in order to make a decision about it. Rather they are considering the result of the PBET test and the various implications of this, for them that is all they need to know is whether their allotment safe or not. It is this versatility in human society which allows us to create a complex society. We also can see shadows of Barnes thinking behind this viewpoint; that society itself is a lot like a human being and that we ignore many complexities in everyday actions; yet this does not dismiss these complexities. We shall refer in more detail to this line of argument later on in the essay. For now we shall briefly introduce Rustin and Rustin’s (2001) central theory on emotional development in teenagers. They state that children face three key emotional challenges between the ages of ten and mid-teens. These are firstly that independence has to be gradually gained. Secondly in this period children become increasingly interested in other children and how to integrate with them. And thirdly the challenge of sex and sexuality. Jordan notes that “In all these areas children need to develop unconscious and inner emotions, as well as articulated and outer emotions, to cope with the creation and maintenance of their own sense of self – of being someone – and their relationships with others.” So the inner security of the individual is dependent upon integration of these three key emotional challenges. The Challenging Personality Integration of Children Placing their theory into context Rustin and Rustin have elaborated in detail about the relevance of the Harry Potter stories. They note the relevance of Harry Potter to its audience of children as a way of helping them integrate their experiences via the medium of these books. For instance they describe the dichotomy between his the Dursley’s who have no redeeming traits and the life offered him in Hogwarts School which presents him the polar opposite. In particular they note that “This is the world of a child who is not yet able to think in more complex and subtle ways about him or others. There is only good and bad, and both are extreme – only victim, persecutor, heroic rescuer.” This represents the young pre-adolescent with the various black and white judge mentality of the youthful mind. However while at Hogwarts Harry has to deal with the various challenges of childhood development. Throughout the series of novels he receives support via various paternal figures such as professors Dumbledore and McGonagall and Hagrid and the Owl a “Celtic pair”. He also has to deal with complexity such as initially believing that Sirius Black was evil only to discover that he was in fact good; he also has to deal with loss such as the death of professor Dumbledore and the loss of Sirius Black who has to hide from the law. These growing experiences combined with the support of the paternal figures in Hogwarts help Harry to integrate his personality and so to move on from such polarised positions of all good or all bad as asserted in is early adolescent perceptions. There are several interesting points raised by Rustin and Rustin’s overview of Harry Potter, namely the reason for the book and movie success lies in the fact that it reflects back something which is real to the children. It takes children through the developmental cycle. Jordan adds another dimension to this by asserting that the global brandisation of Potter only works because the book and movie series would not be successful “If Potter fails to assist emotional development, the brand also loses its emotional hold over the child. “So here we see the inner development of the child reflected back through the social medium of the books and movies and items of brandisation. Furthermore we also see that Harry’s development (and of course his development is no more or less than the development of the children who read and watch him and identify with him) is intimately connected with the World around him. So we see that Harry’s growing self-security and integration not only reflects the growth and interaction of his readers but also it reflects the interdependence of societal forces upon the inner sense of security within the growing child. Interaction within the social event itself Moving this outwards to the greater social picture we now turn our attention to Jordan’s reflections upon the allotment issues. Looking at the black box paradigm, where everything is built upon leaky black boxes. Interestingly they note that “We must leave behind the preconceptions which lead us to believe that macro-actors are more complicated than micro-actors.... A micro-actor can only grow if it simplifies itself.” Simply put our complex society is made easy by its ability to allow the individual to achieve complex things in an easy way. They give the example of sending tanks into Kabul has been no more difficult than dealing 999.Why? Because we only need to know what we need to know not the endless detail of the various black boxes. When we begin thinking in terms of the connectivity between macro and micro actors every social transaction begins to take on importance, we begin to perceive the connectivity between the different elements involved in the interaction. As Jordan notes the shift from security to insecurity in their allotment on a social science level involved the digging of dirt and then the various tests carried out on the samples until eventually the allotment is reduced to chemical constituents and then upon testing them a series of conclusions is brought about via the PBET tests. So on one level the allotment owners are only interested in the test results however on another level the social interaction has actually been brought about by a series of processes. The fact that they are in black boxes in no way diminishes their input. The Doer and the Done In the case of Harry Potter does it mould a child into an adult with a slightly different outlook than a child who has never read Harry Potter? Indeed on a wider perspective since Harry Potter is now so much a part of modern culture does its presence impact even children who have not read the books or seen the movies? Is there a difference between the doer of an action and the done, .i.e. the result? The answers of course are interminable but interesting to think about. Moving away from the individual to the collective just as the intuitive view of the individual is that they make independent decisions so too we tend to think that the collective does not make any kind of individual decisions at all. And yet when we think about it the collective is simply a group of individuals. From Callan and Latours perspective the collective is simply another macro actor sitting upon micro actors, namely the group is comprised of individual components. For instance the individual votes in the new government, the individual does not have to understand all the ins and outs of government (a black box) they simply have to know who they wish to vote for. Then the government when elected makes decisions based upon appeasing the voters who are another black box and yet the people are affected individually by its actions including those who voted the government into power in the first place. Remembering Callan and Latour’s comments that macro actors needs to simplify themselves in order to work effectively, so too many aspects of society appear abstract from the individual perspective but really they are not and on occasion individuals can have a significant effect upon the collective. We only have to observe political elections as an ideal example of this. Conclusion The two case studies presented here (one presenting inner security issues and the other presenting external security issues) are really interrelated. At what stage can we say that our inner self ends and our participation in the outer begins? I have attempted in this paper to outline the similarity between the inner structures within the individual and society itself. When we consider the arguments presented we can clearly see that the issues of society are the same as the issues of the individuals who make up that society, and furthermore that there is an interdependence between them. To conclude the individual and society are interrelated; society reflects the individual and vice versa. So even when we consider the subject of security we discover that societal security and personnel security are mutually interdependent. As Barnes notes “Mutual accountability implies co-ordinated understanding, which implies agents who affect each other. It implies, we might say, mutual susceptibility.” Societal security then is no stronger than the inner state of its individuals and at the same time the inner individual cannot attain a sense of inner security without reliance upon the society in which they live. References Simon Carter; Tim Jordan; Sohie Watson (2008). Security Sociology and Social Worlds. UKOpen university Press. 196. Barnes, B. (2000) Understanding Agency: Social Theory and Responsible Action, London, Sage. Callon, M. and Latour, B. (1981) ‘Unscrewing the big Leviathan: how actors macro-structure reality and how sociologists help them to do so’ in Knorr-Cetina, K. and Cicourel, A.V. (eds) Advances in Social Theory and Methodology: Towards an Integration of Micro- and Macro-Sociologies, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 277–303. Rustin, M. and Rustin, M. (2001) Narratives of Love and Loss: Studies in Modern Children’s Fiction (rev. edn), London, Karnac. Read More