Emotions and Communication and Post Traditional Identity - Coursework Example

EMOTIONS AND COMMUNICATION AND POST TRADITIONAL IDENTITY Students Name Course Subject Date Impact of Communication and Social Regulation of Emotion on Post Traditional Identity Emotions and their social regulation performance and communication largely impede the development of post traditional identity. The formation of identity A post-traditional identity as espoused in Giddens (1996: 28) gives us no choice but to choose how to be and how to act. A post-traditional identity is founded on the premise that individuals are rational beings with the freedom to make choices about life decisions without influence from customs and traditional habits. Such an identity attempts to undercut the traditional habits and customs and their impacts globally. Giddens (1996: 28) argues that individuals should make conscious and active choices that will shape and determine not the level of success of an individual and the day to day outcomes. Among the day to day decisions that an individual’s operating under a post-traditional view include selection of foods, how much or little to smile, what to wear, how to spend holidays, how happy one is, and so on. Such an identity presupposes that individuals have the capacity to make active and conscious choices wherever opportunities arise. Communication and post traditional identity Communication has a significant impact on individual’s decisions and life choices and subsequently may impede the development of a post traditional identity. Communication is a critical aspect in the formation of identity. At its basic level, communication, which is captured in language, is used as a tool to transmit cultural norms, values and traditions. Norms represent the specific cultural expectations that govern how individual should behave in given contexts (Andersen and Howard, 2008: 61). Norms are crucial for ensuring that social interactions are predictable, learnable and consistent (Andersen and Howard, 2008: 62).Such values and beliefs may differ from one group to another and may also vary by age, gender, class, religion, ethnicity and other factors. Norms may be transmitted directly through express communication and they may be formally communicated or written down with specific sanction provided for failure to follow. Such norms may include folk ways and mores. Whereas folkways represent the general standards of behavior or customs of a given group in society, norms represent stricter codes of behavior and may control ethical and moral behaviors through injunctions that include legal and religious. These may be communicated in writing such as through laws or written set of guidelines that are used to define right and wrong in the society. Awareness of such communication impedes on an individual’s capacity to develop a post traditional identity. From the young age, parents use communication to teach children about cultural values that they consider relevant for the children. Such teachings, for instance, may be captured in myths, stories, children’s songs and other traditions in schools. The fact that cultural practices and beliefs are learned, with communication largely used as a tool to transmit the cultural values, places communication as a central tenet in shaping peoples choices and decisions. Whereas most basic life decisions and choices, including decisions on the choice of food, taste for particular music and so on appear perfectly natural, they are learned nonetheless (Andersen and Howard, 2008: 62). A post-traditional identity presupposes that such choices are consciously and deliberately made by individuals thereby suggesting that cultural transmutations of culture may be easily ignored in lieu of active choices that are free from cultural influence. Besides the verbal communication that may be useful in giving direct verbal and formal instructions, communication may also be non verbal. Non verbal communication may influence the people’s choices and thus raising questions on the existence of a post traditional identity. In this regard, cultural values are transmitted through imitation and observation. Andersen and Howard (2008: 55) notes that observing others is crucial in the process of socialization as it provides cues on expected behaviors for an individual’s based on status, gender, and so on. For instance, individuals learn about the proper roles for men and women through observation rather than direct formal instructions. In a post traditional context, individuals make active choices, however, considering the fact that persons who have not learnt a particular culture in which they belong feel like outsiders makes it difficult for individuals to make active choices that go against their cultures. Cultural transmission is not necessary a conscious process where individuals may be aware and thus chose to reject or accept some of the cultural aspects of their groups. Instead, culture is learned in such a way that individuals in a given society do not question the cultural values and engage unthinkingly in hundreds of specific practices in their everyday lives. The fact that such practices seem normal makes it more difficult for a post traditional identity to develop. Andersen and Howard (2008: 56) argues that if one was to suddenly start stopped participating in culture and questioned every belief and behavior, they would likely find themselves disoriented and detached. In addition, there is the risk that this may also lead to reduced ability to function effectively within ones group. Communication is also attained through use of symbols. Again, this is crucial in transmission of cultural norms and subsequently shape and influence peoples behaviors. For instance, a symbol such as a national flag may carry diverse meanings depending on the individuals seeing it. While it may be just a piece of cloth for someone who is totally ignorant of the symbolic meaning of a flag, it may signify freedom, democracy, and peace and so on depending on the context that it is used. Similarly, a cross on an altar may portend a different meaning from a cross on tomb. This in turn points out to the contextual meaning that is applied to symbols. Symbols thus are used as tools to communicate particular meanings that are socially constructed. In a post traditional identity, it would mean that an individual would have the freedom to assign their own meanings to the symbols different from the contextual social meaning that is assigned to the symbols. Such a supposition denies the role of symbols as powerful expressions of human life. Again, the symbolic communication from symbols makes it difficult for the attainment of a post traditional identity. Language, which is a critical aspect of communication is defined as a set of symbols and rules that when pit together in a meaningful way, provide a complex communication system (Andersen and Howard, 2008:59). As a critical tool in the communication system, language plays a significant role in the transmission of culture and specifically in determining social thought (Andersen and Howard, 2008: 59). Based on the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, language is crucial in determining various aspects of culture as it provides the categories through which the social reality is understood (Andersen and Howard, 2008: 59). In this case, based on this theory, individuals who speak different languages may have different perceptions of reality. Language also plays a significant role in delineating the power relationships between groups and this is a manifestation of social context for the connotations of language. The authors argue that the importance of language in reproducing stereotypes and the sense of truth and the ways people think about other groups or even of themselves are captured in its importance in sexism and racism issues. Another aspect of communication that may impede the development of a post traditional identity is the existence of the mass media. The mass media is defined as ‘those channels of communication that are available to wide segments of the population-the print, films, electronic media radio and television) and, increasingly the internet” (Andersen and Howard, 2008:69). The mass media communication is a powerful tool that is useful in the shaping of public perceptions as it is largely able to shape the information that is publicly available. Such influence on individual’s perceptions shapes their choices and decisions since they rely on the mass media for information. Most individuals in the developed world, for instance, spend a significant leisure time of televisions. Based on the United States Census bureau (2004), Americans, for instance, consume an average of 71 hours of television each week, which is more than the time that is spent at work and in school (Andersen and Howard, 2008: 69).. The mass media also has the power to shape the behavior and public opinion and even awareness and perception of social issues and subsequently people’s behaviors. Such mass media communication impedes the development of a post traditional identity in various ways. First, most of the information from the mass media is not objective reality but instead is socially manufactured in a complex process. Individuals who rely on the mass media may thus have erroneous perceptions on various social issues and their decisions may thus be different when relying on the mass media to shape decision making. For instance, whereas crime may reduce in a country, the mass media is likely to keep reporting cases of crimes and violence as they are likely to attract viewership thus creating the perception that crime is increasing. Also, considering that commercial interests override objective reality in mass media communication such as news, portrayal of events and the perceptions that may be created amongst the public may be erroneous. Nonetheless, most individuals relying on the mass media have their perception of social problems shaped by the media. Subsequently, various choices and decisions will be based on the acquired information, which may thus lead to an impediment in the development of a post traditional identity. Emotions and their social regulation and performance may also impede on the development of the post-traditional identity. Emotional regulation is regarded as a crucial skill for the social development of individuals (Anssi and Johanna, 2008: 66). Emotional regulation is also viewed as a critical for cognitive functioning, and social processes including peer relationship and social performance. Emotions play an important role in determining the attention and cognitive strategies that individuals use to solve problems, overcome obstacles and facilitate social interaction (Cole, Martin & Denis, 2004). Among the major characterizations of emotional regulation include dampening negative moods, and increasing positive mood. Socializing agents may also influence emotional regulation. A post-traditional context requires that individuals make active choices. Such an assertion disregards the role of emotional regulation in shaping choices and decisions. The importance of regulation of emotions is captured in the assertion that emotional intelligence may improve individuals’ relationships with their peers as it helps them to feel and remain motivated. Emotional regulation has an impact on the choices that individuals make and therefore impede the development of a post traditional identity (Reiner and Klaus, 2009: 25). For instance, emotion regulation from a sociological perspective has a social dimension and is not just individual centered. In this regard, the social dimension of regulatory phenomena of emotions suggests that individuals in social situations apply culturally derived feeling rules by adjusting their emotions to suit the social and cultural context; to what is understood as appropriate in a given situation (Anssi and Johanna, 2008: 68). For instance, the theory of facial expression of emotion indicate that individuals display culture-specific emotions based on cultural rules for diverse emotional states and subsequently modify the facial expression in tandem with the different emotion states in the presence of other persons. Obviously, such an outcome where the emotions are made to reflect the social expectations as dictated by culture may impede the development of a post traditional identity. The role of socio cultural values in influencing emotions are suggestive of the cultural performance of emotions and hence the lack of choice that is manifested in a post traditional identity. From the foregoing, it is obvious that Giddens (1996:28) conclusion that in a ‘post-traditional context, we have no choices but to choose how to be and how to act’, is largely problematic. Various factors that include the social regulation or performance of emotion and communication influence the choices and decisions that people make in their everyday life. It is also evidently clear that most of the choices that people make appear as naturally occurring although they are attributed to social cultural factors including norms, cultural values and so on. The role of communication in ensuring the continuity and perpetuation of such norms makes communication a crucial factor in the impediment of the development of a post traditional identity. Such evidence suggests that the claim that the contemporary identities are predominantly pots-traditional is largely inaccurate. References Andersen, M., & Howard, T. Sociology: 2008, Understanding a diverse society. New York: Thomson Learning. Anssi, P., Johanna, R. 2008. Emotion in interaction. ‘Facial expression and interactional regulation of emotion,’ Oxford: Oxford University press. Giddens, Anthony, 1996, In defense of sociology: Essay, interpretations and rejoinders. New York: Wiley. Reiner, I., & Klaus, W. (ed)(2009), Emotions as Bio-cultural processes. Neckel, Sighard. ‘Emotion by design: Self-management of feelings as cultural program. 2009. Springer International. Tyson, Diana. 2008. Explaining discrepant findings for performance-approach. Oxford University Press. Read More